Baren-suji is the newsletter of [Baren], The International Forum for Woodblock Printmaking. The official internet site of [Baren] is http://barenforum.org Baren-suji are the marks left by the baren when printing. Similarly, this newsletter assumes the role of recording the marks left by the woodblock printmakers that constitute [Baren]. Comments and contributions are welcomed. Please contact: Baren-Suji Editor Baren and The Encyclopedia of Woodblock Printmaking were created by David Bull in 1997 to promote the art of and share information about woodblock printmaking. Baren activities include an international discussion forum, a network of woodblock printmakers, workshops and get-togethers, and the very successful Exchange and Exhibition Programs. To join [Barenforum], simply point your browser to: http://barenforum.org and click on Administration Links. Be sure to read the FAQ's and Guidelines of the Forum.

ISSUE 8: May 2002 NOTE! To return to this Table of Contents from anywhere in the Newsletter, just click on the barens scattered about. SPRING FEATURES: Closeup: Wanda Robertson, printmaker      by Barbara Mason Anatomy of an Art Festival      by Maria Arango Art Dealers and Digital Defenders      by Bill Ritchie Vacuum Photo Jig      by Mike Lyon Trivia Corner: "Name the printmaker" DEPARTMENTS: Editor's Notes Exchange & Exhibition News Members in the Spotlight Opportunities for Printmakers Printmaking Supplies from Traditional Japanese Makers

Baren brochure , 2002 design by John Amoss

Welcome to this issue of Baren-Suji, our newsletter. After an unexpected absence in winter, the newsletter is back with many interesting articles and some very special announcements from the [Baren] group. Baren's first ever benefit project was very well received. The NYFD exhibit held in Irvington New York was a complete success with 31 prints sold and over $1400 donated to the Firefigthers 911 Relief Fund. Carol Lyons did a fantastic job of organizing and promoting the exhibit and her hard work and determination sure paid off. The NYFD prints were also exhibited and sold in Palatine Illinois by member Sharen Linder. Plans for other exhibitions around the country (Oregon, Florida) are underway. John Amoss has designed a brochure for Baren (outside, inside) that has made its debut at the SGC Conference in New Orleans this past April. According to John, the brochure was hotter than red cajun pepper and over 225+ made their way into the hands of conference attendees. We are hoping to use this brochure to spread the word about the Baren forum and make it available to members hosting Baren exhibits and workshops. If you are new to our group and heard about us thru John's brochure, we want to know about it. Drop us a line or introduce yourself on the forum list. Also new with this issue we are introducing some additions to the website. For a long time the Baren group has been working on attaining non-profit status and in ways to promote and spread the good word about woodblock printmaking. With this issue a new "AWARDS" page is fully operational. Already the first [Baren] prize has been awarded to a senior student from Georgia University. To read more about our new program and how you can help and participate, follow the links on the forum's main page or head over directly to Baren's "Awards" page. In Memorium. The staff here at Barensuji would like to dedicate this issue to fellow printmaker & quiltmaker Karen Felicity Berkenfeld. Karen passed away last year after a courageous battle with illness. While I did not have the opportunity to meet Karen in person, her print "Sockeye" from Baren's Endangered Species (Exchange #9, see below) is a guarded treasure among my collection. Those that benefited from knowing Karen personally and those who will get to know her thru her art will be inspired by both her wonderful work and her courageous spirit. Finally, "Tempus Fugit" , Time flies! As we inch ever closer to celebrating Baren's fifth year online and making plans for the [Baren] "Kansas City, 2003 Summit", there is no better advice that can be offered than our old refrains: "CUT, PRINT !" - David Bull, Baren founder "We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately" -Printmaker Benjamin Franklin

A special thank YOU! to the contributors this issue:

As always, an extra thank you to our friendly Baren graphic designer, John Amoss, for the Baren-suji masthead design and the many logos that keep popping up in the Barenforum web site and also to our webmasters David Bull, Maria Arango and Mike Lyon for all the behind the scenes work.

Enjoy!
Julio Rodriguez, Editor of Baren-Suji
Please direct letters to the editor and comments to: Editor

Remember that your contributions will continue to make this newsletter interesting and palatable for all. To contribute a feature article or an item of interest, please contact: Contributions

Remember! General information and links to all exchanges can always be found here: http://barenforum.org/exchange/index.html
And in case you missed them, the prints in the Exchange Gallery can delight you here: http://barenforum.org/exchange/exchanges.html

Print at left by Carole Baker: "Philodendron", from Exchange #11, Flora.

Exchange #11 is completed and the prints are now on display in the Exchange Gallery. A big thanks to our coordinator Michelle Morrell (Alaska) for a great job. This was an "oban" size, theme "Flora" exchange.

Exchange #12 also was completed and delivered. Our thanks to Mike Lyon (Kansas) for his efforts coordinating the open 'hoso-ban' sized exchange, and for preparing the web pages, which can be viewed online here.

Signup for Exchange #13 was completed and work is underway. Deadline is June 1st, 2002. This will be a themed exchange, "Music", of chu-ban sized prints. Barbara Patera (Washington) is the coordinator for this exchange. Stay tuned to the information page where more information will appear as it becomes available.

Signup for Exchange #14 starts on June 1st, 2002.

