Baren Digest              Monday, 22 January 2001      Volume 14 : Number 1294


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From: "Daniel L. Dew" <ddew0001@tampabay.rr.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001 10:23:56 -0500
Subject: [Baren 13048] Revelation 

It dawned on me today that it has been exactly one year since I have carved
a lino block, it's been all wood.  See what you've done to me!  :-)~
Seriously though, a strange thing is happening with my current cherry block:
it's carving itself!  This is the first time in my memory that the wood and
the carving is overshadowing my idea wen I started.  I find myself carving
as I feel, not as I think. Strange indeed.
Exchange #8 is done and off to Ray, sure hope a few drop out of #9, but
that's a cruel wish isn't it?

Off to church, then carve some more, unless my domestic goddess discovers
some "honey dew" projects for me.



dan dew
Cold In Tampa  (40 degrees now, Brrrrr.)


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From: "Maria Arango" <maria@mariarango.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001 11:21:40 -0800
Subject: [Baren 13049] RE: Revelation


ha! we got you now...
I also feel there is a special lure to the wood (from the wood?). Through
the years I have found that I sketch less and less and even draw on the wood
less and less, being content with a few guiding lines to start my chisels.
Then, as you pointed out, the wood starts carving itself, knives and chisels
take over and the rest is just keeping going. Pretty soon a print emerges.
Aaaaahhhh...

Another issue that came up a bit ago is that of making a woodcut look like
something else. There is a fine line, I think, between experimenting with a
medium and the temptation to make that medium do something outside of its
realm. Examples are softening the edges of lines, achieving "shading" with
different techniques, piling up the colors impasto style, etc etc. I think
most of us experimenters like to walk that line.
But at the point where you can no longer tell what medium produced a print,
what have we done? I so admire the beautiful clean whites and blacks of, say
John Ryrie's work or Arye Saar's work (both famous Bareners). On the other
hand, I cannot help but experiment with the blocks to see if I can achieve
new and exciting effects. The danger, of course, is that sometimes woodcuts
don't look like woodcuts anymore. Or is that a danger at all?
Any thoughts?

Maria

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Maria Arango
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
http://www.1000woodcuts.com
maria@mariarango.com
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>



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From: David Bull <davebull@woodblock.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 07:41:09 +0900
Subject: [Baren 13050] Re: Revelation 

Maria,

> The danger, of course, is that sometimes woodcuts
> don't look like woodcuts anymore. Or is that a danger at all?
> Any thoughts?

I'll nibble ...

The primary motivation in making a print (for me), is to create a
'beautiful' object. 'Wood' is just another one of the tools one uses in
getting to the end point. Just like the scaffolding on a building under
construction, it is one of those things that is used to get to where you
want to go. Once you're there, it is discarded or put away, and the
finished product stands alone. Just what kind of scaffolding you used to
build your building is no longer important once the work is done.

And although many of you do things in a different way, for me, if I can
'see the wood' in the finished print, it usually means that my technique
has been poor ...

***

Very busy here now, halfway through the move to the new house, and with
the annual exhibition now less than a week away. I'm still carving on
the final print for the show, and it's touch and go whether or not it
will be ready in time. One (now empty) room of this apartment has been
turned into a woodwork shop, and there are 22 display panels in various
stages of construction stacked around the walls. 

Once we get the show up on display next Wednesday, I'll get some photos
up somewhere, and you'll be able to see if the final spot in the lineup
contains a print, or an empty space ...

Dave


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From: "Philip Smith" <SmithArt@Pacifier.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001 19:07:21 -0800
Subject: [Baren 13051] Re: Revelation charset="iso-8859-1" 


My abilities are not nearly that of yours,...but woodcuts have always been a
graphic medium to me,..finding that bit of natural form in a piece of wood
and using it seems to me to be a plus. Sure, you CAN make your print look
like a painting, but then what's the point.>
I like that bit of spontanaity that the wood alows you to have,...
Just my 2cents worth,
Philip.
Hammond, OR

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From: baren_member@barenforum.org (Margaret M. Szvetecz)
Date: 22 Jan 2001 04:34:16 -0000
Subject: [Baren 13052] RE:revelation 

Message posted by: Margaret M. Szvetecz

Dave is working in a print tradition in which he recreates 
in wood the smooth curves and exquisite detail of the 
traditional Japanese drawing/painting techniques and 
materials.  As far as I can surmise from looking at prints 
and also reading articles Dave has posted to his website, it 
is not a tradition in which wood is romanticized--respected, 
yes and loved, probably--but not romanticized.

This is certainly not a tradition in which I will ever work 
(although hanging out in baren has made me want to purchase 
Japanese carving tools and learn how to use them correctly). 
I certainly liked traditional Japanese hanga prints before I 
hooked up with the baren website; I now appreciate these 
prints in ways I previously could not. I can't see myself 
ever being a hanga kind of girl, but I am very glad other 
people are hanga-ites. 

Cheers,
Margaret M. Szvetecz
szvetecz@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu



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From: Sunnffunn@aol.com
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 07:51:30 EST
Subject: [Baren 13053] Re: Revelation 


Why work in a medium that you want to hide?  I want to learn woodcut so it 
will be woodcut, not linoleum block or watercolor or whatever.  I want the 
wood grain, otherwise forget it and I will use a medium that more easily 
looks like what I want.  But experimenting is wonderful, I love it, never 
stop if you like it.   That is how new things evolve and how we learn.  Just 
don't try to make woodcuts look other than that and you can't loose out with 
a good experiment, I should think????????
Marilynn


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From: Sunnffunn@aol.com
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 07:52:51 EST
Subject: [Baren 13054] Re: Revelation 

You don't want wood grain to show?  Then why carve it in wood, why not 
linoleum? Just wondering?


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End of Baren Digest v14 #1294
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