Portfolio Exchange: Spare Change

We are very excited to invite participation in our second studio portfolio exchange! We have just transformed ourselves from IS Projects into the Miami Paper & Printing Museum and change is the number one topic for us. In this exchange, we’re excited to see what threads and topics the artists in our community will pull out of the title, and how they’re thinking about them.

How it works:

A copy of Extra Pulp, a Portfolio Exchange organized by IS Projects in 2019, shown here in its handmade clamshell box, with some works on the left and others on the right.

Participating artists produce and contribute an edition of prints which meet the technical and thematic requirements of the exchange in the specified quantity. In exchange, each artist receives back a beautiful collection of prints, one from every artist involved, packaged in a custom portfolio. Our plan is to produce one portfolio for every participating artist, plus at least 2 additional portfolios – one for display and one for the Miami Paper & Printing Museum archive.

Portfolio exchanges are a common practice among book, paper, and print folks and have been for quite a long time. They present participating artists with an opportunity to trade their own lovingly crafted work for a collection of artworks which are related to their own. It is an opportunity which centers the work artists do and serves those artists before anything else, helping to connect them to each other and illuminate the multitude of ways in which they can respond uniquely to the things they have in common. It’s an awful lot of fun. 

We have been involved in many different portfolio exchanges in many different ways. We are very excited to commit ourselves to putting together an exchange on an biannual basis. It helps to keep this communally-driven tradition alive.

Guidelines:

Exchange title: Spare Change

In order to participate, artists are committing to produce an edition or varied edition of works which comply with the restrictions outlined below:

  • Work produced for this exchange must respond to the title of the exchange, Spare Change, in a way which connects their edition to their broader studio practice. 

  • Can be on any substrate

  • Can utilize any process which results in an edition or varied edition. We are expecting this will mostly include printmaking or papermaking, but are open to other possibilities. Please reach out to Brooke Frank (brooke@isprojectsfl.com) if you have questions.

  • Must be signed and editioned (edition information and signature can be on either the front or the back)

  • Must be 11x14”, orientation is up to the artist

  • Each item in the edition can be no thicker than 2” at their thickest point.

  • Minimum quantity of works we need you to contribute in order to participate will be determined by how many other artists commit to participating. We cannot provide an estimate for this number before the deadline. The full quantity of works from your edition must be delivered by the delivery deadline. Last year, participants needed to submit editions of 45 works. This year, it could be more or it could be less! 

  • Must be flat enough to sit in a stack without damaging the other works

  • You will be responsible for providing 11x14” sheets of glassine, two per work you contribute, one each for in front of and behind your work.

Michael Dillow, Off Canal Rd., Duotone Screenprint on paper produced for the Under the Sun Portfolio Exchange in 2023

Timeline:

November 30, 2024,: Deadline to confirm participation. To confirm, fill out the form at the bottom of this page and hit “SUBMIT”

February 28, 2024, 7PM: Delivery deadline for your edition. Can be shipped or delivered in person, must be in the building by this deadline before 7PM.

May 2024 (Exact date and time TBA): Exchange release party!

Participating artists will receive their own copy of the portfolio at the release party.


Who is invited:

We are inviting folks who have been a part of many of the studio’s programs since February 2023, mostly studio members, resident artists, interns, and staff. Invitations will be sent via email.


This portfolio exchange was inspired by our current studio members. If you have not been invited via email, but you are reading this and wishing you could participate, the only way to get involved is to become a studio member before the participation confirmation date, which is November 30th. To learn more about studio membership at the Miami Paper & Printing Museum, click here.

Participation: 

To participate, fill out and submit the form below before midnight on November 30th, 2024.

Submitting this form is a fairly firm commitment to participate. Please do not fill out and submit this form unless you are certain that this is something you want to do, the timeline does not conflict with your other obligations, and you are certain that you will be able to give this the time and resources it will require. Once the deadline has passed, we will reach out with more details and next steps. After that, you will be responsible for making and delivering your edition on time.

If you have any questions about participation, please reach out to Brooke Frank via email at brooke@isprojectsfl.com before 6:00PM on November 30th, 2024.