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

Baren Digest            Wednesday, 17 November 1999    Volume 09 : Number 784

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From: "Philip Smith" <smithart@pacifier.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 14:12:24 -0800
Subject: [Baren 6653] Re: tool supplier charset="iso-8859-1" 

James,....If you haven't tried Garret Wade they seem to be a good company
with higher end tools, I've ordered from them with good results,...'fast
service,.....     good luck,     Philip

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From: "barebone" <barebone@pacifier.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 16:39:42 -0800
Subject: [Baren 6657] New Member 

I'm told I should introduce myself.  My name is Sharri LaPierre. I was at 
Barbara Mason's studio last weekend and she and Wanda, Ray and Brad told me
about the rest of you.  I'm looking forward to participating, but see I have
a lot to learn about how to get my images to you - I'm somewhat computer
illiterate.  But, I am a printmaker - so I'm on the right track! I do
multiple woodblock prints, some are single blocks printed on marbled Kozo
and other Japanese papers, some are mixed print media, I'm game to try (just
about) anything.   I've been a printmaker for 30 years, have taught at all
levels throughout that time, and am presently retired from acadamia, but
still teaching privately. Someone told me I'm a recovering teacher, and not
doing a very good job of it. To help spread myself thin (as opposed to
dieting) I'm currently President of the Northwest Print Council
headquartered at the Portland Art Museum in Portland, OR. 

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From: (Bryan James <bryan.james@alliedpress.co.nz>)
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 20:37:23 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Baren 6658] Introduction 

Message posted by: Bryan James <bryan.james@alliedpress.co.nz>

Dear Baren consortia members:
As a new member, I've been asked to send a few details
about myself.

My name is Bryan James, and I've been a woodblock
printmaker ( traditional Japanese technique) for 30 years
or so; self-taught. I've had around 29 one-man exhibitions
of my prints here in New Zealand, and in Australia, the
USA and elsewhere over that period, although I've
virtually ceased the treadmill of such shows, preferring
to concentrate on developing my skills in an art form in
which there is never enough time to learn! When I started
in this country there were no other printmakers devoting
all their efforts, so far as I am aware, to the woodblock
technique, but I am pleased to report that there have been
several since. One of the great problems we have - and it
was far worse in 1970 - is our remoteness and the
difficulties of obtaining suitable materials, paper, inks
and tools, let alone tuition. So much of our work has been
of necessity experimental. I was able to visit Japan in
1984 and found that exceedingly valuable.
I did a little teaching in the 1980s to pass on the
technique to keep young printmakers, and I'm glad to say
the woodcut is part of the printmaking curriculum in the
arts schools still in this country, although woodblock 
remains very much a misunderstood and unfashionable little
sister. All the kids seem to want to do these days is
computer graphics.
Most of my prints are multiple-coloured portraits
incorporating elements of satire, some of them with very
many colours, some quite simple; all, I suspect,
subconsciously influenced by Sharaku. I've done a few
landscapes and figure studies, but I guess portraits are
my thing. This year I finished a 20-year project, of 50
portraits of fellow citizens in Dunedin, the small
university  town on South Island that's the most beautiful
place you could ever wish to live in. 
I usually work in series to explore ideas and themes as
thoroughly as possible.

I'm not computer literate, being a dinosaur from the
manual age, and I do not have an Internet link; even this
e-mail address is "borrowed" until I can get around to
hooking one up.
But I am very interested indeed in the concept of
exchanging ideas with fellow craftspeople, hence my
pleasure at discovering the Baren site and its continued
exploration. I strongly believe in the importance of
ensuring  the survival of valuable crafts and I look
forward to corresponding with similarly committed
woodblock printmakers.
I'd be happy for people to correspond with me, should they
wish, in the old-fashioned way: my address is
Bryan James,
The Flying Chip Studio,
101 Preston Crescent,
Belleknowes,
Dunedin,
South Island, 
New Zealand.
But, of course, there is also always this e-mail address
until I get around to asking an x-generation member to
explain how to set one up of my own.
Good wishes and steady cutting hands to you all!!

Bryanj.

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End of Baren Digest V9 #784
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