Direct from Jay Ryan:

Hello folks –

My family lives in a house which was built in 1913. There’s a small structure behind our house which was built to shelter automobiles. In the American tradition, this type of car-house is called a garage, and ours was never built correctly, even when it was new, which was around 1960. During recent years, the garage has gradually fallen prey to Chicago’s remarkable weather extremes, and is slowly losing the long battle with gravity which we all fight during the course of our lives. More recently our garage has become host to various flora and fauna, such as raccoons, stray cats, and thriving moss and lichen colonies.

Ultimately, our garage needs to be torn down, and rebuilt using 21st Century materials such as milled lumber and plywood and shingles and nails and screws. My family is not currently able to afford the costs of such an endeavor, so I am trying to raise enough money to accomplish this goal. It was originally suggested that I start a “Kickstarter” campaign, but I found that our garage didn’t really fit within the Kickstarter methodology, so I changed direction after starting on this new project, detailed below.

I have made eight limited-edition screenprints commemorating some of the finer moments in our garage’s history. They were all drawn and printed here at The Bird Machine over the last 12 months, and will be offered through the options detailed below. Each print is identified with a letter – A, B, C, and so forth down to H. Please refer to the accompanying photos.

Print Options:

Option 1:
Print A, (printed in an edition of 300).
Of this edition, 40 individual Print A will be available for $40 each.

Option 2:
Prints B & C (each printed in an edition of 265).
Of these editions, 125 will be available as a set with Print A for $75. Total of 3 prints.

Option 3:
Prints D, E, F, G & H (each printed in an edition of 140).
Of these editions 75 will be available as a set along with prints A, B and C for $160. Total of 8 prints.

Other than Print A, above, I have no plans to sell the prints individually.

Bird Machine Subscribers please note:
Current Bird Machine Subscribers will get all the prints made this year (A, B, C, F, G & H). Prints D and E were made in 2011, and thus went out with all of the 2011 subscriptions.

And –

You are invited to come to Evanston, Illinois to view and purchase these prints at an actual Garage Sale, in the actual Garage depicted in the suite. Garage sale may also include other non-garage works by myself, and my lovely wife, Diana Sudyka, as well as other more traditional garage sale items such as t-shirts, books, and old shoes. Our friend Beck Dudley will have souvenirs from her “Storywoods” tales. Please, please: No early birds, and no crazy people.

The Bird Machine Garage Sale
Saturday July 7th, 9am to Noon
The Garage behind 2020 Darrow Avenue
Evanston, IL 60201

Monday, July 9, after the Garage Sale, the remaining prints will be posted to the Bird Machine site, subject to Illinois state sales tax and normal shipping costs.

Thank you for your time and patience –

Jay Ryan

"The Garage Suite, Print A" by Jay Ryan

"The Garage Suite, Print B" by Jay Ryan

"The Garage Suite, Print C" by Jay Ryan

"The Garage Suite, Print D" by Jay Ryan

"The Garage Suite, Print E" by Jay Ryan

"The Garage Suite, Print F" by Jay Ryan

"The Garage Suite, Print G" by Jay Ryan

"The Garage Suite, Print H" by Jay Ryan