[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking.

Baren Digest               Friday, 27 August 1999       Volume 08 : Number 680

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From: flint <flint.hahn@ucop.edu>
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1999 13:05:36 -0700
Subject: [Baren 5456] 

>Here's another collaboration idea:
>The design is enlarged and divided up into 30 rectangles.  etc....

I like the sound of this idea. Essentially you would have a huge 
image, with each section having its own personality. This would look 
great in a gallery.

Flint Hahn

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From: Julio.Rodriguez@walgreens.com
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1999 15:16:02 -0500
Subject: [Baren 5458] Re: Silly season posting 

Phillip writes:
"The commercial art of today is the fine art of tomorrow..............."

I think this is a most interesting point that Phillip makes. We do not know what
future generations will select as "ART". I often thought of what an artist 200
years in the future would think when looking at our current commercial art.  It
is true that the artists of the Ukiyo-e era took liberties by elongating the
female shape and romanticizing the human body ( as described in earlier postings
relating to Dave's print ), but this is probably true of art and artists in all
periods. Anyone in the future browsing thru any of a hundred magazines popular
today would think that all women of our time were six feet tall, weighted in at
105lbs and looked  borderline anorexic...........wore skin-tight fitting
clothing and how in the heck did they ever managed  to get around in those
high-heel shoes.......

You must remember that Ukiyo-e prints were not "ART" when originally created,
they were commercial art much like our popular magazines of today, a business, a
way for people to see social trends (clothing, hairstyles, theatre, etc) and
learn about upcoming events. It's funny but prints showing japanese "print
shops" of that period show large stacks of prints laying each next to the other
waiting for the customer to browse thru and pick one to their
liking..........much like our modern magazine stands.....


Hi Liz, Brian and all the other new members.....welcome aboard..........

Thanks.....Julio

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From: <DARICH@prodigy.net>
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1999 15:13:27 -0700
Subject: [Baren 5460] collaboration 

As to the discussion about mistakes Vs experiment.  I tend to think that
art should be intended, which would suggest that the artist did have
something in mind when he/she chose to create.  How close the result comes
to the intention has something to do with how successful they have been. 
An experiment also denotes intention.  The artist is trying something new
with the intention of seeing if it produces a desired effect. 

I don't believe that throwing things together with no intent is nearly as
useful or fulfilling or that it produces the same kind of growth for the
artist.  Even if sometimes an interesting image is the result.

And of course there are mistakes which effect the final work to greater or
lesser degree making it more or less interesting but always other than what
was intended.  I think we should all be trying to realize our individual
visions by learning from our mistakes.

I would like to participate in the collaboration as a carver please.  I
think it would be most interesting if each of the smaller groups worked
from identical drawings.  More interesting to compare the individual
results that was.  How about if each group starts from a drawing, print or
watercolor of an old master.  Dave could pick the drawing and each group
would take it form there.

Andrea Rich

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From: Barbara Mason <bemason@concentric.net>
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1999 23:02:25 -0700
Subject: [Baren 5463] Welcome Liz and Brian 

Welcome to Liz and Brian and any new members too shy to "talk". Nice to
have some new blood. Dave says there are over 100 of us now. Where can
we see your work?

I think this collaboration idea could work and I will be willing to do
any step although I think at this point I am a better printer than a
carver. Will all the oil based and water based people work together?

Good job Maria, we are anxiously awaiting your first show as a full time
artist. We are cheering for you.

Barbara M

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From: <hudson@panther.middlebury.edu>
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 06:28:36 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Baren 5464] collaborative accidents 

(From Ray Hudson in Vermont)

Greetings to all the new members from one of the more silent members.  The
collaborative projects are beyond my comprehension.   It seems to me that
when a print maker works with carvers and printers there is a great deal
of discussion between all three--unless they've worked together long
enough to "read each others thoughts."  They meet.   They look at the
block together; they examine the colors together.   I agree with the
posting that said our collaboratiion will be like the game of whispering a
sentence around a circle:  the end may not resemble the beginning.  I
was watching an interview on the Newshour (PBS) with Merv Cunningham, the
80 year old dancer who uses computers, etc, and he apparently sometimes
throws dice to determine the next step in a project.  He said if the
result is humanly impossible to do then it suggests other possibilities.
I suspect the collaboration will be like that:   I get a drawing it's
impossible for me to carve and send on to the printer something it's
impossible for the printer to print.  More discussion, please, I'm
hopelessly lost in trying to understand how this is collaboration and not
a rather stark division of labor among artists whose strength is in their
individual vision more than in their individual skills as carvers and
printers.
I am intrigued by the idea of working with a group of poets or perhaps
having an exchanged centered around a single poem or story.
All the best,
Ray Hudson

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From: <hudson@panther.middlebury.edu>
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 06:53:43 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [none]

(from Ray Hudson in Vermont)

There's a wonderful little book by Hiroaki Sato called One Hundred Frogs.
It contains over 100 translations of Basho's famous haiku about a frog
jumping into a pond.  They include limericks, sonnets, literal
translations, poetic renditions, etc. (The book also has a wonderful set
of illustrations arranged so that if you flip through the pages you see a
frog jumping into a pond).  Something of this sort might make an engaging
print exchange. Participants could do prints based on a single short poem
or do prints based on a single traditional Japanese print.

Ray

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From: David Bull <davebull@woodblock.com>
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 20:08:10 +0900
Subject: [Baren 5466] Exchange update ... 

Just got back from a long day in Tokyo (museum visits looking for
designs for next year's Surimono Album), and found the final entry for
Exchange #4 in my mailbox.  

That means that Exchange #4 (the 'Self-Portrait' Exchange) is now
'activated', and the deadline is set for November 27.

Details on both of the active Exchanges, and who is in them, etc. can be
found by going to the main web page at:
http://woodblock.com
... and looking in the 'Administration Links' section ...

Exchange #4 will of course need a coordinator, and I'm sorry to confess
that I can't recall if somebody already volunteered for that job. 
Please jog my memory if you did ...

As for Exchange #5, the Collaboration Exchange, I'll digest the
suggestions and responses that are still coming in, and try and find an
interesting and manageable way to set it up.

There is obviously no rush on that just at the moment, as many of the
people who would like to take part now have _two_ deadlines facing them
- - and the busy fall season now upon us.  

Dave

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End of Baren Digest V8 #680
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