Monday, February 6, 2012

Fresh Blog

Looking to stay updated with Fine Line Magazine? We've moved to a new blog!  Please visit our Tumblr site and follow us for the latest info, news and artist interviews.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Giveaway!

We are currently doing a giveaway of our magazine on The Jealous Curator blog.  We are giving away two sets of our first 4 issues.  So if you don't already have them, or want them to give as a gift, just head over to the BLOG and follow the instructions to enter.  We will pick a winner at noon on Thursday (11/3).
 

Saturday, October 29, 2011

M Magazine Article

This month there is a great article about us in M Magazine, a lifestyle magazine in Milwaukee.  Check it out HERE.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Does Milwaukee Have An Avant-garde?

Here is a video preview for an upcoming article in the Journal Sentinel about Milwaukee's art scene.  We were asked to be part of this photo shoot and will be included in the article as well.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Changes + A Survey

We are working on a few changes over at Fine Line.  Some of them aren't totally solidified yet, but we made our minds up about one thing: we are changing from quarterly publication to semi-annually (that's twice a year).


The main reason for doing this is so that we can have more time between issues to make the product as good as it can possibly be.  With just two people covering all aspects of the magazine, it is hard to create a new issue every 3 months, and it certainly doesn't give us much time to step back and analyze each issue.  We want to be able to make changes and adjustments between issues.  With this change we are also planning to add more content to each issue, making for a more substantial and, hopefully, more fulfilling viewing experience.


To give us time to adjust to this change, we will be taking a small break from publishing and will resume in March of 2012.  This way we can make the needed adjustments and come back with a fantastic fifth issue.


If you have a subscription with us, you still still get the number of isues you have paid for.  They will just be coming only twice a year now.  If this is an issue or inconvenience for you, please contact us directly and we will try to work something out.


SURVEY:
With making changes in mind, we have created a anonymous survey to get your input on how we have done so far.  Hearing your feedback is very important to us!  And to show our thanks, we are offering you a 10% discount on our entire Etsy store (where we sell copies of the magazine, subscriptions and limited edition fine art prints).  Just complete the survey and you will get a discount code to use on your next order.  Click HERE to complete the survey.  It shouldn't take more than 10 minutes.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Ticket Giveaway for "Here"

We are pleased to announce a ticket giveaway for the movie Here, one of two films we are sponsoring in the Milwaukee Film Festival.  We have a pair of tickets for both of the following screenings:
SATURDAY, SEPT 24th at 4:45pm - NORTH SHORE CINEMA
and
MONDAY, SEPT 26th at 7:15pm - RIDGE CINEMA.

To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment below with the screening you would prefer to attend and your email address.  The giveaway will be open for 48 hours and close Friday the 23nd, at noon.  We will pick a winner at random for each screening.

Be sure to 'like' Here on Facebook to get more info on the film.



Next week we will be doing a giveaway for the movie Bibliotheque Pascal.  Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to get all the details.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Milwaukee Film Festival

We are so excited to announce that we are sponsoring TWO films at this year's Milwaukee Film Festival, and they seem like they are going to be very different and interesting films.

Film #1: Here (2011)

120 min | english/armenian with english subtitles
FRIDAY, Sept 23 | 9:30 pm ORIENTAL THEATRE
SATURDAY, Sept 24 | 4:45 pm NORTH SHORE CINEMA
MONDAY, Sept 26 | 7:15 pm RIDGE CINEMA 

This movie seems like an artsy and beautiful love story.  As a seasoned satellite-mapping engineer, Will Shepard (Ben Foster, The Messenger, MFF 2009) is an expert at two things: resolving anomalies and working in solitude. But when he takes a job in Armenia, both strengths seem to vanish. His landscape measurements fail to add up, and he finds a perplexing new outlier to study: Gadarine, a globetrotting photographer grappling with her Armenian identity. Gorgeous shots of the Armenian countryside provide the backdrop as the two ardent autonomists consider what it means to belong—and whether they belong together.

You might recognize the main actor who plays Will Shepard.  His names is Ben Foster and he was Claire's art school boyfriend on the television show Six Feet Under and Angel in X-Men 3.



Film #2:  Bibliothèque Pascal  (2010)

111 min.  Hungarian/romanian/english with english subtitles
WEDNESDAY, Sept 28 | 4:45 pm NORTH SHORE CINEMA 
FRIDAY, Sept 30 | 9:45 pm RIDGE CINEMA
SATURDAY, Oct 1 | 10:00 pm ORIENTAL THEATRE


This movie seems a little on the crazy side, but in an awesome way. From IMDB: "In order to regain custody of her daughter, whom she left in the care of her fortune-telling aunt, Mona must tell a social worker her story. The tale she spins---and the movie we watch---is a wild, surreal adventure in which people are able to project and enter each other's dreams, and our heroine is sold into slavery and lands in a swank, debauched Liverpool brothel where the patrons enact their literary/sexual fantasies with Lolita, St. Joan, and Desdemona. Rendered with dazzling tracking shots, striking CGI effects and a pulsing soundtrack, Hungarian director Szabolcs Hajdu's risk-taking fantasia has style to spare. But under the seductive surface lurks the very human story of a woman who uses fantasy to cushion the pain of life."





