A Tale of Two Sales

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

This Saturday June 11, 2011 marks a very special day here at Minus Industries. I will quite literally be selling my wares and showing my art ALL DAY. Yup, that's right ALL DAY. From dawn until dusk.

The first sale will be the monthly Handmade Mafia Market from 10AM - 3PM at the Strathcona Baptist Church (8318 - 104 Street).

The second sale will be at the Al Fresco - 4th Street Block Party (104 Street Downtown North of Jasper Ave) from 5PM - 10PM.

This promises to be a busy day and will be my first time participating in a Block Party. I am pretty excited... You should come... Good times to be had by all... I will post more info as I get it.

-Lon

Murder By Death

Murder By Death are one of my favourite bands in the entire world. Their albums are spectacular and their live show is something to behold. So when they held a contest to design the art for their split 7" with The Builders and the Butchers, even though I had semi retired from entering contests, I jumped at the chance. Unfortunately, as with all the contests that I enter... I lost... that is why I stopped entering so many contests and why it takes something really special to draw me out of my self imposed entering contests retirement. However, in this case, the winners are quite deserving and therefore I don't feel bad at all. I gave it my best shot. I worked long and hard on these and am really proud of how well they turned out. They look stunning in person. They were all made using spray stencils and silver foil on a reclaimed album cover.

-Lon

May Announcements

There has been a lot going on this past month. I have been busy at work preparing for this years Art Walk. This years Art Walk is July 15 - 17 from 10AM - 5PM rain or shine. Once again I will be in front of Etzio Womens Wear at 10338 82 AVE NW. Thanks again to the fine folks at Etzio for having me back. I really appreciate it. I have been focusing on my Rainbow Series and have been steadily working away at it. For this part of the series I focused on Classic Album Covers. I really pushed the medium and pushed myself. This year I am even introducing gold foil into some of the pieces. These will be among some of my strongest pieces to date. I am really excited about them and proud to see how this series is evolving and where it will end up. Even though the pieces are growing in execution and scope the mandate remains the same. To make vibrant original pop art on a reclaimed album cover using one spray stencil accented by the foil and rainbow elements. The way these elements interact and effect each other will get more and more stunning and creative as the series goes on.

Since I have been so busy and have spent the past few months working on my art pieces I have decided that instead of launching a new product at the Saturday May 28 Handmade Mafia Market at the Strathcona Baptist Church at 8318 - 104 Street from 10AM-4PM that I would leak some info about my new pieces to be launched at Art Walk on Friday July 15.

I have made 14 new pieces based on Classic Album Covers. These will be released in Editions of 3 per piece. That makes 42 pieces of original art in total. These are all Handmade Multiples or HPMs. They are all original pieces based on the same image and will be signed and numbered. The reason I decided to Edition my work is to make my original pieces available to more then one person and to keep the prices of these pieces as affordable as possible. It is important to me to make my work accessible to everyone and editioning is a great way to do that. Now without further ado here are the album covers that will be available for purchase on Friday July 15 through to Sunday July 17. These will go for $100 each and they are:

The Beatles A Hard Day's Night

The Beatles Help!

The Clash London Calling

The Dandy Warhols Welcome To The Monkey House (GOLD foil)

The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground & Nico (GOLD foil)

David Bowie Aladdin Sane

Led Zeppelin Houses Of The Holy (GOLD & SILVER foil)

Madonna True Blue

Nirvana Nevermind

Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon

The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers

Rush Retrospective I

Rush Retrospective II

The Who Who's Next

This will be the first time I introduce the GOLD foil and I will post pictures of all the pieces as I complete them.

The EVENT this Saturday is always a good opportunity to check out my work and chat. I love meeting people and fans of my work. I will have plenty of original art, greeting cards, stickers, stuffed toys, and magnets available for sale. I hope to see you there!

-Lon

The Edmontonian

Episode 2: the edmontonian presents "money" ran on ShawTV last night at 9:00PM & 9:30PM. Yours truely was featured in one of the clips on the Handmade Mafia. You can find out more about the edmontonian HERE and you can watch the episode HERE

-Lon

Handmade Mafia

This past Saturday marked the second Handmade Mafia market of the year! It was nice to see all the familiar faces and some new ones as well. The next market will be May 28 from 10am-4pm at the Strathcona Baptist Church (8318-104 Street).

