The Muse: Lansing Art & Culture
The Muse Lansing Art & Culture IV Created & Produced by Valentin Pulido Read this & every issue of The Muse online at
issuu.com/muse_lansing
The Muse: Lansing Art & Culture
This activity is made possible in part by a grant from the Arts Council of Greater Lansing.
fin. The End of The Muse. Here it is, the forth and final issue of The Muse. Undoubted this project has been one of the greatest, frustrating, and gratifying experiences of my life. My only regret is that there were times when I could not give the zine the attention it deserved. As I would find out, time is a commodity even independent publishers don’t have much of. Anyways, I had a blast putting these together and I look forward to producing more zines in the near future. It is my hope that they will dwarf The Muse in circulation and content. I have never done anything like this before and it was a learning experience the whole way. There are reasons why I made the decision to only produce four of these. For starters, the name of the publication is hardly original. I did not intend it to be, there is simply no greater word in the artist lexicon. Muse. It is the driving force that makes an artist wake for, or bleed for, and even die for. The muse is the manifestation of a person’s passion made evident by that person’s work.
Also, all good things must come to an end. There are other projects that needs tending to which I’m already behind on. In addition, there are other subjects and people which may have nothing to do with neither Lansing nor art that I would like to write about. A reason why I wanted to write a zine is because I thought it would be a good way to get out and meet other artist. It was. I got a chance to talk to some respected heavy weights in the community. As I was writing the very first issue, I was amazed at the level of talent I managed to obtain. That good fortune managed to persist through out all the following issues. It was important to me that I only include those who’s work I am sincerely a fan of. It should be noted that everyone was very pleasant to work with during the interviews. Not only did I get to meet some talented and interesting people, but also I learned a lot about being an artist from all of them.
Making the
Zine
A Brief Look at DIY Publication Since The Muse is the first zine I have ever produced, I would hardly consider myself an expert on this subject, therefore, I will only relate to my experience thus far. However, creating this series of independent publications has been a great learning experience on multiple levels. Often, when I talked about this as a project I am working on, people would tell me that they at some point had or do have similar ambitions. While creating a zine is not terribly complicated and there’s not much in the way of standards to meet up to, there are still quite a number of lurking variables a zinester encounters when producing publications. When equipped with knowledge on what to expect, some of these potential problems may be curbed. Some, are inherent with the process and one learns how to deal with them through experience. The difference between art as decoration and art as a real conceptual statement is the same difference between a newsletter and a zine. While putting together The Muse I would sometimes be concerned if the publication was coming across as TOO informative. I didn’t want this to be a newsletter reporting on people and events. I put a lot of thought into what it is that makes other zines work as a unique composition. This means I would pour over websites and other independent publications to realize this. At times, I do feel that The Muse is a little conservative aesthetically, but I feel that it does hold muster when compared to other zines of its caliber. What I am getting at, is that you have to be passionate about the project. For example, I know lots of funny people but that doesn’t mean they should be stand up comedians. Stand-Up comedy is actually a very disciplined performance, even when it is impromptu. Amateurs who underestimate the seriousness of this fact are doomed to get booed off stage. But those who respect the discipline will at the very least win support from the audience even if they may not be funny. Very often, I come across zines that are either aesthetically interesting but lack quality (or any) content. Or vice versa. I tried going for a healthy balance of both and sometimes I had to compromised what I wanted for what was good.
Zines of Yore
The South Florida Rag
Sonic Death
As a teenager in South Florida, I always had an issue of Rag. Fetaured CD reviews, concert listings, and interviews for national and local musicians.
This Sonic Youth fanzine was the holy grail for music geeks in the 90s. Sonic Death set the standard for zinesters everywhere.
Touch & Go
Detroit made, T&G is amongst the most influencial zines EVER. It featured mid-west punk of the 70s and 80s. (Ian Mackaye and Henry Rollins grace the cover)
Perhaps the hardest pill to swallow in the independent publication circuit is the cost of printing. During my experience with The Muse, there was no cheap method of printing. I’m not saying there isn’t one, but if there is I haven’t found it yet. Recently, I took a class that discussed media and how the news makes money from advertising, not subscribers. I was told that if a newspaper would rely solely on subscription revenue then it wouldn’t begin to cover the cost of the paper. For the most part, I used a laser printer. While the cost of toner became astronomical, it was highly efficient and I had a lot of control of the product. The consumption of toner also affected my layout design. I avoided dark images and inverse text (white letters on black background). I found myself having to get creative when I wanted to evoke a specific mood. Surprisingly, interviews were not a difficult part of the process. The interviews I conducted were 100% pleasant. I enjoyed talking to all of the artist interviewed. To be honest, going into this I expected to talk to a few snobs but I was proven wrong. I found that most people like to talk about what it is that they do. Of course, when you love your work why wouldn’t you? The tools of the trade that I use are standard. It was my initial intention to use traditional methods for creating zines. By that I mean, scissors, glue, and tape. To an extent I did implement those materials but for the sake of time (which there never was enough of) I used more contemporary methods (Adobe). There are a couple of reasons for this, for one, I spent a lot of time developing the content. Here is where the balance of content vs. aesthetics comes into play. Never underestimate the power of digital photography, scanners, and free font downloads. Distribution was a complimentary problem to printing. Places to distribute is never a problem but if I don’t have enough copies to put out then that is a serious concern. One element that proved most valuable
Flip Side
Rolling Stone
MSU Library?!
