printzeal

Kitchen Litho

2011-12-28T08:02:00.001-08:00

A group of us got together yesterday evening to try our hands at emilie's 'Kithchen Litho' process.

The results? ...incredible to say the least. My first one failed because I wasn't rolling it up properly and had some issues on the press, but my second and third trials were successful. On my second trial I was able to print a dozen images without image degradation (something I was never able to do with traditional litho). And..the really great part?... it's super inexpensive. Most supplies you already have or can purchase at your local dollar store (except for the paper).

I'm hooked. I'm going to try color litho next using this process. more to come...

If you've tried this process and are having some difficulties here are some things we've discovered:

1: After pouring on the cola to etch, let the plate sit (with the cola on it) for about 5-7 minutes before rinsing and wiping it off with the vegetable oil.

2: When rolling up...rolling in one direction/one swipe works best (rolling back and forth on your plate when inking takes off ink rather than depositing it evenly). Also, roll horizontal, vertical, then corner to corner for nice dark values.

3: If you print on dampened paper the image comes out with greater detail, values, and contrast (looking truer to the image on the plate).

4: Bonnie discovered that if you just use the back side of the aluminum foil (rather than the shiny) you don't have to sand with the 1500 grit sandpaper or use the vinegar). You can skip those steps and go right to drawing on your foil.

5: If you use vegetable soap or oil for drawing your image you can use a hair dryer to dry out any remaining water before etching with the cola. (time saver)

6: Overall we found that litho crayons, Murphy's oil soap, and Amish homemade soap worked the best.

Here's the link to Emilie's 'Kitchen Litho' Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2w0IFm7JOY

Below is the video demonstration from our trials (as shown by Bonnie Schetski-Heineman & Kirk Benson)

Drawing...'Places'

2011-12-01T18:25:00.000-08:00

I am working on a series of drawings and prints of 'places.' These places are based on images exchanged between myself and another artist. Some of the image places are from pinhole photographs while others are from cell phone pics. more images will be posted soon....

resurrecting an old plate...

2011-09-23T10:01:00.000-07:00

...so I'm resurrecting an old plate from almost two years ago. Initially, I started it right after the 'Heresies' print, full of explorations related to spaces, distances, and bodies. So, now after getting back into that mindset (of the initial exploration), I've etched more lines and have run the first proofs.

adding a few pages to a group sketchbook...

2011-04-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

My friend, Lynnae, has started a sketchbook and is passing it around. I've had it in my possession for a few months (yes... I forgot about it for a while).
I decided to use my Japanese sumi ink block and bamboo stick to do a simple line drawing. I couldn't resist adding a little interference violet to a few small parts of the drawing. It's difficult to detect (sorry.. the photograph just doesn't show it) and requires viewers to interact a bit with motion and light to get a full glimpse. Now, I'll be handing off the little black book to someone else.

Couldn't resist painting the other side of the deck

2011-03-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

... Before mailing, I couldn't resist painting the other side of the deck... so here they both are.

One last revision

2011-03-25T18:25:00.000-07:00

... I accidentally chipped my board while working on the other side... so I decided to make one last revision.

the board's finished

2011-03-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

The board's finished. I added an indigo background as well as drawings of origami whales.

last minute change

2011-03-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

I wasn't happy with the background stripe on the last version of the board... so I decided to sand it off and try something else.

Ready for Final Touches

2011-03-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

Spent most of the day working on my board at the Vitamin Studio. After much revision, and reducing this is the board's design. It's painted and ready for final touch-ups tomorrow. Then off to Montana.

Initial Design

2011-03-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

After doing some research into the history of skateboarding and skateboards, I've decided to create my board design based on the only female skater from the legendary Dogtown Zephyrs, Peggy Oki (who's also a well known surfer and artist).

Here's a picture of the initial drawing for the board, based on photos of Peggy and video clips.

If you haven't seen the documentary, "Dogtown and Z-boys" you should check it out. It provides a beautiful look into the evolution of skateboarding from surfing, via the dogtown zephyrs, who were well known for skateboarding in empty pools.

Skateboard Has Arrived!

2011-03-03T13:39:00.000-08:00

I've been selected as a contributing artist for a skateboard design fundraiser for montanaskatepark.org, "On Deck." So excited to be working on this! My blank deck arrived in the mail and I'm ready to get going on the design. More posts to follow.

Click on the title link to learn more about montanaskatepark.org and On Deck.

interference

2011-02-14T21:47:00.000-08:00

As one of the Jurors of the "Wild Things" themed youth exhibition at the Pump House, I've tried to define and redefine what is wild... what is thing. As Jurors we were asked to also show two of our own works in the small balcony gallery. I didn't want to hang my typical work as part of this show. I wanted to create work in response to the show's theme, so I did.

It's interesting how much weight two words can carry. Embedded in them are history, culture, politics, perceptions, memory, and the possibility for new meaning. I kept thinking about the relationships between civilized and uncivilized... the hierarchy of being human and the type of responsibility THAT entails. I thought of Darwin and others who explored new species and painstakingly documented their existence within our ecological landscape.

Below is my closest attempt at an artist statement for these simple drawings.

_____________________________
Artist Statement
Transmutants & Fossilies

Within our landscape are spectacular marvels of natural order. They refine our definitions of ecology. Marvels such as fractals, symmetry, and hyperbolas exist under their own conditions while concepts such as birth, and death operate under another set of conditions within the natural order.

Historically, these conditions have been know to exist as many forms ranging from the environment, weather, and viruses to pollution and more. How these balancing forces affect life forms within the ecological environment conveys a story and history about relationships, thoughtfulness, and order within the governing system.

The two illustrations, Transmutants & Fossilies are explorations of this thoughtfulness within the governing ecosystem and the types of direct biological changes that result. I am questioning the symbiosis of the ecosystem, calling to question the hierarchical part of human invention and interference.

