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Britt Reilly's work lives at the intersection of immersive visual arts, historic architecture and preservation, and modernist design. Britt is the executive director and collections curator at the Irving & Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and when we chat via Zoom, she is flanked by Plexiglas sculptures and a wall painted DayGlo Aurora Pink. "In color theory, hot pink is actually more calming than blues and grays," says Britt, who is full of nuggets like this that exhibit her range of expertise. She has worked with such artists and entities as Jon Rubin, Einat Amir, Pierre Huyghe, Janine Antoni, the Carnegie International, and dOCUMENTA (13); she founded the Pittsburgh Modern Committee of Preservation Pittsburgh; and she and her partner converted a 1930s building into their home, the first collaboration of their studio Hong Kong Trees. She spoke with us about local wanderlust, the magic of preservation, and the benefits of a great discontent. The post Britt Reilly appeared first on The Great Discontent (TGD).
Rafael Espinal was just 26 when he became an elected official. For the next 10 years, he worked within the halls of government, first as a New York State Assemblymember and then as a New York City Councilmember, advocating for artists, independent workers, and underserved communities, especially his own—the Brooklyn neighborhood of Cypress Hills. In 2020, he left politics to take the helm of the Freelancers Union, where he’s putting his experience to work growing the Freelance Isn’t Free movement across the country. He spoke with us about how it feels to create real change, what fueled his major shift in career goals (spoiler alert: it was a great discontent), and how all of his work is inspired by the impact of storytelling. The post Rafael Espinal appeared first on The Great Discontent (TGD).
Brad Montague is an illustrator, speaker, picture book author, video creator, and all-around maker. He’s a self-proclaimed dreamer and doer. Above all, he’s a storyteller, “working to create a better world for kids with kids” through Montague Workshop, the creative studio he runs with his wife Kristi in Henderson, Tennessee. Everything he puts into the world, whether the viral web series Kid President, which featured his then 9-year-old brother-in-law giving soul-buoying pep talks, or books aimed at kids (The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination) and former kids (Becoming Better Grownups), radiates with a sense of poignant wonder. Here he talks with The Great Discontent about the nonlinear path of meaningful work, the power of a parade, and what it means to be a joy rebel. The post Brad Montague appeared first on The Great Discontent (TGD).
Schessa Garbutt is the founder of the Inglewood–based design studio, Firebrand. An educator, lecturer, and published essayist (see The Black Experience in Design anthology, a must-read). Garbutt works at the intersection of co-design practices and making huge, mind-bending ideas and histories ring clear as a bell. Garbutt spoke with The Great Discontent about cultural memory as the foundation for their practice, the pains of delegating, and the strength of rooting in a local community. The post Schessa Garbutt appeared first on The Great Discontent (TGD).
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It’s been said that the United States won the Cold War without firing a shot — a statement, as P. J. O’Rourke once wrote, that doubtless surprised veterans of Korea and Vietnam. But it wouldn’t be entirely incorrect to call the long stare-down between the U.S. and the Soviet Union a battle of ideas. Dwight […]
What if someone is just making stuff up? Years ago, I worked with the supermarket tabloid to make an ironic, shouty, somewhat funny book that has turned out to match much of the discourse we find surrounding us. When we flew down to Florida to meet their team, I was amazed to discover that this […]
Working a dull civil service job ill-suited to your talents does not make you a writer, but plenty of famous writers have worked such jobs. Nathaniel Hawthorne worked at a Boston customhouse for a year. His friend Herman Melville put in considerably more time—19 years—as a customs inspector in New York, following in the footsteps of […]
Block printing onto fabric is such a fun way to create your own designs. Jigsaw printing allows you to carve just one block to print a multi-coloured design. By cutting our carved block into jigsaw pieces we can ink them up separately and print onto the fabric, knowing they'll slot back together perfectly. Choose a soft lino for this technique, as we need to be able to cut it up with a scalpel - Softcut a great choice. Cut your block using lino cutting tools and then dissect it into chunks using a scalpel - each one will print a different colour. For details on how to carve a block for jigsaw linocut, read our blog post here. Read on for how to print your design. You could give new life to an old block by slicing up a block you've already made and finished with. Printing onto a slightly padded table surface will help get good ink coverage. Our table is covered with a dense blanket and thick cotton. We're printing onto a tote bag. You can use YoJo Measure Pattern Tape to mark out where your design will be printed - this is especially helpful if you're printing a repeat pattern. We have stuffed our bag with a flat piece of newsprint to stop any excess ink going through and staining the back. We're using Fabric Paint for this print. You could also use a pre-mixed Screen Printing Fabric Ink like Speedball, Permaset or Madder, Cutch and Co. When using Fabric Paints or Screen Printing Ink, you'll need a Textile Roller, as a standard roller will not turn in this slippery texture. Our first Fabric Paint is a mix of Black and Chocolate. The ink will be thicker on the roller and the block than a standard block printing ink and there will be more texture to the print on fabric. Place the inked up block face down on the fabric and press down hard. Ink up again and print in the next position. You can also print using a split fountain (colour gradient) by blending from one colour to another on the roller. Place 2 blobs of colour next to each other and drag them down the roller to blend. Ink up the next shape and print in its space. Repeat with each shape, building up the design. We decided to add a little extra element to the design using softcut offcuts cut with scissors into worm shapes, and inked up with a Stencil Foam Brush in a mix of Orange and Opaque White Fabric paint. The Opaque White in the mix allows the colour to show up on top of the dark soil background. When the ink is dry, heat set the prints with an iron on a hot setting. Iron until the prints fell too hot to comfortably touch. To make this project you will need: Softcut Lino Lino Cutting Tools Scalpel Cutting Mat Tote Bag or fabric to print onto Padded surface Yojo Measure Tape (optional) Fabric Paint (or pre-mixed Screen Printing Fabric Ink like Speedball, Permaset or Madder, Cutch and Co.) Textile Roller Inking Tray Stencil Foam Brush (optional) Iron
Brad Feld has been contributing to and leading the tech community for more than thirty years. His books have always been inspiring and useful, but his new book takes it to a higher level. Adam Becker has written two books that I recently devoured. The first is philosophy, history and political drama, all woven together […]