Prints on Etsy

The prints we made with our last issue are now available on Etsy! Check them out HERE.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Limited Edition Prints For Sale

We are so excited about these prints and how they turned out! We took 7 of our Fine Line artists and made very limited edition prints of their work. They will be for sale at our release party on August 26th, and available online after September 3rd.

Price Range $20 - $40, 10 of each print available.




Clockwise (from top left): Benedetta Falugi, Jesse Draxler, Greg Eason, Matthias Heiderich, Masako Miki, Justin Richel and Hollie Chastain.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Art vs Craft

We will be selling the magazine at this years Art vs Craft!  Come say hi to us on November 26th.

Press Release for Issue Four Release Party

Friday, August 26th from 6-10pm
At Sky High Gallery, Milwaukee



NEW ISSUE:
Cassandra Smith & Jessica Steeber, of Fine Line Magazine proudly announce the release party of their fourth issue, Subject to Change. Issue four features 6 artists from 3 countries, including works from earlier and later in their careers to speak to the theme of change. A limited 500 copies of the issue will be available for $10 each.

PRINT SHOW:
An exhibition of limited edition fine art prints will accompany the party. The exhibition includes prints by 7 current and prior Fine Line artists, available only in limited editions of 10. Print prices range from $20 to $40.

NEW INSTALLATION ART:
Fine Line is also pleased to introduce their first installation artist, Los Angeles based Jesse Draxler. Draxler created a 4-page spread of work specifically for the magazine that addresses the limitation, confines and opportunities inherent in the printed publication, encouraging the artist viewer and editor to further examine how the medium affects the message.

ABOUT THE MAGAZINE:
Fine Line is a Milwaukee-based international fine arts magazine. It is a hybrid between the gallery and traditional magazines; free of all advertising, reviews, previews and biographies. Fine line instead presents carefully curated thoughts and ideas with the intent of bringhing art and art appreciation to a wider audience. it is released quarterly.


Issue Four artists:
David Maisel (San Francisco, CA)
Nina Nolte (Dusseldorf, Germany)
Jesse Draxler (Los Angeles, CA)
Angelina Gualdoni (Brooklyn , NY)
Sherif Elhage (Paris, France via Beirut)
Jaclyn Mednicov (Chicago, IL)
J. A. Tyler (Fort Collins, CO)


Prints available from:
Jesse Draxler (Los Angeles, CA)
Matthias Heiderich (Berlin, Germany)
Benedetta Falugi (Follonica, Italy)
Hollie Chastain (Chattanooga, TN)
Justin Richel (Rangeley, ME)
Greg Eason (London, England)
Masako Miki (Berkley, CA)

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Installation in Chicago

Last weekend, the ladies of Fine Line (myself and Jessica) completed an installation at the Chicago boutique, Workshop.  The owner, Annie, is a huge Fine Line fan, and we are huge fans of hers as well!  Unfortunately, the Workshop will be closing its doors in August and combining forces with another store called Post 27.  The reception for our installation will be August 12th.  It will also be the closing party for the store AND we will be selling magazines.  Lots of fun stuff!

A little late...

Haven't really been keeping up with the blog, but we're trying to get better.

Issue Three is out now!  Titled 'This Is A Theory', it was released on May 27th.


Featuring work by:


Raphael Halin
Anna Paola Guerra
Jelle Martens
Amira Fritz
Theo Firmo
Masako Miki
Alexander Harding
Greg Eason
Matthias Heiderich
Jonathan Zawada 
Noel and Gary Sloboda
Travis Cebula 

Emily Jern-Miller




Our next issue, Subject to Change, will be released on Friday August 26th at Sky High Gallery. Opening reception will be from 6 - 10pm, and we will be selling limited edition prints from previous Fine Line artists. More info soon!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Distribution!

We are now distributing the magazine around the country and abroad!  Here are a list of the places you can currently get Fine Line:

Milwaukee, WI - Boswell Books & Hot Pop
Sheboygan, WI - Effjay Projekts
Madison, WI - A Room of One's Own
Chicago, IL - Post 27 & Apartment Number 9
Providence, RI - Ada Books
Portland, OR - Tender Loving Empire & Reading Frenzy
Austin, TX - Domy Books
Berlin, Germany - Do You Read Me?
Vancouver, BC, Canada - Project Space

Also, we have scheduled the release date for Issue Three:  May 27th!  The release party will be held at Moct in Milwaukee.  More details to come.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

From Art City

Milwaukee artists collaborate on new art magazine
By Pegi Christiansen

Wisconsin artists have a certain reputation for collaboration and, with the need to be thrifty, making do with what is at hand. Cassandra Smith and Jessica Steeber, both 28, grew up in Wisconsin, went to college in Milwaukee and met while interns in 2003.

