Print Stuff Application - It's Art, Karen

A group consisting of myself and four other level 6 students have recently applied to Print Stuff, under the collective name, 'It's Art, Karen'. Run and managed predominatley by one of my peers, It's Art, Karen stemmed from a quick, joking fix to what name a group of us could appear under and soon took on a life of it's own. It's Art, Karen started to manifest and become something that represented a DIY ethos, with a tounge-in-cheek approach to creating and engaging with the creative industry.

My housemate, Bronte, has been really pushing the idea of this as a small brand and through conversations we have at home, It's Art, Karen looks like it could become a kind of umbrella name for a rotating group of DIY based artists and illustrators. For me, working in a collective this way in which we are all independent and create our own work as opppossed to creating collaborativley suits me a lot better. Having the support, encouragement and shared ethos of like-minded individuals works a lot better for me as a way of being involved within different communities and collectives.

Now we've been accepted onto Print Stuff, my main focus is to figure out what stock I already have that can be used for the print fair, what stock I need to create, and to curate myself an inventory of items that will be suitable for sale.