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Brian

@sholis.com

280 followers 330 following 190 posts

Chicagoan in Toronto, art worker, autodidact, dad. This is mostly a read-and-reply account. More about me at sholis.com; I’m also building valise.works for artists.

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Brian @sholis.com · Apr 2

I don’t say this often enough: my friend Ross and I are building Valise, the best inventory software for artists. We want it to be easy to keep track of your work; the admin side of running a studio shouldn’t be difficult, and information is power. Please share with artists you know!

valise.works

Screenshot of Valise depicting a grid of Ellsworth Kelly artworks set in a clean digital interface

Screenshot of a "collection" in Valise, showing a grid of works under the heading "Works on Paper for the NYT" (yes, it includes one work that is not a work on paper)

Screenshot of an artwork record in Valise. Everything is very small, but if you squint you can see how we record an artwork's details, price, images, editions, collections, consignment history, presentation history, expenses, and miscellaneous other documents.

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Brian @sholis.com · Jun 17

Last point before I return to my unplanned social-media sabbatical: do not buy this book at Amazon if you can avoid it. Try:

In Canada: www.indiebookstores.ca/book/9781804...

In the US: bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

Single Book - IndieBookstores

www.indiebookstores.ca

Brian @sholis.com · Jun 17

You know it’s good just from the groups she surveys: the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition (BECC), Women Artists in Revolution (WAR), ACT UP, Top Value Television (TVTV), Agnes Denes, Edgar Heap of Birds, Dyke Action Machine!, fierce pussy, Project Row Houses, Nan Goldin’s PAIN.

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Brian @sholis.com · Jun 17

Mine is not the only event, and here’s a list of where she’ll be talking about it sooner: laurenoneillbutler.substack.com/p/new-book-a...

New Book and Upcoming Events

The War of Art: A History of Artists' Protest In America - available June 17 from Verso and your local bookstore

laurenoneillbutler.substack.com

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Brian @sholis.com · Jun 17

I am speaking with Lauren at Type Books in Toronto at the end of the summer! We’ve been friends for 27 years and this is our first public event together! I am excited, as the exclamation marks suggest.

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Brian @sholis.com · Jun 17

Today is publication day for my dear friend @laurenoneillbutler.bsky.social’s new @versobooks.bsky.social book “The War of Art.” It is great! You should click this link and learn more and then buy it or order it from your library! www.versobooks.com/en-ca/produc...

The War of Art

Artists in America have long battled against injustices, believing that art can in fact “do more.” The War of Art tells this history of artist-led activism and the global political and aesthetic debat...

www.versobooks.com

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Brian @sholis.com · Jun 8

Funnily enough, I’m also in Canada and found your feed via a search for “TWSBI 580.” I’m navigating my midlife crisis with notebooks & pens, and in the past month have settled on a regular-size TN and yesterday I bought my third pen, a TWSBI 580 Diamond AL R in “nickel" (EF nib). 🤝✒️📔🇨🇦

Brian @sholis.com · Jun 7

I’m likewise earnest enough to drop in my favorite guide:

www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citati...

The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition

Find it. Write it. Cite it. The Chicago Manual of Style Online is the venerable, time-tested guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format. ¶ It is the indispensable reference for ...

www.chicagomanualofstyle.org

Brian @sholis.com · May 31

First pen, a LAMY Safari Dark Dusk (EF), purchased May 15. Second pen, a Kaweco AL Sport (Anthracite; F), purchased May 31. 😬🫣

Brian @sholis.com · May 31

👂🏻👂🏻 thanks! I hope these past few weeks you’ve been getting the responses you hoped for!

Brian @sholis.com · May 30

New albums from Al Wootton, Abul Mogard, Deaf Center, Warmth, Heinali, Ellen Arkbro, and Laura Cannell—it’s an ambient/experimental lover’s dream week. Plus Sonnyjim, a Keith Jarrett live set, Andy Shauf’s Foxwarren, Budos Band, Alan Sparhawk … it goes on and on. So much to savor. 🎶

Brian @sholis.com · May 30

Every Friday morning, I set aside time to open @mactanaka.bsky.social’s wonderful app MusicHarbor, which is like an RSS reader for Apple Music, and sort through new releases from the 1,000+ artists I follow. This morning I feel especially blessed.

