Have you ever been so tired you wanted to collapse into a puddle and suck your thumb? As a raging insomniac who hasn’t been to bed before midnight since 1762, working at 6am on the day we “spring forward” made me want to revert back to infancy.
I fought my cheek muscles to form a smile, forced myself to walk on two legs, and resisted the urge to put my thumb in my mouth the entire day. The only thing keeping me going was the Open Space’s Publications & Multiples fair I was attending after work.
Open Space puts on this fair annually as a way to showcase prints and objects produced in multiple and artist publications. This was their 4th annual fair. I am a big fan of the number four because it is a nice even number that is easy to multiply and divide. Also it is right next to the number 5, another one of my favorite numbers. Add a zero to that and you get 50. This fair promised over 50 independent publishers, galleries and artists. I am also a big fan of the word “free”. This 4th fair was free. I had many reasons to avoid dying in a thumb sucking puddle.
Once I was free (see I really love that word!) from work at 2 ‘o clock, my face resembled a zombie who had just fought a war and developed gangrene along the way. I drove home and painted my face with my best flesh colors, duct taped on my best smile, and drove to the venue at 16 West North Avenue.
As I dodged bikers along the way, I questioned my 20/20 vision and thought about the helmet Santa had given me at Christmas. Santa knew I didn’t own a bike, so I can only guess that the helmet was intended for daily activities. Studies show that people who wear helmets in their day-to-day life live longer. Since wearing the helmet, the length of my life has increased greatly. I am twenty-five.
Once I crawled out of my car, I realized I forgot my helmet. Nonetheless I trudged into the sun as it penetrated my pupils and burned off my flesh-toned makeup. As I walked into the venue there were dozens of vendors lining the sides and dozens of people roaming in and out, a healthy artery of people. I then realized I was amongst other zombies.
They weren’t visibly worn like myself, but I could hear talk of exhaustion similar to my own due to an after party at Floristree. Apparently, after a day of showing their work, the after-party continued late into the night and here they were again smiling and putting me to shame.
As a result of my infant-like mentality, I immediately gravitated towards the brightest colors. I ogled a table of polymer clay necklaces and accessories intertwined with tiny seed beads like a five month old baby. They were all irregular yet perfectly planned. There were so many to choose from and they all looked delicious. I walked away to avoid drooling on them.
I then decided to overcome my mental handicap, so I looked for some words. Looking for words in a book fair might be a difficult task for some, but not for me. I found words in the form of Mia Peterson. Mia took her journals from her younger years, illustrated them, and made them into a book titled “Thoughts I Never Knew I Had”.
The book included all of the trials and tribulations of growing up, timelines of her BFF’s, and things we all wonder like “Sometimes I have weird thoughts like what if I am being observed by aliens” and “what if everyone sees different colors?” followed by a grey rainbow. I wanted to keep the book, perhaps buy it, but I took a business card instead.
After leaving the fair, I have looked at her website and found some more writing. “I can measure my loneliness in leg hairs” accompanied by a naked figure with hairy legs. I find very true and almost scientific. Whenever my leg hairs get too long, it’s time to shave, leave the house, and develop new friendships.
I then searched for more words. When you are hungry for words, a Newspaper is a great place to look. Luckily, I came across a table with stacks of “Mothers News” accompanied by a friendly looking guy who introduced himself as Jacob.
I started to read about February. Did you know that February is the “Month of the Pearl” in Finland? Neither Did I. Mothers News told me “February is a month of purification but not necessarily refinement, which makes sense when you remember that a regular pearl is just clam spit, which isn’t very refined.”
As I thought about all of the old ladies out there wearing clam spit around their neck, I noticed an ink blot on the newspaper next to the pen I was carrying. I had destroyed a masterpiece. Mother would be so upset. A stream of “sorry’s” flew out of my mouth. Jacob stopped the sorry stream and informed me that this was part of the print. “We have freedom to do stuff like this,” he told me. “Look you have one on your notebook too.” And there it was, an identical scribble. Fate.
He was selling Mothers News for $1 a piece, quite a steal. I sat down at a lecture called “Superman vs. Deconstructive Analysis”. I was told this was “free to attend, but a great price will be paid for those who forget the words spoken on this day” so I attended.
I never paid much attention to Superman until this day, but now I have a lot of dirt on him and his scandalous birth. Apparently the poor guy, now a multi millionaire, was sold to DC comics for a mere 130 dollars with no rights to the writers. The speakers then deconstructed the early drawings. The audience laughed, and cried (because the early drawings were so bad). I can only hope I won’t forget the words spoken on this day.
I then shifted towards a table labeled Familyfamilytree where the artists were handing out free poster sized cell phone pictures. When people say things are free, it means take one, maybe two if you are worthy. Working at a grocery store and handing out samples, I’ve learned it’s rude to take five regardless of the quality of your smile, so I took one picture of a plant faded behind an opaque screen. I have no idea why the plant was behind this screen and I will probably never know. That’s the beauty of these pictures, the not knowing.
