Newsletter: Early Summer Dispatch
Greetings! Sarah here. We are ripping ourselves away from gardening and popping by with some updates on what’s been going on the last few months.
Firstly, A very big thank you to everyone who came out to IT CAME FROM THE BAYOU 2025. We had a great time. The Saint Arnolds tater tots were especially delicious this year. We had fun introducing a couple new items, such as James’ Boiling Frog screenprint and my own Queen of Cups riso print.
Folks were stoked on the Queen of Cups, so It looks like we are going to release a print set that includes all the ~~ Gulf Queens ~~The Queens of the Gulf~~ if you will. Just a little fun treat while I slog through drawings for the rest of our Gulf Tarot deck. Keep your eyes peeled for that.
If you missed us at ICFTB worry not, because we will be back at Saint Arnold's Brewery THIS SATURDAY for Arts & Drafts, 4-9PM!
https://www.saintarnold.com/arts-drafts-festival/
Our show “Churning Portent” at K Space Contemporary in Corpus Christi, TX went up in January and we had a nice couple days exploring the lower coast, including a couple cold, but fun beach walks out at Mustang Island State Park. James took some field recordings on site around Corpus and turned them into a great atmospheric sound work for the show. He also produced a zine called BENTHOS as part of the installation.
We also recorded a podcast on how we got into art, and advice for budding artists, with the folks at K Space Art Lab if you’re interested (Spotify link below, also available on Apple / Amazon):
https://open.spotify.com/episode/69cCQrQvl40VRiYWeUdXrX?si=ca8261b4520642db
Lately I’ve been experimenting with the new risograph machine at my school’s print lab. It’s a two drum model MF9450 with a computer interface. A whole different beast compared with our older GR models which we can only use via scanbed. This semester I made a small run of the 2-color Queen of Cups print with lime and indigo (now sold out), a black and lime variant of the WEEP zine, and some prototypes of Emergency Candle packaging. Might use the candle packaging idea for a future installation. Had the chance to try out the laser cutter for this prototype project and that was fun. A little out of my depth with that machine, but we made it work. Not too bad for prototyping work.
At the same moment I was printing a small run of the black and lime WEEP zines on the MF9450, James made our Mystic Multiples edition at our studio with some really nice green drab covers. (You can scoop those here). It was super interesting to see a side-by-side comparison. We’ve considered buying a new machine before, so this was a good test drive. There’s still life in the GRs, so we’ll ride with those til the wheels fall off.
Lastly, here’s something a little unusual…
Unfortunately from time to time we’ve had to deal with IP and copyright infringement here at Mystic Multiples *cough cough* fast fashion clothing retailers *cough cough.*
At the end of last year I finally settled a case that came in front of the newly created Copyright Claims Board. We won that case with a lot of help from a student legal team at the University of Houston’s Entertainment Law Clinic. If you’re interested you can read more about that case here:
https://www.law.uh.edu/news/spring2025/0206Clinic.asp
Stressful process, but hopefully the result will deter production companies from doing this kind of thing to other artists in the future. For my artist friends in Texas: Look into getting a TALA membership. They’ve a good place to start with any big legal questions/ disputes.
Now, we don't want to end with legal news, so here's two things we've really enjoyed lately:
1. NTS Guide to: Japanese New Age and Environmental Music
Sounds of stillness and peace from the Japanese "kankyō ongaku"
movement - environmental and ambient recordings, produced as a reaction to the growing hyper-commercialisation and urbanisation of 1980s Japan.
A forever free meditation app that goes deep with guided sessions, bedtime stories, ambient sounds, and more! Run by a nonprofit foundation.
As always, thanks for joining us on this journey! Take care!