Stickers, aufkleber, street art, political posters, des affiches, ephemera
Caveboy and I spent a few hours liberating stickers in Soho and the lower east side. According to him, “the stickers were like fish jumping out of water and into our nets.” Yepper. Warm muggy weather = easy sticker collecting. Here is a picture of our tool kit, which includes two different paint scrapers, wallpaper remover, and Q-tips (not sure why we needed those), plus the short three-step ladder, plus the notebook where I put the stickers until they are archived by my ace student assistants:
Just read about a place in Dresden called Cromatics that prints full color stickers on the cheap with a very short turnaround time. I bought three sample packs of 50 stickers each. Shipping was as much as the stickers, but I’ll get stickers from around the world, which is very cool! I am limited in my sticker liberation by lack of funds to travel!!! Ergh. I didn’t realize Dresden had such a big street art scene. Caveboy and I have talked about going there the next time we travel to Europe (if we can ever get the $$, that is).
PS: This place prints stickers in runs of 6,000 to 36,000. Anything less than that is considered a “short run.”
This week, I’ve been following a few threads on a Flickr site called Graffiti Street Art – Sticker Traders. Lately, some of the contributors have been trying to out-bad one another with this gendered and faux gangsta stuff:
We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives ©
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I received an email out of the blue tonight from someone who heard I’m into street art and graffiti, and she is going to send me some of her stickers. Here is her Web site, and click on the little b/w image on the bottom to read her sticker story. Very sweet!
Sticker artists really come in all shapes and sizes. Earlier today, I was looking around in Flickr and read how PEEL is going through some rough financial troubles these days. Some folks were very sympathetic, while others flamed them in a major, self-righteous sort of way (IMHO). You can read about it here.
On the posse front, two of my students, Kevin and Tsewang, scanned 140+ stickers last week to add to my CONTENTdm collection. Mostly Berlin booty.
Urban kittehs are frolicking up north for the summer: Beans, Frankie, Ladybird, and Viggo, respectively.
It’s hot down here in NJ, unlike the breezy summers of northern New York, where Kitty flourishes. No stickers today after all. We went instead to see Sacred Art of the Yoruba at the Newark Museum. Beautiful beaded headdresses, plus a warrior’s cape covered with amulets, like the one Chris and Nora Roy donated to SLU. I tried to find a picture of one, but the only one I saw on Google said it was Asante (?). I’ll look around and try to post a picture later.
Newark is also cleaning up the downtown area. No street art at all, save for a few signs that said Vote Line B.
This Kitty is ready to head home and sleep on cool flannel sheets during the warm summer nights up north.