EFFJAY Projekts Exhibition

2011-01-29T19:04:00.000-08:00

Excited to be part of EFFJAY Projekts Inaugural Exhibition! If you're in Sheboygan in February, check out the show. Click on the title to visit the EFFJAY site.

Consumer Drawings... "Intake" & "Pac-Man Ate My House"

2011-01-08T23:13:00.000-08:00

I am working on a series of small, illustrative drawings exploring ideas about consumerism and social culture. Here are the first two of the series, "Intake," & "Pac-Man Ate My House."

"Information"

2010-12-17T13:02:00.000-08:00

Information from Ulik on Vimeo.

I've been thinking a lot about social interactions and how meaningful information gets transferred between people via numerous forms of media, imagery, and data.

Here's an animation I made using a combination of stop motion photography with paper collage and frame-by-frame drawings in photoshop. It's very crude at this point, but I hope you like it.

drawing

2010-11-21T19:41:00.000-08:00

...more Swoon... this time on Youtube

2010-11-04T20:27:00.001-07:00

2010-10-24T19:36:00.001-07:00

Jon Swindler

2010-10-24T17:35:00.000-07:00

http://jonswindler.com/home.html

20 days 20 sketches project

2010-09-19T14:34:00.001-07:00

http://20days20sketches.blogspot.com/

new studio journal blog

2010-08-12T10:19:00.000-07:00

http://workinginthedigitaldivide.blogspot.com/

I'm starting a new studio journal blog, "Working in the Digital Divide."

*of course will still be posting on, "printzeal"... as etching is in my blood.

more drawing

2010-07-25T23:03:00.000-07:00

ecology

2010-06-24T19:03:00.001-07:00

exploring ecology through drawing... whether oil spill or local marsh, its a delicate situation with no sight of ease.

Elizabeth Payton

2010-06-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=69245

I first saw Payton's work last year in Minneapolis at the Walker (she had an collection of lithographs there). Her works are intimate portraits, delicate and deliberate. Click on the link for more or google her.

SWOON

2010-05-27T20:59:00.000-07:00

If you've never heard of the artist known as SWOON, click on the link below from deitch.com.

http://www.deitch.com/artists/selected_works.php?selectedWorksId=277&artistId=31

She [SWOON] is known for making large scale collage-imagery out of smaller prints she works up. She then arranges and glues them on buildings, walls, etc in public places using wheat paste. The paste eventually degrades, as do the prints... but not before hundreds of passerby's have the opportunity to digest their content. There's some great articles of her talking about the beauty of this process. http://www.designboom.com/contemporary/swoon.html

Loads more of her work can be found by "googling" her name. There are some article links on the deitch.com site as well.

William Blake's color print processes - article link

2010-05-04T18:49:00.001-07:00

http://www.rochester.edu/college/eng/blake/response/text.html

An interesting article providing some insights into William Blake's color print processes.

Miss Blanche Dillaye

2010-03-29T20:24:00.000-07:00

Miss Blanche Dillaye, printmaker; b 1851

Blanche's insight into etching and the print process is amazing to read. Below is an excerpt from the digital library of congress in which she was asked the following question.

What are the essential qualities of etching, which form its essence and differentiate it from other mediums?

[Miss Dillaye's response]
First of all, it is born of line; line is by its nature suggestive and not imitative, it deals with selection and omission, not with elaboration and subtle tones. In all arts reserve is strength; selection presupposes knowledge; and tact in omission is the refinement of understanding. The limitations, then, which forbid to etching a diffuse mode of expression add to its power by concentration, and elevate it to the level of poetry by giving to it a measured form, and it becomes to art what the sonnet is to literature."

"Etchers can not rely on an attractive exterior to cover up paucity of thought; [Page 644] flowery additions and superfluous methods they leave to other mediums. They should come at once to the vital truth; they should select the essentials and leave the nonessentials to them; there should be no joy in appearing to do a simple thing in a difficult way; they should prefer simplicity always, for in this simplicity lies the sublimity of their art.

"Large and elaborate plates should be shunned by the painter-etcher, for he can not for months, while his plate is going through stages of undue finish, 'feel vividly some overmastering thought;' nor can he be possessed by 'the heat of a passionate inspiration' while he plods over an unwieldy copper plate and laboriously draws straight lines to fill up numberless square inches of bituminous shadow. Passion does not work that way; it has an ancient and old-time preference for spontaneity.

"It was discovered one day that etching stood as a stamp of culture, and all those who love to masquerade in giant's robes sought to wrap themselves in its ample folds. Etching was taken up by fashion, commerce discovered its golden uses; the demand for etching was instituted and the artist succumbed.

"Step by step the art that has stood the test of the ages, the art of Rembrandt and Claude, abandoned its birthright. One engraver's tool after another crept in, and mechanism took the place of art. The line that once swayed to an impulse began to labor unceasingly with tones and semitones, the spirit and passion took flight, and its noble simplicity, its spontaniety, freedom and strength, its purity, suggestiveness and emphasis were blurred and lost in a verbosity of line. It ceased to be autographic; it became photographic.

"There will always be those to whom it will be a chosen art, a few original minds who find in it an appealing something that other mediums lack. To these it must ever remain dear, and among the many who have plied the needle there will be the survival of the fittest, those who have been true to it, those who have never degraded it, those who have preserved it in its integrity. In their hands it rests to carry it over this period of apparent failure, and when it shall have revived, a century hence if it must be so, it will be its true self that will rise, the mean garbs that have clothed it of late will be stripped from it, and it will shine forth in the simplicity and beauty with which it is endowed by those characteristics which are its prerogative."