I have kept with my promise of debuting a new item every month. Technically I am one ahead, but who's keeping track? Last month saw the birth of Stabbie and Stevens, everyones favourite orange cat and stealthy knife wielding ninja. The beautiful crochet stuffed toys were made by fellow HMM member Sayuri Nakayama and are $30 each. This month, I launched my sticker packs. They come with 10 clear hand cut stickers featuring all of my characters. Get em while they last for some Peel Em Stick Em Fun! They are nicely packaged and go for only $10 each.

This month also saw the release of the exclusive t-shirt that I designed for the HMM. In Craft We Trust is based on the Presidential Seal and was lovingly hand drawn and created by me. Instead of holding a olive branch and arrows, this eagle has a pair of scissors and a bottle of glue. The shirts are $30 each and come in both ladies and mens sizes. They will be available at the markets and were made by Natasha of Whiteout Workshop. The shirts turned out amazing! Natasha did a wonderful job. They are so comfortable and turned out incredible. I was so happy to be a part of this project.

The next market is May 28. The markets for the rest of the year are June 11, July 15 & 16, September 10, October 1, November 5, November 19, November 26, December 3, December 8 & 9, and December 17. All the markets are from 10am-4pm and will be at the Strathcona Baptist Church (8318-104 Street) with the exception of the markets on December 8 & 9 which are night markets that will run from 5pm-9pm at the Orange Hall (10335 84 Ave).

I will be participating in all of the markets except the ones on July 15 & 16 as I will be participating in this years Art Walk. I look forward to seeing you and showing you my new work in the months to come. As always, everything Handmade Mafia can be found on their excellent brand new website!

-Lon

Stabbie & Stevens

Thank you to all those who came out and supported the first Handmade Mafia market of the season. 400 people came through the doors and helped make the event a success. The markets are only going to get bigger and better as the season goes on. For those of you who were able to stop by my table you saw that we now have Stabbie & Stevens Stuffed Toys. They turned out awesome. They were made by Sayuri Nakayama of Kawaii Krafts. I met her at my very first Handmade Mafia event in December. Her table was right across from ours and I spent the day admiring her crochet puppets. She did a fantastic job bringing my characters to life. It was a thrill to work with her. Look for more collaborations with other members to come in the near future. I still have some Stabbie & Stevens left and they will be available at the next market in April or you can contact me through my website. I would be happy to get you one. They are $30ea and come complete with tags that include their story. Stevens whiskers really pull and Stabbies knives really slice!

-Lon

AS SEEN ON TV

The Handmade Mafia was featured on Breakfast Television early this morning. Watch the clip HERE to see if you can spot any of my creations. SPOILER ALERT: The new products that will be available at the Market this Saturday are featured in the clip. Ryan seems to get along pretty well with one of them!

-Lon

Thank You

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for all of your support. The Art Show was a huge success. This was my first time in the Artey. It is a great venue. A huge thanks goes out to Tim who helped hang the art and the rest of the wonderful staff. A big thank you to Philip and Mark for organizing the event. I was so happy to be a part of it. It was a nice night to have a few drinks with old friends and new ones. Thanks to everyone who came to support me, those who bought art and magnets, and to everyone for all the kind words. This is truly what I want to be doing and I had a blast. Look for pictures of the night to come soon. I was blown away by the space my art was in and how it was hung. It looked amazing.

My next event will be this Saturday at the first Handmade Mafia market of the year. I am so excited. The new items that I have been teasing for the last few months are all ready to go. They will be available for sale for the first time. There are only 5 of each to start and they are only $30. These will go fast. I promise. They, along with some of my other work will be part of a three minute segment that is to run on Breakfast Television on Wednesday at 7:40AM. Watch it if you can! The Official Handmade Mafia Website launched today and it looks great!

I hope to see you all this Saturday!

