Camp Firebelly 2011

After the fact that majority of us campers (plus an amazing camp counselor by the name of Alex) stayed up till the wee hours of 6 a.m. completing our last assignment for The Center of New Community – postcards that were part of a series of questions aimed at advancing the national dialogue on race, food, and worker justice – we got semi-dressed and presentable for Andrew Demeitz of Unisource who showered us with takeaways and samples from companies such as Odeon, New Leaf Paper, Neenah Paper, Mohawk Paper, and a slew of other such manufactures of premium and fine printing papers.

Once lunch broke out, campers got hard at work prepping for the extravaganza that would occur at Firebelly Design studios later that night, showcasing all our work and process to Chicago’s design industry and friends.  With that being said, we all knew it was to be a celebration and a chance to acknowledge and thank those who had made a large contribution to making camp what it was, which was legendary.

With a ridiculous amount of off-cut paper donated by Salsedo Press (who printed out our tabloids), cardboard trees, and a bunch of process work to display, we set out and made the studio ready for the party in a matter of hours.  Though we scrabbled to get everything the way we wanted it, things ended up looking pretty amazing and holistic, with finished work presented along side an entire wall of process work, an intricate paper installation behind the bar, and gifs and a photo-montage projected onto a screen, guests were able to view the tabloids, poster, website, postcards, and woodwork while dancing to a live DJ and chowing down on some epic pizza.

Gong-show accomplished.