Margaret Harrison (feminist printmaker)

2010-02-14T19:47:00.000-08:00

Recently found the work of Margaret Harrison. She's a british-born artist (emerged in the 1970s during the rise of British feminism), initially known for her lithographs, drawings, and paintings which were full of imagery from advertisements that featured iconic cultural figures and history.

http://figurationfeminine.blogspot.com/2009/10/margaret-harrison-1940.html

http://www.tate.org

http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=1248&page=1

Back to Vermont

2010-01-18T18:48:00.000-08:00

In a little less than two weeks I'm heading back to Vermont for my fourth MFA residency. I am up for candidacy review during this residency which means I will be entering into my final, graduate semester and planning for my graduate exhibition and final thesis paper.

This semester's work has been an exploration in working toward a reductive aesthetic and creating accessible spaces for intimacy within my work. For this, I looked toward the work of one of my favorite reductive and intimate poets, Emily Dickinson. I spent a great deal of time, reacquainting myself with her works... rearranging her text, rewriting her words (substituting some with synonyms of my own reactionary voice). Throughout this reacquaintance period, I kept coming back to three poems which reference bees and clover in relational form. I fell deeply in love with one of these poems and decided to work primarily from this poem... "His oriental heresies exhilarate the bee, and filling all the earth and sky with gay apostasy...".

Along with these rewritings I rendered a series of drawings and sketches which began in a narrative manner and became more and more reduced toward forms which seem to be natural, yet human... simultaneously male and female, interior and exterior, natural and manufactured. They are figurative forms, yet hive-like. Giant stamen-like structures for the performative action of pollination. Sites of dissemination. Each form possesses an individual sense or uniqueness, yet they are a collective. Some possess a delicacy and perfection in the treatment of their coverings, while others posses scars and a significant amount of mended stitches. In many ways, they represent a familiarity within the emotional realm, as well as the many simple and profound binary relationships which exist both in the natural world and throughout many nature-based associations in Dickinson's works.

I have chosen to present these large 6' fabricated forms as a collective installation with a faint recorded audio. The audio was recorded from violin and vocal sounds which I rendered toward the reminiscent sound of bees actively engaged in the hive. The forms are uplit in the installation to create a sense of drama, performance, and spectatorship. The forms will be grouped in an intimate manner, spilling out pollen-like, pillow forms.

Additionally this semester, I worked on a suite of videos exploring the repurposing of iconographic film (as types of socio-historic, public archived forms of performative actions and gestures) for the sake of exploring various nuances of the body as a mechanical form within a social structure. The videos are, "Rear View", "Swing Arm", and "Birdie". For Rear View I used footage from Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie as well as footage from Some Like it Hot. It became an exploration in sexual nuances contained within the body as a mechanical form. Swing Arm, from footage of Cool Hand Luke, became an exploration of laborious actions and gender. Birdie, from Bye Bye Birdie, became an exploration of how the mechanics of the body is used in a massive, social (ritualistic) manner. There is much more I could say about this but I'll leave it at that. Overall, this exploration was incredible. It caused me to work to a point of reduction which wholly departed from its original narrative. This work can be found on my vimeo page: http://www.vimeo.com/ulik/videos. The soundtracks for these videos work best with headphones on a computer.

His oriental heresies...

2009-12-03T17:56:00.000-08:00

Much of my work is informed by explorations of identity, performance, and the spaces that frame social culture. I am interested in the intersections of gestures within social spaces, and the expansive dialogue that emerges from forming these associations. In 2010, the Dickinson Project was a way for me to form new associations with language, both literally and visually. I created several separate works based on the work of American poet, Emily Dickinson. This etching is one of the works from that project. Below is the poem that inspired this particular print. Processes in developing the imagery include: re-writing, performance, video imaging, photography, and intaglio.

His oriental heresies
Exhilarate the Bee,
And filling all the Eaerth and Air
With gay apostasy

Fatigued at last, a Clover plain
Allures his jaded eye
That lowly Breast where Butterflies
Have felt it meet to die-

-emily dickinson

Untitled
etching with applied chine cole'

lipstick resist and reworking an old intaglio image

2009-10-31T15:07:00.000-07:00

...had a lot of fun Friday... drove down to MIAD in Milwaukee and caught the tail end of the WAEA's (Wisconsin Art Educator's Association) conference. I was in an all-day, found-object fabrication workshop taught by artist, Thomas Mann. I used one of my old intaglio prints to to make a fabricated and cold joined pin. Its hard to see in the photo, but I etched my own lip prints (by putting on lipstick and kissing the plate in a few areas) onto the copper facade. After kissing the plate, I put it into a bath of ferric chloride for about 10-15 minutes to etch. Other surface treatments included drypoint, chasing, and using an electro-engraving tool.

Katherine the Great talks about printmaking in Barga

2009-10-25T01:34:00.001-07:00

K the Great talks about Barga from Ulik on Vimeo.

Katherine the Great visits the UW-L printshop

2009-10-24T23:07:00.001-07:00

Some pics from Katherine's (the Great's) fascinating talk about her experiences at the International School of Advanced Printmaking in Barga, Italy.

Her talk really highlighted the social structures which emerge through the discipline of printmaking. They are an extension of the literal works which are made during the print process but are by no means lacking in form and content. Such social structures cannot be hindered by the barriers of language or culture and they emerge in printshops (ateliers) and through community interaction with printmakers (such as Katherine) and their many provocations of thoughtful imagery.

Katherine's blog
.

Combat Paper & Hybrid Press

2009-10-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

http://www.combatpaper.org/ Fascinating projects and works from Combat Paper... & a collaboration with Hybrid press in Madison.

Ellen Gallagher & Craig Zammiello

2009-10-07T06:19:00.002-07:00

http://blog.art21.org/category/media/printmaking/

Download Video

Wynton Marsalis testifies before congressional committee on behalf of the Americans for the Arts

2009-09-24T17:45:00.000-07:00

Wynton Marsalis testifies before a Congressional Committee from Americans for the Arts on Vimeo.

