By Nadine Nakanishi

Chicago enjoys one of the most visually impressive art and design communities I’ve ever had the pleasure of witnessing. Maybe it’s the brutal weather that forces people to hole up inside 65% of the year, or the ingrained Midwestern work ethic, but one mere Chicago block boasts more visual design prowess than most other cities manage in their entire municipalities.

Whether you’re partial to the postpunk aesthetic of Jay Ryan’s The Bird Machine or Steve Walter’s Screwball Press, the folk-art inspired artistic anarchy of Tony Fitzpatrick or Mekon Jon Langford, or even the post-web 2.0 graphic design refinement of Coudal Partners and Gapers Block majordomo Andrew Huff, the city is awash in visual art and design that is distinctive, refined, and brilliant. Urban renewal of the highest order.

It’s fertile ground for a diverse array of talents, including the ones above and far too many others to mention without this piece turning into a line-list of fave Chicago artists and designers. All the sames, such a vibrant community has its challenges as well, particularly for new artists that are standing in the shadows of such giants. Even in the city of big shoulders, with an incredibly vibrant and supportive community, it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd.

Nadine Nakanishi and Nick Butcher of relatively young Chicago print and design studio Sonnenzimmer are experiencing many of those challenges first-hand. Both have worked for years in both the Chicago printing and arts communities. Butcher and Nakanishi’s art and design work has been shown as far afield as Switzerland and appeared in publications including Chicago Reader, Time Out, Punk Planet, and The Face. In addition, they have done countless show posters for bands that include The Weakerthans, Warhammer 48K, The Black Heart Procession, and CocoRosie.

With an art print series release party coming up featuring the work of Chris Kerr, Carrie Pollack and Anders Nilsen on February 23rd, Butcher and Nakanishi spoke with me about their work, design, running a print shop and the difficulties of striking out on ones own.

Where did the concept for Sonnenzimmer come from? What are you hoping to accomplish with the print shop?

By Nick Butcher

Nadine Nakanishi: There’s a lot we envision it to be and it’s interesting how it evolves on it’s own. Primarily first though is to establish an independent way of living, of making a livelihood outside the corporate world and therefore setting up our own rules and limitations. A very important part for me is also to be a part of the artistic landscape of an art community that fosters exchange and being in an environment that promotes it.

Nick Butcher: Nadine and I both had painting studios and we were printing out of the Bird Machine. It got to point were we wanted and needed to set something up ourselves. We figured if we combined our efforts we could maybe scrape something together — we wanted a space to share and to get some basic screen printing equipment. One thing led to another and we ended up with all this hi-end gear and a really nice space. In the meantime I had a done a couple of “visiting artists” deals in Berlin (Bongout) and Austin (Decoder Ring) . I had a such a great time doing both of them. I thought we could do something similar here. It felt like a great way to give back to the community here in Chicago and elsewhere. A good way to be more than just another print shop/artist studio.

What have been some of the challenges of starting your own print shop?

Nakanishi: Basically, stomping it out of the ground with absolutely no capital and having to wait and have patience for every little utensil we need there, from thumb tag to emulsion to automatic press. It’s like saving up and then getting something and saving up and getting something else. We’ve been lucky to have been able to trade a lot of equipment with very generous people. Demanding has also been finding a good balance between my own personal work and running a shop together with Nick. The maintainance part of having a shop is really boring and lame.

Art by Chris Kerr

Butcher: For me, the biggest challenge has been finding the balance between paid work and tinkering away on my own stuff. That doesn’t always pay, but is essential for me. 2007 was our first full year of being in business. I took on everything that came my way, the majority being poster jobs. I love making posters but I had to crank out one or two a week and I got burned out really fast. I was out of ideas, and I had no real drive to make anything. It was just too much. So yeah, its a challenge to figure out how to make a living and still have time to devote to art or goofing off or whatever. I’ve made some changes in how I’m approaching things this year. I’m in talks with several artists about making prints for them, sort of working as a master printer. At the same time I don’t want to just do this but it is a nice break. It gives me more head space to dilly dally around with music and art…which then feeds back into the more commercial work we do here. Ultimately we want this place to do a little bit of everything…make art, make posters, make community, BBQ, all under one roof. (For more info about Nick’s music projects, go here - ed.)

Can you give us a quick overview of your art and design backgrounds?

Art by Carrie Pollack

Nakanishi: For me, I come from a graphic design background. I ended up doing a graduate study in type design. In my last year of school, I was doing a poster and realized that I didn’t want any type on their and no logos and basically just was interested in making images, landscapes. However, I feel also that a lot of my design and art background comes from growing up in different cultures.

Butcher: I grew up drawing Garfield, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and wrestlers. I gave it up when I discovered music and skateboarding. I got really into 4-track recording and played in a few bands. Initially I went to school to be a recording engineer, that lasted about 6 months. Around the same time I was getting into the internet this was 97 or so. I got really into web design, this re-sparked my interest in visual things. I switched my major to Graphic Design, hated that, and eventually settled in screen printing. I finished up my design major anyways, but was developing a real interest in art. Then I finished school and just started pushing more on the art side of things.

Your styles, while very different, both seem to be quite abstract. Can you give a bit of background about how you came to develop your artistic styles? How does your design and print work differ from your distinctly artistic work, and how is it similar?

Nakanishi: A lot of it is cross pollination. The functionality of design makes you want to break away and the aloofness of art, wants you to be desperately obligated to something. I like bouncing back between the printing, design and painting. They’re different mind sets and that keeps you moving.

