The McClain’s 2022 catalog is finally here and we are excited to have Haleakalā by Kill Joy as this year’s cover.

Kill Joy’s work is grounded in honoring the earth and seeking environmental and social justice through both imaginative worlds and social movements. Her work is an interpretation of world mythology and a study of ancient symbols. She integrates story telling with calls to spiritual and political awareness and action. Her practice centers around relief printmaking, mural painting and more recently, puppet making.

Her work sits at the intersection where jungle meets desert. She was raised in a dusty town of west Texas, but her family is from the archipelago known as the Philippines. Joy spends a lot of her time thinking about and working with different cultural groups managing challenges and issues of the diaspora. The immediacy of print offers the opportunity to explore these ideas in both an instinctual and deliberate mark making. Because community is intrinsically linked to the land, Joy’s work incorporates themes and elements from the natural world. A belief that the freedom of all human beings is equally tied to the freedom of the Earth, where greed and contamination are replaced with love and compassion.

joyland.space

justseeds.org/artist/killjoy/

@kill.joy.land

Print Day in May

This Saturday May 7^th, 2022 you are invited to join Print Day in May! This annual, global celebration of printmaking takes place on the first Saturday in May. It is free and open to all. To participate, make a print on May 7^th, post and tag #printdayinmay and #printdayinmay2022. There are a bunch of sponsors for PDiM, including McClain’s, Cranfield Colours, Speedball, Japanese Paper Place and more. Sponsors donate prizes to the event. For your chance to win one of three $75 McClain’s Gift Certificates use #mcclainsPD2022. More information about the event can be found at printdayinmay.com/

Call for Prints! Daily Companion, an online print show

Open to all who wish to participate, “Daily Companion” is the theme for McClain’s 2022 online print show. The idea was sparked from reflections about these past two years which, for so many of us, have brought on a time of isolation and uncertainty that we continue to navigate. During these times we often turn to some sort of companionship, whether it is another person, a four-legged friend, the ritual of meditation, the act of brewing tea or coffee, a creative outlet. Or perhaps your companion is something that has a darker influence on your life. Whatever or whoever your daily companion is, we invite you to create a relief print of that image or concept. In September we will have an online show of everyone’s work.

To participate:

• Print must be received by August 31, 2022. Submissions after that date will not be accepted.
• One print per person. Prints must be submitted by individual, no group submissions.
• Image files must be labeled in the following format: “Last Name-title”, ie: “Smith-Tree”
• Email your image, full name, website or email address to alex(at)imcclains.com so we can credit your work in the exhibit.
• Please also include your physical mailing address. Everyone who submits an image will receive a small gift.

Enjoy the process and lose yourself for a while. Most of all have fun. We are excited to see your work!

*Please note that the “Daily Companion” online print show is separate from the McClain’s Gallery. Prints submitted to “Daily Companion” will not be included in the 2023 McClain’s Gallery or printed catalog. If you do wish to submit a print for the McClain’s 2023 Gallery and printed catalog, please visit imcclains.com/gallery/join.html. Also new this year, we accepting just one print per person instead of up to three, so pick your favorite and send it over. We are accepting prints for next year’s gallery and catalog now through November 2022.