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Brian @sholis.com · May 30

I’m about two weeks ahead of you and have a growing list of pens to buy next …

Brian @sholis.com · May 29

I don’t think so! I opened it up and tried to share an article and it copied the URL to the clipboard. GL parses text and images, so you could conceivably manually copy-and-paste to get that back out. But it’s not like a .webarchive / full copy. I'm a RR user, so you might want to sniff around more.

Reposted by Brian

Lauren O'Neill-Butler @laurenoneillbutler.bsky.social · May 28

!!! Thursday, July 17, 2025, 6pm !!!

Lauren O'Neill-Butler with E.C. Feiss and Ciarán Finlayson: The War of Art: A History of Artists' Protest in America

What do artists' protests reveal about the possibilities for protest in our democracy? Lauren O'Neill-Butler's "The War of Art" invites us to learn, imagine, and mobilize, which we'll do together at t...

www.nypl.org

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Brian @sholis.com · May 28

– Readwise Reader is the power-user’s tools, with good parsing, many integrations, customization
– Matter is the best–designed, but a little too heavy on AI & recommendations for my taste
– GoodLinks is great if you're Apple-only and don’t need to easily get highlights out

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Brian @sholis.com · May 28

Here’s a new iteration your followers in NYC might want to sign up for, if they missed the first round (from @laurel.bsky.social):

ultralight.school/classes/walk...

Walking the Internet

ultralight.school

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Brian @sholis.com · May 26

Don’t know if this is exactly right, but I was recently looking at pen cases on Galen Leather’s site. Here’s its Field Notes covers:

www.galenleather.com/collections/...

Field Notes Covers

Whether you're out in the field, at work, home or school, our Leather Field Notes Covers will keep your notebook safe from the elements in one stylish cover.

www.galenleather.com

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Brian @sholis.com · May 25

I've just arrived at the standard TN after a very long journey over two decades (Moleskine → L1917 → Stalogy → Hobonichi →). About a week in and very happy thus far …

Brian @sholis.com · May 21

That’s a lovely drawing! I saw it because I follow the Hobonichi feed. By coincidence an artist friend of mine was on Dutch TV a few days ago talking about his new book, which focuses on butterflies: m.youtube.com/watch?v=hCcD...

What we can learn from a painted lady butterfly | Lucas Foglia | Buitenhof

YouTube video by Buitenhof

m.youtube.com

Brian @sholis.com · May 20

archive.is/h16MV

🤝🏻

The War of Art: A History of Artists’ Protest in America by Lauren O’Neill Butler

Walk through New York’s gleaming gallery neighborhoods and the notion that art (or artists) could be considered edgy, provocative or dangerously political seems like a fantasy. But in the not-so-distant past, dedicated artists used their work to fight for everything from housing rights to AIDS awareness. Butler, a former editor at Artforum, has structured the book around oral histories from several key figures, charting their work from the 1960s to the present. June 17

Reposted by Brian

Ido Radon @idoradon.bsky.social · May 20

We are launching a new exhibition project for art, its discourses, and histories in Portland Oregon above Mother Foucault’s Bookshop. societysocietysociety.com

SOCIETY

SOCIETY is a space for art and its histories and discourses above Mother Foucault's Bookshop in Portland, Oregon

societysocietysociety.com

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Brian @sholis.com · May 20

Happy to recommend bookstores and coffee shops and bakeries and the like in Toronto, to round out your trip!

Brian @sholis.com · May 16

The Lamy Safari Dark Dusk special edition got me yesterday, after years of lurking …

Brian @sholis.com · May 16

So far as I can see in these roundups, there wasn’t a single photograph on view at Independent, NADA, or ESTHER in New York last week:

artviewer.org/independent-...

artviewer.org/nada-new-yor...

artviewer.org/esther-ii-ne...

Independent New York 2025 – Art Viewer

Featured Artists: Nooshin Askari, Adam Higgins, Douglas Coupland, Nana Wolke, Zoë Carlon, Amel Bashier, Ada Patterson, Suyi Xu, Sam Mattax, Wendy White, Tincuta

artviewer.org

Brian @sholis.com · May 16

Toronto: @billorcutt.bsky.social (!) and Aidan Baker (!!) at Allan Gardens Conservatory (!!!) on August 9. I got tickets for me & Julia. See you there?

dice.fm/event/7daneb...

Bill Orcutt Tickets | CA$50.48 | 9 Aug @ Allan Gardens Children's Conservatory, Toronto | DICE

As one of experimental music's most influential guitarists, Bill Orcutt weaves looping melodic lines and angular attack into a dense, fissured landscape of A...

dice.fm