-Lon

March Update

Hello Everybody,

Lots to report from the Minus Industries camp this month. It has been busy.

First off, there was a article on the Handmade Mafia in Saturday's Edmonton Journal and I AM IN IT! This is very exciting for me. Read it HERE

The next Handmade Mafia event is going to be Saturday March 19 at the Strathcona Baptist Church (8318-104 Street) from 10am - 4pm. For more info on the event you can go HERE and for more info on the Handmade Mafia go HERE I will have some BRAND NEW items for sale. These are not to be missed! Minds will be blown!

On Sunday I was able to confirm that my spot for Art Walk this year will be the same as it was last year. Thanks to the awesome people at Etzio who were kind enough to request to have me back. Art Walk is July 15-17 from 10am - 5pm and I will be set up in front of Etzio (10338 82 Avenue NW). I can't wait! Look for more information to be posted on my site in the months to come...

AND don't forget about the Art Show that I am in this Friday! Check out the awesome plug it got in the See Magazine Events Calendar! Can you tell that the super awesome lovely beautiful talented gal at See who puts together the Calendar is also my Fiancee! YAY! I am so lucky! Now come to the show and buy my art so that we can have the best wedding ever!

Thanks,

-Lon

Best Conversation Ever

Hi Everybody,

I've entered another contest! If you could go vote for me that would be so great! You can vote once a day! If you end up entering the contest yourself please shoot me an email so that I can vote for you! And I will! Everyday! :)

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

The contest was about who your Best Conversation Ever would be with. It's 40% based on votes and 60% based on the jury. If I can land in the Top 100 my entry will make it to the jury where they will decide on the 5 winners. And based on my entry and my person that I'd like to talk to I think I may have a pretty good chance. Here is my entry:

Shepard Fairey Has a Posse: Our Generations Andy Warhol

My Best Conversation Ever would be with Shepard Fairey. Shepard started out as a street artist and was most famously known for his "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" campaign of stickers, posters and spray stencils that have appeared all over the world. Shepard has moved from having his work "illegally" in the streets to having his HOPE image of then presidential hopeful and now president, Barack Obama, housed in the Smithsonian. Using his skill, knowledge, and talent Shepard made a stunningly beautiful and now iconic image of Obama in hopes of bringing the word out about the then little known presidential candidate. Shepard helmed a grass roots movement unlike any seen before in recent history and through his art he helped decide the current president of the United States. He has went on to use this notoriety to champion the numerous causes that he has always supported. Through his art, his design studio, his OBEY clothing brand, and his gallery Shepard continues to inform and educate his massive audience. Shepard Fairey is an artist, businessman, philanthropist, humanitarian, dedicated family man, champion of free speech and my hero. I would love the chance to tell him that.

Thanks for all of your votes. I really appreciate it.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

-Lon

Art Show

This is the poster for the upcoming Art Show that I was asked to be a part of. It promises to be a fun night filled with great art and great music. I am looking forward to it. You can click on the poster or go HERE for more information.

I am going to have at least 9 pieces from my Rainbow Series on display and available for sale. Each piece is spray stencil + silver foil + markers on a reclaimed album cover. They are approximately 12" x 12" and will sell for $100 framed. The pieces available will be:

Tree James Dean Satellite

Tank Abbey Road Deer

Riot Cops Brooklyn Bridge Cassette

I will have additional work for sale and if space permits may be showing some of my POP ART.

-Lon

Handmade Mafia 2011

This is the schedule for this year's Handmade Mafia Markets. I am going to be participating in all of them except the ones on July 15 & 16 that coincide with Art Walk. I will be debuting a lucky 13 new album covers from my Rainbow Series. You can expect classics from Nirvana, Madonna, and the Beatles. I am hoping to have the same location for Art Walk that I had last year but there will be more information on that in the months to come...

I have signed on to be a sponsor of the Handmade Mafia this year and am hoping to have a very active and visible involvement with my new family. I am very excited and looking forward to my future with them. They have been nothing short of amazing thus far. In the markets in the months to come I am looking forward to debuting new items and exclusive collaborations with some other very talented family members. I have a couple of collaborations ready to debut at the Market on March 19. Quantities are extremely limited to start and will be based on first come first served...