Jody Williams... printmaker and book artist

2009-09-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

I attended Jody Williams artist talk and opening reception at UW-La Crosse on Sept. 18th. Jody is a professor of printmaking and book arts at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Oddly, I never enrolled in any printmaking or book arts courses while I attended MCAD in the early 90s... at the time I was heavily into painting, drawing, sculpture, and digital media studies... so I had never met Jody before.

The artist talk was a casual and intimate glimpse into Jody's most current tiny works (a select few), along with several books (also mostly miniature in size) in her personal collection (from students, colleagues, other book artists, etc) . There were only about twenty of us in attendance, so Jody passed many of the books in her collection around for us to look through and touch. Some of them where printed using a Vandercook press, while others contained delicate intaglio etchings. A significant amount of the books contained digital prints or a combination of digital and either linoleum or woodblock as well.

While I am fairly familiar with the concept of books, I am not well acquainted with the realm of book arts. In one of my MCAD foundation courses (many years ago) we had to make a few handmade books with various bindings and constructions... but nothing as elaborate as some of the books in this collection (such as the books by Daniel Essig). His works are skillfully crafted, sculptural objects which resemble traditionally constructed books, while at the time time challenge their definition.

I found myself gaining a new appreciation for the art of books... looking deeper into the constructs of their existence. What are books anyway, but a collective and material form of documentation ... an assemblage which is purposely chosen and created for archive.

Elizabeth Gilbert - TED talks

2009-08-13T07:27:00.000-07:00

My good friend Polly forwarded me a link to this.... Elizabeth Gilbert on TED talks. A fantastic (nay, phenomenal) 19 min. talk.

http://video.ted.com/talks/podcast/ElizabethGilbert_2009_480.mp4

John Hitchcock & Pyramid Atlantic Art Center

2009-07-27T14:36:00.000-07:00

John Hitchock (printmaking prof from UW-Madison) has an upcoming exhibition in MD- August 1 through October 3, 2009
Read more on his blogpost: Impratically Political at PYRAMID ATLANTIC ART CENTER

Interesting. Check it out if you can & his blog too.

woodblock drawing...

2009-06-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

... completely inspired by the woodblocks of our dear friends Emil Nolde and Edvard Munch... as well as many, many others. I am beginning a new woodblock diptych aiming to recapture and revisit the expressive, figurative, gestural roots of my distant past. This is something I feel I have lost over the years. Below is a pic of chalk drawings I have created on my wood blocks in preparation of gouging. I realize this is still sort of a tight / plannish way to work... not really "expressive"... however while drawing... I allowed myself to be completely uninhibited.... so perhaps this qualifies as a first step.

Alison Saar

2009-06-25T07:54:00.001-07:00

Absolutely love the woodcuts by Alison Saar. Click on the title link version of her name to see Inheritance (2003) at Darmouth's site or click on the small highlighted version of her name to read her bio.

Modernist Japanese Woodblock

2009-06-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

The title link will take you to an online exhibition sponsored by Ohio State University and the Guggenheim. It is an exhibition which highlights modernist graphics, painting, and japanese woodblock through its evolution and politicalization. Many fantastic works by artists such as Li Hau and Zhao Yannian.

Contemporary Woodcuts by Jeanine Coupe Ryding @ Olson Larsen Gallery

2009-06-09T20:32:00.000-07:00

Click on the title link to see more of Jeanine's work. Her prints often combine elements of digital media, process, and technique with traditional printmaking methods. Interesting stuff to say the least.

... woodblock printing

2009-06-05T15:09:00.001-07:00

Birch plywood... summer... time for woodblock printing. More to come. Check out this great site for woodblock history and images.

UCSF Japanese Woodblock site

Diane Victor

2009-05-02T18:13:00.001-07:00

Check out the work of Diane Victor. She is amazing.

Inka Essenhigh

2009-04-21T19:11:00.001-07:00

click on the title link to see more about Inka and prints.

more Inka Essenhigh links-------

artnet

art museum MSU

Gustav Dore... etchings

2009-04-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

...stumbled upon the etchings of Gustav Dore. His technical skill in etching is astounding.

the unusual prints of Jenny LeBlanc

2009-03-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

the title link will take you to Hot Iron Press's site where you can see images of Jenny LeBlanc's work. Some of her work combines traditional forms of print with print-performance... interesting stuff.

... great little printmaking interactive from MOMA

2009-03-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

... click on title to get there.

Washington Printmakers Gallery

2009-03-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

... upcoming juried exhibition for printmakers [title links to the site].

Nancy Flanagan... "drawing is central to my life & my practice"

2009-03-04T18:26:00.000-08:00

An impassioned and rousing talk by artist / professor Nancy Flanagan. Flanagan is a painter who currently teaches at Assumption College [in the department of Art]. Click on the title link to see an online article about her [includes a link to a slideshow of some of her works too]. In opening her lecture [in talking about the importance of drawing] she stated..." it's central to my life & my practice". She also talked about using art to weave all the separate parts of life together... using it as a lens which places value on the relationship of things.

So why was her talk so impassioned... so rousing? Was it her delivery of biography, her display of phenomenal works, her thirst to articulate ideas, her willingness to include all of us within the intimacy of her self... her ideas? I think it was a combination of all these things. She was very present in her demeanor... full of life... and the moment. Dynamic. I was impressed with her willingness to share so much with us. To be so candid... sincere.

It was great how she talked about figuring out a process and how difficult and confrontational that was for her. Her use of drawing and painting media reveals her intimate and familiar relationship with it. Her work is highly intuitive and gestural... forming out of deep perceptual investigations she has with subjects, places, spaces, and objects. It is evident [by looking at her work] that she investigates these subjects, places, spaces, and objects directly and intimately. There is an intangible sense of space and gesture which is conveyed when working in this manner which cannot be informed by any other means.