Like Touch & Go, Flip Side they were also record labels. Both had artist that would go on to become legends.
Before it was a glossy magazine, Rolling Stone was amongst a wealth of Frisco’s alternative newspapers.
Yep. Sparty’s got one of the best collections in the city. Check out MSU’s stunning zine achieve.
to The Muse was my discovery of issuu.com, which I made via stumbleupon.com (as the name suggest, I literally happened upon it almost randomly). Had I not came across this website, devising an online version of the zine would have been difficult (or at least delayed until I would have made such a finding otherwise). In any case, issuu.com makes creating your own publication easy. Anyone can do from their own home and it is free to use. Also, it completely circumvents the necessity of printing and could have an audience potentially from around the globe. As a bonus, it can be opened and read on facebook seamlessly. I would be totally lost without my voice recorder. This device was indispensable while transcribing interviews. The Muse was all about the artist so it was important to be to get their words down as accurately as possible. For the most part, though I did draft the interviews throughout The Muse, it was their words that made the story. For that I am eternally grateful to all those who participated. If you enjoyed the articles then you enjoyed a dialogue with them. Which brings me to the most rewarding part of this project, meeting other artist. A motivating factor for me to do this zine in the first place is that I don’t know many artist being from out of town. This was a perfect vehicle for me to network with peers. I could say that these meetings became a sort of adventure that I would take for granted at times. Going out to meet the artist at various locations was always an interesting experience. I met the great Tony Hendrick while doing a community mural project, I talked with Bruce Thayer in his print shop and saw how Ilene Curts works in her studio, to the fetish fashion show that Ace DeVille put on (which can now be seen at Spiral). There are so many other great interviews, too many to mention, all which will be memorable as I reminisce this zine as years go by.
What is
Capital City
Creative Productions?
C.C.C.P. I am always encouraged when I see creative people come together and accomplish something they could not have as individuals. The folks at Capital City Creative Productions (CCCP) are doing just that. There, they can take care of all your personal and business needs in terms of marketing, web development, graphic design, and even custom apparel. CCCP offers creative solutions in ways that may be a little out of the box or even all out unorthodox. I talked to Jessica Kerbawy and Colin Foley about what’s it like working there. Before I met with the two, I was still a little perplexed at the workflow dynamic at the office. Is CCCP a single entity or a conglomerate? Well, they are both. Think of them as being like Voltron, Individually each person is its own capable fighting force, but when combined, they form a cosmic robot giant with a laser sword. Kerbawy explains, “ There are five of us that make up CCCP. We all have our own businesses. Colin is a web designer, he owns See Foley Run. Ted has a screen-printing shop called Michigan Shirt Works, Chris runs Only Local, a promotional email newsletter that gives local business info, and Greg Day, who is more of our sales person and idea guy. We’re really big on helping each other out. Colin will give me graphic jobs, I’ll give Ted jobs for
screen-printing. We work together almost like a business co-op. We do projects as CCCP but we each have our own side job.” As I was listening, in my mind I was imagining them as being something of a supergroup, like Monsters of Folk or Damn Yankees. How does such an ensemble of creative’s find each other and set up shop under one roof? Kerbawy said, “It came together as an idea of Colin and Ted. They have been thinking about it for a while, being that it would be a great idea to share an office space to work together and do projects, but it would also be an office to have our own businesses. So they pulled together a group of us. I knew Ted and they brought different friends they knew. Over the past several months, people have changed. I think we got a group of people who really work well together. I’m pretty happy with where we are, I think we all are. We’re headed in a good direction. The space in which CCCP is located plays a significant role with business. Once upon a time it was where the City Pulse offices were located. With a quick observation, I could see the many advantages that would bring about given the nature of what CCCP does. Not only does the infrastructure accommodate their needs but the location is none too shabby being on the east side of Lansing. “It has this huge common room where we can all work together or in our own individual spot” saide Jessica, “there’s also the conference room where we’re able to meet with people. It works out really well.” During our discussion, I brought up the importance for artist to find a way to making art financially sustainable. Jessica told me about how CCCP is trying to not only do that for themselves but for other artist in the community as well. Kerbawy says, “My graphic design has been funding my art and got it off the ground and now they are kind of working together. That’s something we want to incorporate into this office. Bringing artist in here and giving them a place to display their artwork and having
it within a business. It may be an unexpected place but we have a huge window and we love for people to look and maybe come in and say, wow whose art is that? That’s something we’re gonna start pushing for.” (I know for a fact that that happens because I have done it myself prior to this interview.) Colin adds, “ That’s what we did with the outside of the building too. Rob Shellburg spray painted the outside.” The vision of CCCP is to have the players enjoy what they do and do what they do best. Working in the creative industry, coming across choice projects can be difficult. But, having a team of creatives with an office space in one of the more eccentric parts of town is strong business model. Colin elaborates, “Ted and I wanted to put together different talents. We all have been doing freelance work. What can we all do to help each other get more business? Well, Ted has a lot of clients that would help me out. So we do a lot of exchange work, which helps to pay the bills, but the overall goal is to put our uses to work.” Colin says, “Being a freelance you can only do so much. I’m a web designer and I do some web pages, and now I’m stuck doing web pages. It’s more fun doing some of the design work. Especially the marketing work, I enjoy that. Where we are at allows us to decide what we want to do. I can pull Ted’s resources and Jessica’s resources. I work on a lot of different projects now and it’s a lot more fun.” I didn’t get a chance to speak with all the members of CCCP, so there is a ton of stuff I am leaving out. But don’t just take my word for it, see for yourself. The next time you’re studying at Gone Wired or picking up a comic book, stop by the Capital City Creative Productions office and say hi.