For more information about the Handmade Mafia and the upcoming markets you can click on the flyer or go HERE

-Lon

S.I.R.E.N.S.

I recently had the opportunity to work with S.I.R.E.N.S. This is the piece that I did for them. S.I.R.E.N.S. is a charity that helps children. To find out more about them, what they do, and how to get involved please click HERE

Frank, the founder of S.I.R.E.N.S., approached me with the idea of creating an art piece that exemplifies S.I.R.E.N.S. goals, what is important to them, and how they seek to lead by example and mentoring. I had fun with this project and am so proud with how it turned out. I can easily say that it is one of my most ambitious projects to date. It was exciting to depict a concept and an idea in a very visual way. I look forward to working with them more in the future.

-Lon

Art Upon Request

UPDATE (February 17, 2011): February 20, 2011 is the last chance to comment on my art and help me to get it printed on over 40 billboards over Alberta. Thank you to all who have helped me by commenting, posting, blogging, and linking my art through various social media. I really appreciate all of the help! It is not to late to comment on my art HERE

HI!

I need your help! I am not sure if you have seen the billboards or heard the radio spots but there is a new art initiative that is currently under way. It is called Art Upon Request. It is an experiment of art and social media but at it's core it is a contest to have your art appear on over 40 billboards around Alberta.

The 2 artists with the most "votes" through a variety of different social media forums will have their work on billboards starting March 17th. I have entered and I need your "votes". There are many different ways to vote, the easiest being to comment on my work on the Art Upon Request website. The more constructive the comment the better. Why do you like my art? What draws you to it? Why would it look good on a billboard? Other ways to vote are by following the social networking icons and links on my art page. You can tweet about it, digg it, and add it to your facebook. Each time you do one it counts as a vote. So please do as many as you can and pass this onto any friend you think may be willing to do this.

This is a huge opportunity for me and winning would put me one step closer to achieving my goal of being a professional artist. If you are an artist I would encourage you to submit a piece of your work. It seems like a great project to bring awareness to Alberta's art community.

Thanks for your help!

For more information you can visit the Art Upon Request Website

To comment on my work and to "vote" through various social media you can go HERE

-Lon

Welcome to the Family

UPDATE (December 12, 2010): THANK YOU! This event was a huge success for me and I look forward to doing many more in the future. I am looking forward to March 2011 when my new family, The Handmade Mafia, gets going again. I hope to have a growing and continuing roll in the families development in 2011.

Stay tuned for more great ideas and new projects in 2011. I am aiming to make my presence felt on the craft and art scene.

For those of you who purchased pieces at yesterdays or past events I would love to see pictures of my art in your homes. Send them to me at lonwenger@hotmail.com and I'll feature them on this very website!

Thanks again for everything. I love you!

-Lon

"Our guns contain glue, we make crafts not war, and we always know a "good thing" when we see it" - The Handmade Mafia

Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. One of my life long ambitions finally came true last evening. I've joined a gang... of CRAFTERS! I wasn't sure if I would be good or experienced enough but they've welcomed me to "the family" with open arms. That's right! I've been accepted into the wonderfully infamous Handmade Mafia. To learn more about my awesome new family you can check them out and join their group at: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=85089515560

My very first craft sale with them will be Saturday, December 11, 2010 at the Strathcona Baptist Church (8318-104 St.). It runs from 10AM to 4PM. There will be a wide variety of crafters with their goodies for sale there as well as at Orange Hall (10335-84 Ave).

I am so excited to be a part of the Handmade Mafia! I will have a table full of magnets, greeting cards, and art. There will be some exclusive Holiday greeting card packs that will only be available on Saturday. $10 for 10 cards! I will also have plenty of more specials and exclusives just for this event. So come and start, finish, or complete your Christmas shopping and meet my beautiful new family!

-Lon

News

I just wanted to keep you informed with a bunch of events that I have coming up in the near future.