Nick Butcher at work at Sonnenzimmer

Butcher: What originally drew me to design was the formal elements, like, what makes something look good? What is that? What are the secrets? What makes an image powerful…color, shape…that kind of thing. With screen printing initially I don’t think I was really making art, per se, just working through some ideas that weren’t quite design yet not quite art. I was really into street art, Art Chantry, clip art, etc. I loved (and still love) random images with random text that make you think, that make no sense but force you the viewer to make connections. As I got more into “art” making, meaning painting, I began to apply these ideas on more abstract terms…shapes, colors, the occasional image, and yeah kind of just pouring things out of my brain. My first two years painting were a flood of ideas. For the first time I felt like I was sort telling my story, on a completely visual yet abstract way. I don’t think visual abstractions have a literal meaning, they exist in a level removed from that. Somewhere more primal, more intuitive than our conscious minds can always access.

I noticed the less I thought, the better the art. I became very interested in this. All the different things I do pull from this idea, art/music/design/print, its just more fully realized in the art and music. design has to serve a purpose, generally speaking. So I try to communicate on a subconsious level with the viewer, I guess. Not in a sleazy advertising kind of way, where you are scaring people into using a product, but on a level where someone looks at my image and likes it…but isn’t sure why.

Art by Nadine Nakanishi

Can you tell me a bit about the artists at the show and how you’re connected to them?

Nakanishi: Why these? All the artists don’t have regular access to printing equipment and come from diverse backgrounds and yet from a common ground — art. We wanted to see how they would approach a print. To collaborate in a different way by providing space was one way. Art making can be very solitary and self-absorbing — to a point where it’s irrelevant what you make if you can’t bring another element to it then yourself. Having people come into the studio, brings a different dynamic. It’s also a way to be an active part of the artistic landscape, fostering some kind of exchange. To answer to our world around us in our own ways. Long term goals would be to be able to bring in artists from around the world, like a Palestinian artist, an Israeli artist, some one from China, etc.

Butcher: We picked Anders, Carrie, and Chris because we loved their work, but also because we had met them and thought they were cool people. I met Anders at the WLUW record fair about 4 or 5 years ago. He was selling his comics and related stuff and I was selling my posters. We both had a somewhat similar subtle style and ended up trading stuff. I kept up with his work over the years. At some point (maybe 2 years ago) he asked Nadine and I to put some work in a show at Lula that he was curating. Nadine and I had been looking for artists to make prints with for our series. He was a perfect match. Aesthically his stuff is right up our alley.

Carrie used to live in Chicago. Her and Nadine had studios in the same building (the splat flats) We saw here work there and both really loved it. it seemed like we were all sort of doing similar things. She moved away, but I kept her in the back of my mind. She was doing things way more abstract and minimal than Nadine or I.

Chris is a friend. I would consider them all friends now, but I’ve known Chris for a little while. I always loved his stuff. Its funny. Our work can be so not funny some times, way too serious. I knew he would be fun to work with, and his stuff is great. Again, aesthetically, there are some parallels.

What are art shows you’ve hosted in the past, and what are you planning for the future?

Nakanishi: We’ve hosted a quilt show for our friend, Caitlin Martell. She was a bit frustrated not being able to show. And so, we said, we should just do it DIY. For some reason when you go through art school, they establish certain barriers for artists because everything has to cater to this gallery world. I didn’t go to art school, and it’s freeing because I never had the sense to wait around for the gallery world to open up. I’m more for, we can rally, we can have a lemonade stand, we can do it just - and that’s from my early days from just getting on board and doing it. I hope, we can maintain the mind set. Things don’t have to be complicated but at the same time you got to keep it small, then you can keep rollin’.

Butcher: We never really envisioned Sonnenzimmer as a place for shows, but I’ve got increasingly tired of gallery shows and it made since just do it ourselves. It’s not the perfect space for shows, but it works…we clean up pretty well. At the end of the day its a print shop, so there’s that. So far we’ve had one show with a local quilt maker named Caitlin Martel. She comes from a fine art background and has sort of settled into making quilts. They sit on the fence between fine art and functionality — I really like that. I have a few things in mind for the future, nothing concrete though. Gotta keep it a secret I guess!

What advice would you offer to someone who wanted to start their own shop?

Art by Nick Butcher

Nakanishi: Invest as you grow. Use your resources as much as you can. Focus. Have patience. Sometimes that means having a day job for a long time and working up to it. Frankly, I’m still at that point. Nick is at the shop full-time, I still have to make that leap of faith. But at the same time we share the understanding, that he’s being there at the shop is vital for jobs to roll in, and my working a day job gave us the capital to make some bigger investments in the shop which will help eventually make an income for both of us. Accept your size and use it to your advantage. Try pushing out the best work you can, because that’s the future you envision for yourself. It’s a long road but at the end it’s empowering to know you can pull it off without being a trust fund kid or knowing the right people.

Butcher: Use the resources you have around. Start small, look for free stuff and trades. You can build a totally decent print shop for fairly little money. You don’t have to have all the pro gear — there are plenty of plans online. maybe try printing at someone else’s shop first to build up some clients and a portfolio. Steve Walters is running a bona fide printers collaborative at this point. Thats a great place to start.

SONNENZIMMER ART PRINT SERIES RELEASE PARTY Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 from 7-11pm. Showing the art prints of Chris Kerr, Carrie Pollack, and Anders Nilsen. Artist Chris Kerr and Anders Nilson will be present to answer questions and queries. oRSo will be playing a special set for this event. For details, go here.