2001 E. Michigan Ave. Lansing, MI. 48912 517-999-4080
The art of
Valentin
Pulido Muse creator chimes in on being an emerging artist in Lansing.
Obsolete in the City
While it has been an immense joy writing about other people’s work, I find it very difficult to write about my own. I suppose that’s so because I struggle on where to begin the story. Growing up, I was a spirited and creative child but I never formaly presued anything artistic. But my experiences as an adult combined with my youthfull interest eventualy lead me to the road of an artist. I once heard someone say, “you don’t find art, art finds you.” In my case that can’t be anymore true. In any case, I offically begun my life as an artist here in Lansing. I am an emerging artist, which means I have a lot to learn about the technical aspects of a craft and the business. About two years ago, I figured if I was to ever be taken seriously as an artist I need to fully commit to bening one. So I did what any rational person would have done, I quit my dead end job and picked up my camera.
BAM. Just like that I was an artist. Well, not exactly, but I was on my way. I do not recommend that people quit their job’s and take up art, I do have something of a background. For starters, I have a background in graphic design. Without that education I would not be as strong of a photographer as I am now. The main elements that I take from graphic design and apply into my photography are fundamenatly color theory and composition. What I like about photography, is that the medium enables me to share how I see the world with others. To me, my compositions are obvious, by that I mean for example, when I take a photo of an old road sign, the image should evoke a nostalgic or representation of the past which still exist, in some form, today. I intentionally leave a lot of ambiguity so the viewer can interpert that sesation on their own terms. This approach also en-
ables me to connect to strangers on an emotional level that we couldn’t have done otherwise. As I learn more about photography, I strive to create photos that are more complex in both content and production. It is my vision to produce photos that are more than printed images but actual objects of art. This of course, takes time to develop and master. Painting has unexpectedly become a passion of mine. A year ago, I had no car and I had no money, but I did have some canvases and pain left over from art school. Being that it is difficult to get around in such circumstances, I took to painting as a creative outlet. The first hard lesson I learned was that painting can be a long and tedious experience. I was quickly humbled by how extensive the process is to excute. It may seem strange, but I compare painting to bowling. Everytime I step up, I try to make everyone a strike. Although, that does not always happen. When it doesn’t, I feel frustrated so I take a lot of time in preparation for each piece. If it doesn’t feel right, I may rethink the medium I want to convey the image or abandon it all together. In the past year, I have learned a lot about the process of painting and painters throughout history. I love going to the MSU library of fine arts and learning about other artist or research projects for myself. When I started painting, I thought of doing a limited series but now I see, painting is something I may never give up doing.
A Lone Ranger
Ceaser’s
Wedge Shaped Building
The first time I have shown my work publically was at an artist market in old town a couple of summers ago. Another snarky photographer was looking at my work and he mentioned that there was a lot of saturation in the color. I told him that was the way the camera took color. He looked at me and as if to say, come on. I then admitted to maybe adjusting the color somewhat, which gave him a grin as if I just validated a suspicion he had. But the truth is, I avoid photoshopping as much as possible. I find the best photos are the ones that require the least work. A couple of months after that incident, another photographer (one much more experienced than I) said, “you got to love that Cannon color.” I asked him how he knew I used a Cannon. He didn’t, he told me Cannons take rich color. The moral of the story is, don’t be snarky or else you can look like a real asshole.
Untitled (Garage in Battle Creek From the America Series)
I am not a Michigan artist. I am an American artist. I get inspiration from this land of ours. From the rural towns of the Michigan to the bayous of Louisiana. I grew up surrounded by the Art Deco buildings of South Florida and lived under the neon lights of Las Vegas. I’ve seen the glamour of California and the deserts of Utah and Arizona. I haven’t been everywhere but I’m out to see as much as I can. Because what I have seen is what drives me to do what I do.
valmpulido@gmail.com
IV.