Eye Exam: Keeping Calm and Carrying On. Poster for Mandate By Jason Foumberg “Why do all the work?”
Asks Nadine Nakanishi of traditional printmaking techniques. The rhetorical question is often posed to her and Nick Butcher, who together run Sonnenzimmer, a silk-screening poster-design studio in Roscoe Village. A shopper at the Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco stopped at their booth to ask why he shouldn’t simply get posters made at Kinko’s where 11×17 full-color sheets are available for about one dollar each. Nadine and Nick started as painters and gravitated toward prints as they realized how a print could fulfill a need where a painting couldn’t. The growing success of Sonnenzimmer shows how two distinct creative fields, art and music, can strengthen each other. Poster for Taqwacore Someone once told Nadine that if she stayed in Chicago she wouldn’t make it, that the city cannot support its artists. Sonnenzimmer posters are available for purchase at sonnenzimmer.com. Spraygraphic Interview with Artist Nadine Y. Nakanishi.
Fostering Pragmatism: An Interview with Nadine Nakanishi. Nadine Nakanishi has been working with Nick Butcher in their collaborative independent print shop since 2005.
Under the shared moniker, Sonnenzimmer, they’ve made posters for such notables as Beach House, The Books, and Broken Social Scene. They also make posters for comedians, design shows, and the like. While I’ve been consistently astonished by Sonnenzimer’s dedicated success, Nadine and Nick mustered additional energy to kickstart a Creative Printer’s Guild. Through that network, screen printers are able to troubleshoot, share resources, and develop a community around their interest. All of that is of itself worth note: starting a business is not easy; neither is facilitating community. Nadine Nakanishi, "Archive," 2010. Caroline Picard: How did you start Sonnenzimmer? Nadine Nakanishi: Sonnenzimmer started as a consequence of Nick, my partner, and me getting together to share art space.
NN: To answer the first question, my own work feels a lot more naive and unrefined. Nadine Nakanishi + Nick Butcher - Ashes & Milk Blog. Below are Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi, the founders of the Chicago screen printing studio Sonnenzimmer.
In the background is a mixed-media painting created by Nadine. I love the book cover in the left corner! Nikko: First off I wanted to say thank you for doing this interview with me. I wanted to do it as a thank you for doing my business and gift cards. It’s good timing too because you guys are going to have your show February 11th, 2009 at Lula Café so you’re probably full of… Nick: Anxiety. Nikko: I have spent a good amount of time examining your prints and paintings and love what you do and wanted to know more about the new body of work you’ve both created. Nick: With time and by working on thirty different things at once, I start formulating ideas. Nikko: Like everything is a work in progress. Nick: Yes, it’s never finished. On the left is Nick with a silk screen created by Nadine. Nikko: What are you submitting for Lula and how did you come up with ideas for these pieces? Nadine Nakanishi « The Paper Crane.