So many artists rely on the usage of photographs when formulating work... in studies... drawing, etc. It was great to see Flanagan's divergence from this practice... her passionate and deliberate practice of working from the actual. I am inspired. thanks Nancy.

maitres des arts graphiques

2009-03-01T19:15:00.000-08:00

... a cool little french printmaking site. Nice little collection of lithos, etchings, and woodcuts by some of the great printmakers of the past.

maitres-des-arts-graphiques

reflecting on etching & printing... deep attachment to the media

2009-02-24T20:56:00.000-08:00

...finding it necessary to reflect on the importance of media within the context of the artist... or rather, the importance of the relationship of the media to the artist. It must be one of passion, fluency, and high regard. Within the contemporary, deconstructed, post-modern world in which we find ourselves... conceptual aspects dominate creating ambivalence to media. The artist should be aware of this ambivalence... as it could pervade the work too much. The artist should be mindful to the lure and attachment surrounding media and its usage... its application. It is this lure and attachment which feeds the soul of the artist and their work. It keeps the hand of the artist within the hand of the work and it leaves an aesthetic imprint on the work which is greater than any academic interpretation of affect.

Over the past 3 years, I've developed a deep attachment to etching & printing as a means of creating images and expressing sense of self. This attachment has culminated from a lifelong desire... a misunderstood emptiness... an unknown crux. It is a relationship to the media which is pleasurably physical. It is within this relationship to printmaking that my desire is slaked, my emptiness suffused... crux determined. Printmaking satisfies that lifelong desire within me. I think that is significant... at least to me it is.

Chloe Piene

2009-02-15T16:37:00.000-08:00

I first heard about Chloe Piene from Katherine (the Great) Godwin [lower eastside printshop & UW-L alum].

Piene's use of line is intoxicating...simple, yet articulate. To see more of Piene's work click here or on the title link.

you can never have too many vulvas

2009-02-05T22:28:00.000-08:00

... so today I had a crit with artist Faith Wilding. It was a good critique of my semester's work exploring vagina imagery. We looked at the print quilt, my sculpture, and the etchings. I'll never forget her last words... "you can never have too many vulvas".
thanks faith... I agree.

getting caged.... & a lecture by social art historian, Julian Myers

2009-02-03T23:53:00.000-08:00

....ok so today... Yip Chen [a graduating student] set up sort of this documentary type experiment in human nature. He set out a dog cage and locked himself in. He could only get out on one condition... the person letting him out had to go into the cage and take his place until the next person came to take their place... and so on. Guess what happened???... yeah, I eventually found my friend Kathy Couch in the cage. Of course, I let her out and took her place. While I was in the cage a few people came by but few had any time to spare. It was an interesting project... & yeah, someone eventually agreed to take my place.

Tonight's guest lecturer was a social art historian named Julian Myers. His presentation was titled, "Drawing Dragging". It was basically a presentation about the work of Heizer and its relevance to today's very urban culture. I won't elaborate... but I thought it was interesting that he compared the work of Heizer's 1970s work titled, dragged mass, to the physicality of drawing. He even referenced printmaking/etching.

Interpretation and Portraiture

2009-02-02T21:46:00.000-08:00

Two lectures today; one by guest artist Michelle Dizon [an artist from Los Angeles] the other by visiting faculty Sowan Kwon.
Michelle talked about some of her recent video work titled, Civil Society. She spoke about something she called the phenomenological effect and how it relates to the conjunction of race and riot. She researched and investigated two historically based rioting events [the 1992 Los Angles riots and the 2005 Paris revolt]. One of the quotes I remember most from her talk was in relation to the Rodney King beating [and how it was captured on video tape]. She stated, "there is a basic assumption that video bears witness to what takes place in front of it". She brought up issues of how the footage of the beating was shown to jury members in different timing formats; altering interpretation. She stated, "image alone is always subject to interpretation".

Sowan had been an artist in residence in Vietnam. There she created these large text portrait drawings which were based on the alphabetized ipod playlists of friends and family. She chose sections from these playlists which began with the letter "i". In talking about her brother's playlist she stated, "this is a portrait of my brother... and he has a huge playlist". All of us in the audience began feeling this powerful connection to each portrait as we recognized familiar song titles. Her work was engaging and simple. In talking about her ipod portraiture work she stated, "its something everyone can do... but when I do it, I do it in a specific way"... meaning that she chose song titles which specifically began with the letter, "i" or the lack of... questioning identity. She also talked about her work titled, Borrowing, in which she went to great lengths to "borrow" a Whistler print and recreate an exact exhibition space which Whistler himself had designed. She then hung the print in the installation; changing its location periodically. She talked about the exhibition space along with the print being a different kind of portrait of Whistler.

art and life... life and art. an evening with Tim Maul

2009-02-01T22:52:00.000-08:00

i am sitting here... in Vermont. It is 2:05 am. i am thinking about art and life... and life and art. when i say life... i mean to articulate more than a beating heart... pulse... brain function. i mean to represent veracity of living... interaction... experience... play. there is a symbiosis present in these two entities; they feed each other. can this symbiosis be intellectualized? if so... to what degree does this intellectualization... this institutionalization stifle this play? can an intuitive aesthetic exist in these conditions?

Tonight, our artist in residence, Tim Maul, gave a lecture about his life and work. He had these really great one-line quotes which seemed to relate most to the topics of being involved, being intuitive, and being grounded in work that is part of life. In talking about making work, he stated, "think of an audience beyond education; beyond academia... get the work out there". In talking about photography he stated, "photography is a dubious form of the truth"... pointing out that one must have the willingness to "F-up in public". hey... that sounds very familiar doesn't it?

Print Quilt

2009-01-30T06:06:00.001-08:00

The collaborative print quilt, "Patchwork" is complete. An enormous thank you to participants: Maggie Lach, Katherine Godwin, Violeta Abitia, Julie Murray, Marcia Thompson, Mao Cheng, Beth Crook, Becca Delap, and Danielle Lund. It has been an honor working with these amazing women.

