Stencil Nation reading/presentation with author Russell Howze

Stencil Nation: Graffiti, Community, and Art by Russel Howze
on Manic D Press, San Francisco
The History and Politics of Stencil Art: Exhibition and Reading
Sunday, June 21st at 5pm
At Boxcar Books and Community Center
408 E 6th Street
Free/Donation
Sponsored by Rhino's Youth Center and BloomingOUT Radio Show on WFHB

Stencil Nation Tours Mid-America in June, 2009
http://www.stencilnation.org

Russell Howze will be on the road this June, giving his slide presentation for "Stencil
Nation." This one hour presentation will give a great overview of the art form, using
examples from the book as well as other outside sources, materials, and interesting
items. Russell will also have actual cut stencils and will allow time for questions about
all things stencil.

Stencil Nation: Graffiti, Community, and Art
A Manic D Press Book by Russell Howze

A "vibrant exploration of a sub-sub-genre.... [T]his volume crosses the globe for a swift
tour of the world's best artists, making it a handsome and insightful introduction to the
form." - Publishers Weekly, 10/16/2008

"Stencil Nation: Graffiti, Community, and Art" packs over 500 full-color photographs in a
192 page, 8 inch by 8 inch pound of paper and ink. The book presents work by more than
350 artists from 28 countries, including Iran, Australia, Japan, Canada, Spain, Lebanon,
Israel, and the United States. Featured artists include: Banksy, Jef Aerosol, Logan
Hicks, Adam5100, Arofish, M-City, SWOON, Hao, John Fekner, Peat Wollaeger, Klutch, and
others.

Without a doubt, stencils are the fastest, easiest, and cheapest method for painting an
image on a wall, a sidewalk, or almost any object anywhere. Stencil Nation focuses on the
unexpected mix of this lively, accessible medium to reveal engaging aspects of an
intentionally secretive international creative community. With dynamically illustrated
perspectives from diverse niches of the art form, hundreds of photographs and numerous
essays have been curated by StencilArchive.org?s founder, Russell Howze. Stencil Nation
builds upon previous published works to give the most extensive and up-to-date history of
stencil art, as well as how-to tips from the artists who work within the art form.

About the book tour

In June 2008, Russell launched "Stencil Nation" with a successful stencil art exhibit,
his third curated show, in San Francisco, and then went on a six-city book tour up the
West Coast. He also took his one-hour slide presentation to Melbourne, Australia for the
5th annual Stencil Festival in early August and toured USA's East Coast in November and
December, bringing stencil goodness to 17 cities. Russell also had a 5 city mini-tour in
Eastern Europe over January, and just finished a 15-stop tour of California and Arizona.

About the author, curator

Russell Howze saw his first stencil in 1990, which was J. R. "Bob" Dobbs on an apartment
wall in Clemson, SC. In 1995, Russell saw an amazing sight on the exterior wall of the
Reichstag in Berlin: a huge stenciled Bertolt Brecht poem. He snapped a photo of that
stencil, then found one in Budapest, Hungary. Then a few more stencils appeared in Basel,
Switzerland. When he landed in San Francisco in 1997, he found dozens on the sidewalks of
the Mission and Haight neighborhoods. He's never stopped photographing the sometimes
temporary, always intriguing art form.

In 2002, Russell created the first version of Stencil Archive, thinking that he would
have time to scan and upload his own collection before anyone discovered the site and
submitted their own work. He was gladly mistaken, so Stencil Archive
(www.stencilarchive.org) took off, outgrew its parent site HappyFeetTravels.org, and
ended up becoming a site with over 12,000 uploaded photographs. At the time of its
inception, Stencil Archive was the only international stencil site out there (for a few
months). Now there are dozens of sites with tens of thousands of photographs. Russell
continues to curate his site, posting stencils from around the world and featuring dozens
of amazing artists.

When not photographing, making, painting, and uploading stencils, Russell fills his time
by doing one or more of the following fun things: being a carny for the Sustainable
Living Roadshow, riding his bike, writing for his blog www.HappyFeetTravels.org, cooking
healthy food, creating vector art and putting it on stickers and buttons, producing
events, puppeteering, listening to good music, traveling, and volunteering/protesting to
make the world a better place.

He currently lives in San Francisco's Mission District, and is usually seen on his bike
with his camera slung around his shoulder.

Links for Staying In Touch
http://www.manicdpress.com
http://www.stencilnation.org
http://www.stencilarchive.org

.........................................
Stencilada: Stencil Panel Project at CELLspace
Now Installed and Ready to View
http://happyfeettravels.org/index.php/stencilada-2009/

Spring 2009 Book Tour and Slide Presentation
(more/updated details at http://happyfeettravels.org/index.php/stencil-nation-book/)

Hey! Become a Citizen of Stencil Nation by joining the fun online....
- Since 2002: http://stencilarchive.org/
- MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/stencilnation
- Stencil Nation Blog:
http://happyfeettravels.org/index.php/category/stencil-nation/
- Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stencil_nation_book/
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Russell_Howze/1437390871


*NEW LOCATION*
____________________________________
Boxcar Books and Community Center
408 East Sixth Street
Bloomington Indiana 47408
www.boxcarbooks.org
steven@boxcarbooks.org
boxcar@boxcarbooks.org
812.339.8710
www.myspace.com/boxcarbooks