I flipped through a book of more cell phone pictures. A picture of jellybeans emerging from a square hole on the front cover urged me to open the book. “I made this book to remind myself not to take cell phone pictures”, the artist told me. I hope his goal was not achieved. Random. Colorful. Awesome. My infant mind could not process better adjectives to describe what I saw. Go to familyfamilytree.net to see what I am talking about.
Despite being helmetless and sleep deprived, the fair was definitely worth forgoing my usual post 6am shift nap. Typically I’ll set my alarm for 4:30pm, but my body will decide to sleep until 7pm. It is at this time I start to make breakfast thinking it is 7am. My world is shifted in the worst way. Today was different. Open Space Publication and Multiples fair to shift my word in the best way. I went home and made dinner.
After dinner, I realized I still had many unanswered questions. I had touched, perhaps drooled, on the surface, but what went on behind the scenes? And what does that alligator in front of the gallery mean? I contacted Carey Chiaia, a current member of Open Space for answers:
How did you become involved in open space?
Open Space was started by friends I went to school with at MICA. About a year in, my roommates and I were looking for a place to live and some spots opened up. We all really admired what was happening at the gallery and wanted to get involved. Over time we all put in a lot of work became more involved in the space. Membership changes over time and many of the founding members have left, the space is set up to be run by a revolving group of people. Its about as simple as that.
What were some of the big attractions I missed on Saturday?
-Lecture by Jason T. Miles, comics artist, editor and publisher (Seattle, WA)
-Open house with Baltimore Print Studios, public access printing studio in Baltimore MD. Hands on demo for anyone curious about screenprinting or letterpress.
-Mothers News: A Brief History Of America’s Greatest Newspaper Lecture by Jacob Berendes, editor of Mothers News (Providence, RI)
-Reading by Rupert Wondolowski, owner of Normal’s Books & Records (Baltimore, MD)
How long does this take to plan?
We begin anywhere from late November to early January depending on when the fair happens. Its always a spring event, but depending on timing (whenever the BMA does their fair, we make ours the same weekend, we also try to make it work with the timing of what show is up at the time.) and when space is available it can happen anywhere from early March to Late April. It usually takes about five months start to finish though.
Why did you choose to keep it free?
Part of it is tradition (I can’t think of any book fair that costs money to get into, though I’m sure they exist) Part of it is practicality (we want to get as many people in as possible and charging at the door would cut attendance by a lot. We also want to do right by the vendors and any money we take at the door is money people can’t or won’t spend on books!) Part of it is accessibility, We never charge for any art related event at our space. This includes openings, screenings, performances, lectures and of course, the fair. This makes all of this stuff that much more accessible. Yeah, if we have a party, or a music show we’ll charge a cover to make sure everyone gets paid, but we don’t want to put up any barriers for coming to see an art show or something like the fair.
What are the challenges in organizing this event?
It’s a lot to coordinate with a very, very small budget and restrictions on time. We do everything without the support of grants and we mostly rely on the financial support of our audience as well as the occasional generous donation. No one gets paid run Open Space and it is very much a labor of love for the ten people involved. We all work jobs outside of running the space, which cuts down on the time we can spend making things happen at the gallery. This all means that we have to get creative in our funding strategies and rely on wonderful sympathetic people in Baltimore. So many people outside of the regular Open Space crew donated their time and resources to make this fair happen and we couldn’t be more appreciative. A huuuuge thanks to D Center and Floristree for allowing us to host these events at their spaces. I guess most of the challenges are opportunities for really wonderful people to step in and help out.
Would you say it has grown each year? If so, what has caused it to grow?
The fair has definitely grown each year. Four years ago, it was 10-15 vendors and was held at Open Space. Years two and three were also held at Open Space, but added vendors and programs each year. This year, we felt ready to really expand the fair so we decided to move it to a larger venue. I would say that the biggest factor in the growth of the fair is interest. Many Open Space members make books, prints and other multiples and have formed relationships with artists from all over who are doing similar work. More vendors were interested in selling stuff at the fair and we’ve built an audience for this event over time. This year was a good time to test how big we could make this and overall it went really well. I can’t wait to see what happens next year!
And unrelated to the fair…what is the story behind the gator?
Its a mural that was painted many years ago by John Ellsberry. It has no direct connection to Open Space aside from the fact that its a great landmark to use when trying to explain where we are! Also, here is a description of how the mural came to be I found online. Its written by a middle school student:
“A long time ago there were three alligators. They were always arguing about who was the fastest. One day when they were at it a tiny rabbit that the alligators had been terrorizing its family came up to them and said, “Why don’t you have a race from here to that wall to find out who is the fastest?” The rabbit knew that the wall was magic and would turn the alligators into a painting. The alligators didn’t know much more than how to argue. They thought that this was a good idea so they ate the rabbit and started to race. They were running and as soon as each of them touched the wall it sucked them in turning them all into paintings. Now people drive by the alligators all the time while they are still arguing about who touched the wall first.”
Vicki (middle school student at The Park School)