Working on this project has brought me deeper... to a new aesthetic about gender and sexuality. It is an understanding which is wholly beautiful and not easily put into words.

collaborative print quilt... almost finished...

2009-01-25T11:37:00.000-08:00

pod

2009-01-12T06:38:00.001-08:00

Pod, is a sculptural component which directly relates to my print series titled, Openings. It was made from the interior of a bed matress, wood, leather, and candy.

2008-11-30T22:31:00.001-08:00

"Openings" ...three etchings. [titles from left to right: Inception, Orifice, & Interstice]

I am continuing to work the plates in search of velvet blacks. More line work to do...and more aquatint on the Inception plate.

2008-11-22T15:10:00.000-08:00

I am working on a three print series titled, Openings. This image, Opening #2, is one of the three. The three works will be joined by a large scale sculptural form created from the rusty interior of a box spring. The sculptural form is anemone-like in form...with more abstraction.

...much more aquatinting to do on this plate. There is currently too stark a contrast...making the image too rigid. ...more subtle layers of velvet blacks are needed to make the image more sensual and soft.

Normally, I plan out my plates in great detail from beginning to end... through the use of acting, photography, digital enhancement, drawing, coloring, and much lamenting. With this image...I experimented with the creative process of "play". I let my mind swell on a central concept and worked swiftly with the asphaltum - hoping for a more innate, pure visual expression. I am enjoying this process of play very much.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-30T12:17:00.001-07:00

representation prints

2008-10-19T13:31:00.001-07:00

I am experimenting with embossment, inking, chine cole', and relief rubbing in printing this representative image of sexual victims. I used compressed charcoal for the relief rubbing [first image displayed]; using the embossed print as a relief plate.

ANEMONE

2008-10-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

I am currently working on a project exploring the concepts of power, gender, and sexuality as they relate to victimization. The project includes video work titled, "ANEMONE" and an installation of intaglio embossments hung around a rusty, gnarled bed frame while on display at VCFA [Vermont College of Fine Arts] during my next residency period at the beginning of February. Visitors will be asked to write words on the prints relating to their experiences with these issues.

Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art

2008-09-01T14:57:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art

...a great resource for learning about American feminism and feminist art/artists.

WACK

2008-07-31T11:00:00.000-07:00

...learn[ing] about WACK.

day 4_residency

2008-07-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

...i'm on day four of residency. The day has already been packed and it is only just barely after lunch. Much more to follow...going till well after 10pm tonight.

The essence and drive to culminate post-modernist expression is all around me [here in VT...in this program]. We [i] am being enveloped in it. It is such a foreign concept...so i will need to start back at the beginning. Exploring the illusive questions which plague and perpetuate my desire to make art...also deciding how to explore these questions, study them, and take stands regarding them.

To do this I must synthesize the broad nature of my character toward a more specific and compexified question. This question will become the basis of my initial 6 month research and most likely it will filter into the body of my work.

I am both afraid and excited for this transformation. It makes me vulnerable [as an artist...with an identity tied to being an artist of traditional media]. I want to grow but I do not wish to loose myself in the process. So you see...this will likely be a very tricky orchestration.

I haven't identified my question yet...more to come...later.

p.s. Ration of Volvos and Volkswagens to regular cars in VT is 10:1 & the Guiness here is very good in the company of new friends.

End of Day_2 in the Residency

2008-07-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

ACTION, ACTION, and more ACTION. Day 2 of the residency was packed. We met sixteen amazing faculty and visiting artists from around the country. Most teach at national Colleges and Universities along with producing their own work for gallery exhibitions and shows regionally, nationally, and internationally. It was interesting to listen to many of the projects and collaborations they are involved in. It made me really question my previous [more academic and formal] definintion of art and the traditional disciplines. These artists work in sound, digital media, installation, video, performance, and through various other conceptual means.

One of the program's emphasis areas is "process" in making art...and the importance of producing meaningful and purposeful work. The faculty is most concerned with our conceptual processes in making art...outweighing the products.

Another emphasis area in this program is research and writing. This part of the program is centered on a "visual Culture Project"...which will in time build into the graduating thesis. The visual culture projects [one each semester] make up half of the work done outside of the residency. The other half is studio work...creating the art.
During this next week I am scheduled to have six critiques with faculty, visiting artists, and alumni student-assistants. I am really looking forward to these critiques. I expect to learn in ways which are exponential.

More to come...

...I have three days to come up with my first "visual culture project" plan which will dictate the direction of my study for the next six months.

Montpelier...An Amazing Place

2008-07-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

...second day of residency and I am blown away with excitement and awe about this MFA in visual arts program. Not much time to write now...I'll write more later. Miss you all.

2008-07-16T11:17:00.001-07:00

Cindy Sherman...How about the whole feminist thing?

2008-07-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

TATE Magazine: Artist Cindy Sherman [interviewer: Betsey Berne]

B: How about the whole feminist thing?

C: [makes a face]

B: I always thought - even in my youth - that being a feminist was a given, that it was instinctive, so you didn't have to discuss it. And if you had to discuss it, then something's fishy.

art..what is it?

2008-06-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

A good question which always varies in answers...but worth asking anyway in an evolving culture.

Brief definitions of Art...from Dictionary.com

After reading Ways of Seeing, by John Berger I have been re-evaluating this question...because of the close association between art and images. I was spurred mostly by the last chapter of the book which deals with advertising images in society and how the science of marketing [based on artifical deficits] has greatly changed how our society views what is important and what is deemed valuable.

If visual images surround us like flies...our memory systems and cognitive functions work like fly paper; catching these random images consistenty...keeping hold of them.