November 21, 2010 - A Nightmare for Christmas

I will have some work on show and for sale at this event put on by the fine folks at Atomic Zombie Tattoo Studio. You can find out more about the event here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=128727963845176

November 27, 2010 - Enchant

I will have some work on show and for sale at this event put on by the fine folks at City Centre Church. You can find out more about the event here:

http://www.citycentrechurch.com/ccc-art-show

December 4, 2010 - Artists Market

I will have some work on show and for sale at this event put on by the fine folks at Expressionz Cafe. You can find out more about the event here:

http://www.expressionzcafe.com/calendar.html

Inside Job (See Magazine 11-11-2010)

I was approached by my friends at See Magazine to do my second cover for them. This one was for the movie Inside Job. The movie is about how deregulation and politics caused the financial crisis in the States. The image depicts a ventriloquist dummy looking Obama and a fat cat banker exchanging money amongst the towering buildings of Wall Street. In the distance Air Force One is taking off. I am really happy with how this one turned out. For more information on the movie and to read the article go to http://www.seemagazine.com/

Global Visions Film Festival

Hot off the heels of my showing at the Whyte Avenue Art Walk in July, I was approached by the good folks at Global Visions Film Festival to create a series of three images to be used for this year’s upcoming documentary film festival, REAL. LIFE. FILMS. They had seen my work in this years Art Walk booklet and felt that my street art inspired spray stencil aesthetic worked for the imagery that they were trying to create for this year’s fest. Working from photos, one image was used to capture each aspect of the film fest. REAL=Agrarian LIFE=Protest FILMS=Hope. I created all the images with multi layered stencils and spray paint on cardboard. You can expect to see the images on this year’s festival posters, programs, and website. The festival runs November 11-14. I really pushed myself on these and am really happy with how the stencils turned out. The feedback on them has been really great. You can find out more about the Global Visions Film Festival at http://www.globalvisionsfestival.com/

Tj & Meagan

The Future of Education (See Magazine 08-26-2010)

I was approached by See Magazine to do a couple more editorial illustrations and this time I got the cover! YAY! This was my second time working with See and I was very happy to do it. Hopefully this is the start of a beautiful friendship. The cover reflects a child's anticipation and excitement about the first day of school. The illustration accompanying the article shows the same child grown up in a atlas like pose struggling to deal with the problems of the world. I am very happy with how these turned out and I am looking forward to working with See again in the (hopefully) very near future. You can view the article here: http://www.seemagazine.com/article/news/news-main/reinventing-albertas-advantage-4568/

Green Jobs (See Magazine 07-08-2010)

This is an editorial illustration that I did for the July 8, 2010 issue of See Magazine. The article is about Green Jobs and can be viewed here: http://www.seemagazine.com/article/news/news-main/green-jobs-4425/ As with most of my work, I tried to present an unbiased opinion that represents both sides of the article while still leaving the illustration open to interpretation.

Pricing

I still have work available from the Whyte Avenue Art Walk and I am creating new pieces all of the time. If you see something that you have to have or there is something that you would like me to make for you then please get in touch. I would love to have my art in your home and would be honored if you entrusted me to create something for you.

Art Walk 2010

Here are some pictures of my set up at the 2010 Whyte Avenue Art Walk.

Riot Cops

Stencil on Reclaimed Album Cover

Stencil + Silver Foil + Rainbows on Reclaimed Album Cover

Deer

Stencil on Reclaimed Album Cover
Stencil + Silver Foil + Rainbows on Reclaimed Album Cover

Brooklyn Bridge

Stencil on Reclaimed Album Cover
Stencil + Silver Foil + Rainbows on Reclaimed Album Cover

Factory

Stencil on Reclaimed Album Cover
Stencil + Silver Foil + Rainbows on Reclaimed Album Cover

James Dean

Stencil on Reclaimed Album Cover
Stencil + Silver Foil + Rainbows on Reclaimed Album Cover

Tank

Stencil on Reclaimed Album Cover
Stencil + Silver Foil + Rainbows on Reclaimed Album Cover

Satellite

Stencil on Reclaimed Album Cover
Stencil + Silver Foil + Rainbows on Reclaimed Album Cover