Studio News Archives — Page 3 of 8

Read luke kurtis’s new book and support children in Cambodia

Dear Friends,

I’m writing to tell you about my latest project. Angkor Wat is a poetry/photography book and spoken word album based on my travels in Cambodia. If you follow me online, you may have seen some of my photos from those trips last year as they happened. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. My book is a major project and is what sparked my second pilgrimage to the Far East, which I did by myself in December of 2016. In that sense, this is the biggest project I have ever undertaken. And even though the book and accompanying album are out now—and I hope you will read and listen to them—I am not done.

When I was in Cambodia, I met a monk named Sokhun. Sokhun and I had an immediate connection because he is a poet like me. He’s also into computers and teaches computer skills, as well as English, to several hundred students in a school he founded in the rural area where he grew up. Our common interests of poetry and technology helped things get off to a great start, and I now feel blessed to call him my friend.

bd Publication, luke kurtis, photography, poetry, postcard, puertas espaí±olas

I’m so excited to announce the newest publication from bd-studios.com. Puertas Espaí±olas is something a little different than anything else you’ll find in the bd Library. It’s a suite of short poems by Josemaria Mejorada and May Gaí±án paired with a set of photos I took of various doors while traveling in Spain. Doors are a very interesting part of buildings. I encountered so many unique doors wandering around the streets of Madrid, Toledo, Segovia, and Seville. I decided to publish the images as a set of postcards–but I wanted another voice to work with the images as a counterpoint. Josemaria and May’s poetry is the perfect accompaniment. The poems are not about the images, but, rather, they exist as another layer, providing a glimpse into another world. When we pass through doors, we enter new places, new spaces, and new environments. Josemaria and May have helped me transform these Spanish doors into portals to a realm of poetry. I hope that you will open each door to discover the worlds that await you. The set is very limited. Contact us if you are interested to obtain a copy.

convergence: new installation and video

Last year I made my first major foray into installation art. I created the site-specific work the woods are watching and released a series of videos documenting the process. While that work was part of my larger Crayon Portraiture project, it also marked the beginning of this new earth-based aspect of my practice.

Today I’m proud to debut my newest piece, which is titled convergence. This new piece takes me further down the path of creating art that interacts with the land and the environment.

💋💋💋 New zine Kissing Hedwig out now 💋💋💋

If you’re on the bd email list, you already know we sent out an announcement a couple of weeks ago about my new zine Kissing Hedwig (if you’re not on the list, do sign up!). I debuted this new work at the 8th Annual Rainbow Book Fair in New York City. This is the second year bd-studios.com tabled along with our sister publisher New Lit Salon Press. We had a full table of artist publications and literary fiction available for purchase.

Kissing Hedwig is really special to me. The essay is a unique blend of memoir and Hedwig and the Angry Inch fanzine. The Hedwig show played an important part in my life as a young, queer artist coming of age in New York City in the late ’90’s. This zine is the first time I’ve publicly told part of my coming out story. There’s more to tell—and one day I will. But, for now, I hope you’ll enjoy Kissing Hedwig. The zine is lovingly made, hand bound, and custom stamped. It’s made with lots of love and I can’t imagine a more perfect expression of the story it tells inside. Contact us if you’d like to buy a copy!

New Zine: marie was an artist by luke kurtis

My latest zine is marie was an artist. It’s a fully illustrated but handheld size zine featuring a single poem. The zine format is well suited to this type of intensely focused yet concise content. The idea behind this particular zine was to tell the story of my Aunt Marie, who died of cancer in 1987, through her own paintings.

Marie is a special figure in my life. Though she died before I was even ten years old, she somehow went on to influence me a great deal as I began to build my own creative path. She was the only member of my family that was an artist. Her paintings hung on the walls of my parents and other family members growing up. She watched over me in this way, making me keenly aware of how an artist’s presence radiates from her work and becomes part of something much larger. Looking at Marie’s paintings as a kid always made me wonder… could I be an artist one day?

Even now Marie still inspires me. With this zine I hope maybe I’ve inspired her—wherever she may be—a little bit too.

See the zine in the bd Library.