Cildo Meireles

2008-06-23T08:27:00.001-07:00

Meireles is a political artist from Brazil...focused on creating work which is focused on his social environemnt. Meireles' work, "Zero Dollar" undermined the capitalist ideology within our United States. Meireles introduced these zero dollars into general circulation to reach a broader audience.

essex.ac.uk/ueclaa/english/collection/cildomeireles
grabados.org/misc/Meireles
newmuseum.org/exhibitions
findarticles.com
nycny.com/entertainment/arts
coleccioncisneros.org

Irena Sendlerowa

2008-06-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

Irena Sendlerowa...an incredible woman.
Using the sewer system, she helped rescue 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust of WWII.

Life in a Jar:The Irena Sendlerowa Project

20th Anniversary of Tandem Press - Print Exhibition Madison

2008-06-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

Tandem Press

20th anniversary print exhibit, 6/17-8/29 (reception 4:30-6:30 pm, 6/17), Promega Gallery, Biopharmaceutical Technology Center. 277-2563

Story link: www.thedailypage.com/theguide/details

making inks...new plates

2008-06-08T21:41:00.001-07:00

It began as a way to print on a small budget. I have been making my own printing inks and experimenting with them. It is not difficult to do...just time consuming. I have lots more to learn about using them such as how to wipe my plates with them [as they can look and feel very different on the plates].

I am beginning to etch and aquatint new plates for an image expressing the intense relationship between mother and child [...again]. Over the past several months I have been experimenting in print with heightened expression and gesture with numerous studies. I am continuing this journey, revisiting some concepts which I still find very meaningful. I am going to run this image in a variety of different states as I work toward completion. This is the initial state...just a deep line etch with lightly monoprinted areas of muted color for added value and depth.

Visions of Youth Print Exhibition 08 - kicks off at the La Crosse Public library and online

2008-05-23T05:25:00.001-07:00

The Visions of Youth Print Exhibition will be hung today...reception on Tuesday, May 27th from 7pm-9pm at the La Crosse public library.

The exhibition and reception are being hosted by the Green Bay Street Studio to recognize the dedication and talents of young artists within our community. We hope the exhibition bolsters an enthusiasm and appreciation for printmaking as an important expressive and artistic media for youth.

This inspiring exhibition is a collection of amazing print related art made by high students in the La Crosse area. Come check out the month-long exhibition and show your support for our incredible pre-baby brothers and sisters in print!!

If you can't make it to the exhibition in person...check out the photo gallery online at: http://visionsofyouth08.carbonmade.com/

THURS...Maggie & Stef-o are graduating...and Kirky B has his printshop solo debut [was amazing!]

2008-05-08T14:02:00.000-07:00

THAI NOODLE RECIPE

An enormous THANK-YOU Kirk! We will all say we knew you when. You are a truly gifted musician. If you missed Kirky B's performance in the shop of love...you should check out his band ASAP. I think they are called Gun Barrel City...

Stef-o is graduating. The very best wishes & congrats to you. You will be missed dearly.

Congrats Maggie!! as you will be graduating in a few days. An eternity of best wishes to you my dear friend...as you go out into the world and make it a better place...If I could, I would make sure you had flowers everyday.

I'm glad you found your coffee Boots!

Wednesday

2008-05-07T18:55:00.000-07:00

...amazing prints...fantastic treats...and secret friends who rock!

End of the Year Critiques - Tues

2008-05-06T12:51:00.000-07:00

Incredible work shown at the end of the year critique!!!

Green Bay Street Studio -Innaugeral Reception

2008-04-28T18:23:00.001-07:00

...A few pictures from Friday's reception at the Green Bay Street Studio. There were tarletons hanging from the rafters [thanks to Bonnie's creative eye]...[as Maggie beautifully points out in the photo above]. If you missed the reception...stay tuned for upcoming events this summer.

2008-04-17T18:41:00.000-07:00

Untitled
Intaglio; multiple plate

I am continuing to experiment with new printmaking techniques [and manners of working the plates] in search of the epitomy of expressive gesture. The closer I feel I become...the more I realize my naivity and deficiencies. I am not discouraged...rather...my compulsion grows. There is nothing more exciting than experiencing the ebb and flow of obstacles and possibilities.

Jose' Guadalupe Posada...Early Mexican Printmaker; 1852-1913

2008-04-14T08:17:00.000-07:00

A while back...I bought a book called, "Prints and People"from a second-hand bookstore in Minneapolis. The books is a social history of printed pictures...at least until the 1960s. I have been reading the book and looking up printmakers I haven't heard of. Jose Guadalupe Posada is one of them.

Posada was a self-taught printmaker steeped in Aztec/Mexican culture and revolutionary upheaval. He began as a cartoonist [El Jicote] and became known as a sarcastic contributing illustrator for many publications. If you are interested in knowing more...click on the links.

Jose' Guadalupe Posada; My Mexico

Posada; UNM special collections

MEXICO'S DAUMIER: JOSE GUADALUPE POSADA ---1852 - 1913

Posada --FAMSF.org

José Guadalupe Posada and the Mexican Broadside

Posada on ART OF THE PRINT

monoprint/monotype links & articles

2008-04-10T05:19:00.000-07:00

Monoprinting and Ruth Weisberg

Michael Mazur
"Monotype: An Artist's View."

Michael Mazur; Monotypes

Degas and the Monoprint: by Sharon Himes

''Degas: The Painter as Printmaker''

Degas; the Ballet Master

[M]onoprints.com

a neat little printmaking article...

2008-04-03T14:20:00.000-07:00

GOLDEN GATE [X]PRESS has a neat little printmaking article posted today. As one student in the article puts it...[about printmaking] “it’s a labor of love.”

Click on the link [post title] if ya' want to read it.

monoprinting

2008-03-21T08:02:00.000-07:00

Figure Studies [based on figures from a reoccuring dream I have been having]. Black ink and printing gel painted on plexi-glass using fingers; printed on 22"x30" cream Stonehenge paper [I didn't soak my paper quite long enough, so there is a slight texture to the print...if you look really close].

