PAINT PENS IN PURSES

Street art is one thing; street art by strictly ladies is another … but making an art book is a whole ‘nother level entirely. So when Paint Pens in Purses, Boston’s three-year old collective of female street artists, got the idea to make a book of their efforts, everyone was psyched. “Putting out a book really validates a lot of the hard work we girls put into making PPP not just a flash-in-the-pan art project,” says artist Ali Jersey, “but a staple in the art scene here in Boston.”

Author Mykim Dang proposed the idea to PPP founder Shayna Shenanigans, who immediately said yes. “Having the work come together in a book was inspired by trying to immortalize the work for each of the artists in a more traditional way,” Dang says. “Nowadays, everything is online, and we rely so heavily on communicating and sharing our creations through the web. I wanted PPP to have something they could physically hold on to.”

Artist Annie Park puts it another way: “Like P. Diddy would say: It’s official.”

It also changes the way the collective thought about its art in general. “For me,” says Dang, who is part of the collective as well, “since I primarily work with skateboard decks, trying to make it work in print for a book was something I had never had to do before.”

What the artists plan to do with the book is another question. Ali Jersey: “I’m probably going to do a dance with it, making obscene gestures as I shove it into my enemys’ faces, and just ride this ‘I’ve been published!’ high until I pass out.”

Annie Park? “Scan it, put some coffee stains on it and sell it on eBay.”

[Paint Pens in Purses release party. Sat 12.4.10. Good Life, 28 Kingston St., Boston. 617.451.2622. 10pm/21+/free. goodlifebar.com]