In 2009, they closed a gallery that they opened and ran together, the Armoury Gallery. At the gallery, they brought in art by emerging artists from outside Wisconsin. Shipping costs were expensive.

Now, Steeber and Smith are the owners, editors, curators and art directors of Fine Line magazine. Leave it to these smart Wisconsin women to achieve their goals without the FedEx bills and rent.

Read the rest of the article HERE.

From Arthound

Kate from Arthound mentioned our magazine on her blog a while back.  She did a great little write up about us that you can read HERE.

From ReadyMade

Erin Loechner (from Design for Mankind) gave us a shout out on the ReadyMade blog.  Check it out HERE.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

From Brown Paper Bag

From the blog by Sara Barnes:
"Self curated and self published, the first issue of Fine Line includes 14 artists from seven different countries. The work in it is beautiful as well as the whole aesthetic — the spreads and format of the magazine."

Read the rest of the post HERE.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

From the Jealous Curator

Jessica Steeber and Cassandra Smith are artists and curators – oh, and they’re also the co-creators of Fine Line, a brand new quarterly print magazine, based in Milwaukee, that just came out last week.  It’s ad and article free… in other words, it’s a whole bunch of big, beautiful, glossy, uninterrupted, art-filled pages....

Read the full post HERE.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

From Milwaukee AV Club

Gallery between the pages: Milwaukee’s Fine Line Magazine puts fine art in your hands
by Cortney Heimerl


Cassandra Smith and Jessica Steeber made names for themselves through the stunning and thought-provoking shows they co-curated at the now defunct Armoury Gallery, once housed inside the historic “Fortress” building just north of downtown. Partially due to fatigue and partially due to circumstance, they pulled the plug on Armoury in May 2009. Compulsively attracted to contemporary art created by emerging and semi-established artists, the duo immediately began thinking about other venues in which to share the art they discovered, and they developed the idea for Fine Line Magazine.


Read the rest of this article HERE.

From Third Coast Digest

Walking A Fine Line
by Elisabeth Albeck

Milwaukee artists and curators of the now-defunct Armoury Gallery, Cassandra Smith and Jessica Steeber, have recently transformed their longtime collaboration into new wave print form.

Since the gallery closed its doors in May 2009 (along with many other art spaces), Smith and Steeber have had a chance to reflect on how their artistic goals can manifest through other means.  With its first issue out this week, Fine Line Magazine is the answer to their artistic quandry.

The magazine is a lush and stylish synthesis of  art from around the world and across many mediums including photography, print and collage and text. The focus of the magazine, like the gallery space that preceeded it, is to collect work from artists who are largely unknown, and to showcase the pieces in an uncluttered, uncompromised format.  The result is a product that is guided by a subjective, private logic.


Read the rest of this article HERE.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Q&A from the Journal Sentinel/Art City

Art City Asks Jessica Steeber and Cassandra Smith
by Jessica Zalewski and Mary Louise Shumacher
 


Note from Mary Louise: "Art City Asks" is short Q&A with artists or art-interested types in, visiting or having some relationship with Milwaukee, answered variously via e-mail, in-person interview, video chat or whatever format we can come up with. It was the brainchild of Art City contributor Nathaniel Stern. This "Art City Asks" was conducted by Jessica Zalewski (pictured left), one of Art City's newest contributors. Many of you will know Jessica from her role at the Racine Art Museum as well as her current and recent associations with CoPA, the Milwaukee Film Festival, Guildess and many other things. She interviewed Jessica Steeber and Cassandra Smith, the former owners of the Armoury Gallery. Steeber and Smith are launching Fine Line magazine on Friday.

Jessica Zalewski: How do you to choose particular artworks/artists?

Jessica Steeber: Cassandra and I have very similar aesthetic tastes, give or take, so choosing art that we're both interested in has always been fairly easy. Almost every artist we find comes from a variety of blogs we look at; for the first issue it was just a matter of sorting through the 100+ artists we now have in mind to create a cohesive set of images and ideas to present in the first issue. The particular artworks were unfortunately determined more often by availability from the artist as opposed to our personal preference, but within those confines we were able to maintain a visual cohesiveness and find what we needed or wanted.

Read the rest of the Q&A HERE.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

From OnMilwaukee.com

Friends approach new art magazine with curators touch  
by Bob Purvis 

Operators of a short-lived but popular Downtown art gallery are collaborating once again, this time on a beautifully-crafted international art magazine.

Best friends Cassandra Smith and Jessica Steeber, both 27, are about to launch Fine Line, a well-designed, mostly writing-free magazine featuring the work of 14 artists from around the world.

The magazine's full color debut issue, themed "Welcome Home," is an immersive blend of sparse and poetic prose, drawing, painting, photography and collage that feels more akin to visiting a gallery than picking up a magazine.
Read the rest of the article HERE.