I am finding a type of expression in monoprinting that I have been unable to achieve using other printmaking techniques [as the technique of monoprinting combines painting and printing].

I am excited about this type of study because it opens up possibilities for my work which are more gestural.

I am looking forward to experimenting with asphaltum, aquatint, and the "wonderful, magical, Joel solution" on copper to try to achieve these effects via intaglio printing.

2008-03-11T15:35:00.000-07:00

Agony
Multiple-plate, color intaglio

I am exploring and expressing the concept of human [and self] emotion.

The Great...Alberto Giacometti

2008-03-06T18:24:00.001-08:00

Giacometti's work absolutely demands an aesthetic response as it dominates and defines human emotion. Click on the links to see more. Below is a short, well-written piece about Giacometti written by Jennifer Roberts [MOMA].

About Alberto Giacometti; written by Jennifer Roberts [taken from MOMA.org]

An artist who excelled in a variety of mediums, Alberto Giacometti stated that he had developed his mature style as a sculptor, in part, through the process of drawing. His best-known works are elongated bronze figures either standing or striding. Their isolation and often haunting qualities have been interpreted in Existential terms, most notably by the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. The figures in his signature paintings and drawings, rendered within dense webs of sketchy lines, are also enigmatic.

Giacometti created more than three hundred fifty prints, two-thirds of which appear in illustrated books and are collaborations with such friends as André Breton, Georges Bataille, and René Char. He worked in etching and lithography, mainly depicting people close to him or recording studio views of his own sculptures and paintings. His most active period as a printmaker coincided with his renewed focus on painting in the 1950s, when he received invitations from a variety of publishers, including Aimé Maeght of Paris, and Kornfeld and Klipstein of Bern.

His introduction to intaglio printmaking occurred in the early 1930s during a brief stay at Stanley William Hayter's Atelier 17 in Paris, an experimental workshop and celebrated meeting place for artists. The result was two highly distinctive and rare engravings related directly to his sculpture of the period. To make Cubist Head, Giacometti gouged sharp angles and parallel lines into a copperplate, creating in two dimensions a fractured and faceted face similar to that of his sculpture of the same title, issued in marble and in bronze in 1934. In the print Hands Holding a Void, Giacometti comments on another of his sculptures, here surrounding it in an atmospheric field of ink tone that reads as an isolating void, made even more eerie by the random markings left from pits and scratches on the copperplate.

The issue of plate dominance and printmaker Amy Sillman

2008-03-01T07:52:00.001-08:00

AMY SILLMAN

Lately I have been very interested in the technical intaglio concept of plate dominance [when printing with multiple plates]. Looking at the work of printmaker, Amy Sillman, offers interesting insight into the concept of plate dominance and how it is useful in creating spacial illusion and compositional interest.

Click the linked name if you want to see more of her work and read a small bio.

Kiki Smith

2008-02-20T15:35:00.000-08:00

Kiki Smith...an incredible artist and printmaker. I have heard her name many times but haven't really researched her work until now. The content within her work relays female consciousness and expresses many concerns (such as self-identity) surrounding contemporary women.

[from MOMA website]- Kiki Smith (American, born Germany, 1954) is among the most significant artists of her generation. Known primarily as a sculptor, she has also devoted herself to printmaking, which she considers an equally vital part of her work. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue, Kiki Smith: Prints, Books, and Things (2003), showcase the scope of Smith’s printed art and present it thematically, focusing on such topics as anatomy, self-portraiture, nature, and female iconography.

Click on the name links (to MOMA and PBS Art21) if you want to know more about this amazing contemporary artist.

2008-02-17T17:25:00.000-08:00

Untitled; Nude Study
Monoprint
22" x 30"

I finally pulled my first monoprint! Through this process I found that monoprinting is a highly manipulative and spontaneous manner of creating prints; offering a painterly quality to the image. I used my fingers to draw on the plexiglass with black ink and printed on moistened strathmore paper.

Jasper Johns Exhibit

2008-02-01T10:45:00.000-08:00

JASPER JOHNS PRINT EXHIBIT IN MADISON (Feb. 2-April 13)--- RECEPTION KICKS IT OFF TONIGHT! Mad as a wet hen that I will not be able to go!!! Anyway...The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art is hosting a retrospective exhibition of prints by Jasper Johns. The exhibition features 100 lithographs, screenprints, and intaglios made between 1960 and 2007.

Click on the title link for more info about the exhibit...click on Jasper's name to learn more about him and his work.

2007-12-11T15:42:00.000-08:00

I used chine cole' to apply newspaper clippings about war.

2007-12-07T19:40:00.000-08:00

"Superficial"
Multiple Plate Intaglio
12" x 13"

I continue to explore self and human nature through a reflected culture; our self-important American culture...which I feel is becoming an empty facade. --- a massive coating of lipstick. America is at war while SUVs are at the mall. It is a fill'er up, give me more, turn the channel, where's my lipstick feeling that I am expressing. I am wiping off my lipstick with the flag; soiling it with a superficial product which symbolizes the shallow values of a society in decline.

2007-11-16T13:33:00.001-08:00

The Superficial Nature of War, Government, and Myself

...This is the first line etch. I printed with black ink and colored in using prismacolors to get a rough idea where I will need to block in colors on the red and blue plates.

This will be my last self-portrait for quite a while --- feeling the need to move into different subject matter.

2007-10-22T19:20:00.000-07:00

Lipschtik

I have been printing my Lipschtik plates again...
experimenting with color compositions.

While I was printing the blue plate last week (last plate) I became careless and accidently put the plate down on the bed reversed. Instead of being upset- I found the resulting print to be very interesting.

2007-10-09T18:01:00.000-07:00

John Hitchcock

John Hitchcock is currently a print professor at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. His print series is very interesting and thought provoking. Click on his name and it will take you his world, "Hybrid Press".

Calder Le Cirque Clip 1

2007-08-26T20:43:00.001-07:00