[Baren] the mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking Baren Digest Sunday, 30 July 2000 Volume 12 : Number1096 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jack Reisland Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 15:51:04 -1000 Subject: [Baren 10719] Re: idle hands-Eichenberg Exhibit > I do have to wonder though, if it is simply too difficult a > step for most of us to step away from the horrors of Hilter and his I am too young to have a direct experience of WWII and the use of the swastika as a symbol of evil, and all of the war time images that made use of it. I do not really have the same gut reaction to it that an older person might have. I am fairly familiar with it as a symbol in Native American and Asian cultures, but then, they are not my cultures, so the symbol does not really symbolize much of anything in that context. My only really direct impressions of the swastika is it's continued use as a rallying sign for groups of intolerant and hateful people. As long as it's use as a symbol of threat and hate is kept alive by these people, it is difficult to use it in any other context. Jack Aiea, Hawaii ------------------------------ From: "eli griggs" Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 21:55:10 -0400 Subject: [Baren 10720] Re: idle hands Hi Philip: 'The Stranger' is a goody for sure. Orson Wells gave a good showing in that one and I could bearly wait for him to 'get his', though it was the wife that really got on my nerves. Like you Philip, I had pretty much thought that Hitler had ripped off Indians (thought I belived it was the ones from Bombay, not the old West,) before I read the article from The Times. It was in part because of the misconceptions I had held as fact and surprising movement referenced in the piece, that I wanted to hear from others on the subject. After you finish your building, you may want to look at the article, just for the surprise factor. Eli Griggs Charlotte N.C. USA ------------------------------ From: "Maria Arango" Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 19:08:35 -0700 Subject: [Baren 10721] whistle while you engrave If anyone ever does get around to doing some art fairs, one secret to success is to let people actually _see_ how a woodcut or wood engraving is made. While sitting and watching mall-shoppers go by this last weekend, I decided to engrave something. An impending road-trip filled my head with images of the road. I love traveling! http://www.1000woodcuts.com/fullsize/outearly.html http://www.1000woodcuts.com/fullsize/openingup.html Graham wrote: >>If selling fine art on the net is your objective, my findings are it does not happen. Posters yes. Fine art in the way of >>originals, prints do not sell on the web. True, Graham, "it does not happen." Certainly does not happen by itself. Artists have to keep a website, revise it often, promote like crazy, get on other sites, exchange links, affiliate with art sites by way of showing art there, get on virtual galleries, submit to search engines, submit to "shopping" malls, etc, etc, etc. But it is perfectly possible to sell fine original prints on the web. More likely than not, shopping for fine art on the web will increase dramatically in the next few years, especially if artists can back up virtual art by physically showing in some actual galleries. I will have some marketing guidelines for artists pages done one of these years (called "Expose Yourself" :-). Meantime, those orders just keep-a-tricklin' in. Health to all, Maria <><><><><><><><><><><><> Maria Arango, Printmaker Las Vegas Nevada USA http://www.1000woodcuts.com quest1000woodcuts@hotmail.com <><><><><><><><><><><><> ------------------------------ From: Graham Scholes Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 19:33:34 -0700 Subject: [Baren 10722] Re: pigment >Graham, >I tried to email to Mike to order more pigment Hi Barbara. Yes they to have a new e-mail as follows "Janis Turner" this will get you to the right place. Let me know if you need any help. Graham ------------------------------ ------------------------------ From: barbara patera Date: Sat, 29 Jul 100 19:53:11 Pacific Daylight Time Subject: [Baren 10724] re:idle hands I suppose this could be (the swastika) a controversial subject. I know it hit a nerve with me. As a person in their 60's, and one who lost relatives during WW II , I cannot conceive of hanging that symbol any where. Whatever it's origin, whatever its former meaning, it now stands for the ultimate in hate.And I guess that I think it should remain that.....a reminder of what the dark side of the human race is capable of...." lest we forget" and all that. Barbara P. ------------------------------ From: "Arye Saar" Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 07:19:50 +0200 Subject: [Baren 10726] Re: idle hands Hi Eli, May be it's rationale for you to ask us for * No gut reactions please! *. But will you answer this: After loosing over two hundred relatives on 2nd WW, can i be rational seeing this sign? I live daily with this history: Never to forget. I'm sorry - * Only gut reactions ! *. On the other hand - use anything you want in your art. This is your primary right. And you know what are my rights. Sorry for the outburst. Arye ------------------------------ From: Mike Lyon Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 23:34:26 -0500 Subject: [Baren 10728] Re: Baren Digest V12 #1095 At 10:19 AM 07/30/2000 +0900, you wrote: >Are there any members who come from cultures that see the swastika as a >proper and positive sort of symbol and use it in non-political ways in For some years now, I have been exploring simple tile designs -- I use simple square tiles with a simple design, say, for example split on the diagonal or on a mid line -- with the two halves different tones, or just printing the mid-line -- (I make hanga from assembled wood blocks just like these, but printed and re-arranged a number of times -- I usually use matrices of between 45 and about 400 blocks) -- among symmetrical tilings of a 4x4 grid (symmetrical in this case means the design is the same no matter how the grid is rotated) -- the swastika is one of the most common patterns to emerge -- this sort of pattern most resembles quilting designs, or Moorish ceramic tilings -- saw lots of familiar patterns in Istanbul last summer -- I print (on my laser-jet, sorry!) little books of thousands of these simple patterns -- even though I have come to understand that the swastika is a 'naturally occurring' design (like a carbon atom -- in fact, to me these designs reflect in a tiny way how everything is made up of these huge patterns of a handful of simple 'tiles' / 'atoms' and even though my tiles and tile designs are very simple, when assembled, they are more than I can 'grop'... Sorry to have gone so far astray, back to the swastika issue -- even though I am frequently seeing swastikas pop out of my methodical pattern production/discovery process, I can't get away from the association with Nazi's, hatred, nationalism, fascism, murder/genocide/holocaust and the premature and brutal destruction of so many, and the waves of influence/sorrow/sickness which still wash our culture. So my answer is: not in my lifetime -- even though the design is fundamental, ancient, 'naturally occurring', those people ruined it for me - -- I can't see it without associating... Mike Lyon ------------------------------ From: slinder@mediaone.net Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 00:33:49 -0500 Subject: [Baren 10731] Re: idle hands/symbol Eli, I haven't gotten the NY Times article. Perhaps it's the same article, perhaps it's a coincidence. Ann Lander's (a syndicated advice columnist) article in the Sunday Chicago Tribune is about this symbol, and debates it's ability to stand as a 'traditional symbol' versus the baggage it now carries indelibly. Sharen ------------------------------ From: "Cate Pfeifer" Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 00:58:30 -0400 Subject: [Baren 10732] Hello from a new member Hello, My name is Cate Pfeifer and I have been interested in woodblock printmaking, particularly Asian styles of this art, for many years. Alas, in the recent years I have gone down a different road (I just completed a PhD in Mass Communications) and am just beginning to rediscover this old love. I find that in the beginning of a new project, it is useful to get some face-to-face instruction. Do you have any recommendations of who I could study with? I am presently in Kansas but I am willing to move if there is an exceptional teacher that I could apprentice/study with. Also, I would be willing to attend an art institute or some other school if one proves to have an excellent program. This is an excellent resource and forum - I am very grateful to have found it. Any other insights that you can offer on educating myself on Asian woodblock printing would be greatly appreciated. High Regards, Cate ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V12 #1096 *****************************