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TEXT-MESSAGES PRINTS Project. The 'Gospels' project, brainchild of Gregory Robison, is coming to its peak this month. This is a collaboration project, NOT an exchange. Prints illustrating the text messages from the four Gospels in the New Testament will be exhibited in Edinburgh, Scotland during June, 2002. Plans for other world-wide exhibits and a project CD are in the works. Several American members will be travelling to Edinburgh to join in the festivities. "Bon Voyage" to Barbara Mason, Sharrie LaPierre and Wanda Robertson.

*Print by Daniel Dew, titled: Matthew 26:25, Judas"

For subscribing to that discussion group and to find more details, head over to http://www.topica.com/lists/gospelprints

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LARGE PRINT EXCHANGE. The "LPE" exchange is closed and coordinator Rudolf Stalder (North Carolina) is busy collating the print packages. Format for this exchange was open, maximum size 22" X 32", 25 prints required. Prints were due April 1st, 2002. For more information, head over to Rudolph's site: Large-Print Exchange.

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The Third annual New Year Card Exchange continues ! Following the sequence of the Chinese calendar, this year's animal is the HORSE. Deadline for signup was December 21st, 2001 and horse prints are still trickling in as this issue goes to press. For a look at the actual prints and more details visit Julio's Corral at http://www.skokienet.org/bandits/jcrstuff/horses/.

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WAR and PEACE Exchange. Baren members Barbara Mason (correspondence chief), Brad Schwartz and Cyndy Wilson (collation and shipping) are coordinating the exchange on the Printmakerlist forum. Prints are due July 1, 2002. Info is here:

http://www.printmakersonline.com/printmakers/warandpeace/index.html

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4th KIWA Competition.

The 4th Kyoto International Woodprint Exhibition (KIWA) will be held from February 25 to March 2, 2003. Deadline is July 30, 2002; prints received after the deadline will be held for the 2006 exhibition. The exhibition will be held in the Kyoto City Museum Annex.

Only original woodblock and woodcut prints, unframed, no larger than 100cm by 100cm, and made within the last three years will be accepted. Every artist will receive a hand-printed Certificate of Participation, invitation card and copies of photos of the exhibition. Prizewinners will be notified by fax or e-mail immediately after the judging. Prize money and citations will be mailed after the exhibition.

For full details and a visit to the KIWA website, please go to: www.kiwa.net

Richard Steiner has asked participants not to leave submissions until the 11th hour as it puts a lot of stress on the organizers.

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For those wanting to work at their own pace and perhaps do smaller editions, The Baren International Swap Shop is awaiting your prints. James Mundie presides over the Swapshop and is looking forward to adding your prints to those already received.

The Swapshop Gallery can be seen at: http://barenforum.org/swapshop/intro.html

This program is also open to non-members. We hope that you will also encourage non-members to participate so that we can promote the traditional exchange of prints among printmakers throughout the world.

*Print above from the Swapshop by Barbara Mason, titled: "Cannon Beach at Sunset".

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PRINT EXCHANGE CENTRAL. For additional information on these and many other world-wide exchanges, make sure you check on Maria Arango's information page. Corrections and updates should be e-mailed to Maria directly at Print Exchange Central.

A great way to keep up with all the exchanges is to bookmark the Exchange sign-up pages in your Favorites or Bookmarks (Internet Explorer and Netscape respectively).

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The American Print Alliance is still looking for 911 prints from its member organizations for a very special Memorial Portfolio in honor of the lives lost in the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Dr. Carol Pulin is asking all members of our councils as well as subscribers to the journal, Contemporary Impressions, to create an original work of art on or of paper (print, drawing, watercolor, etc., on an 8" x10" vertical sheet). The exhibition of these 6,000+ artworks will honor the individuality of each victim and convey sympathies to surviving families and friends.

Complete information and entry procedures can be found here. Entry is free, was due April 30th, 2002 but entries can still be sent.

Prints can also be sent directly to Barbara Mason, contact thru Barenforum.org.

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EXHIBITIONS

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"Sacred Trees" and "Endangered Species".

Baren member Gayle Wohlken is organizing a print exhibition that opens in July. Prints will be on display from both the Baren "Endangered Species" exchange and from PrintAustralia's (PA) "Sacred Trees" exchange. Also prints from Baren' Salon de Refusee" will be on display.

The Meyer Center exhibit info:

"Sacred Trees and Endangered Species"
July 5th thru August, 2002
Donald W. Meyer Center
Geauga Park District's Big Creek Park
9160 Robinson Road
Chardon, Ohio 44024

The opening is on Friday, July 5th, 2002 from 7-9 p.m. at the Donald W. Meyer Center.The Park District will provide hot beverages and hordoerves will be served.

* Print above from "Endangered Species" by Baren member and Manhattan Quilters' Guild member Karen Felicity Berkenfeld who passed away in September, 2001.

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The Northwest Print Council and The Portland Art Museum are helping celebrate a summerlong festival of Japanese culture in Portland, Oregon. Two exhibits are planned with displays of Baren exchange prints.

The first exhibit is at the Beaverton City Hall during the month of July, the next exhibit is at the offices of the Northwest Print Council for the month of August. Over fifty prints from Barbara Mason's Baren collection will be on display. Also prints by David Bull from the Surimono Albums series and display of traditional tools and other printmaking materials. A hanga demo will take place on the 3rd of August and Barbara will be giving a talk on hanga technique on the 10th.

The Japan Summerfest link is here:www.japansummerfest.org

Northwest Print Council

Baren: Contemporary Woodblock Prints
August 1-31
Location: 922 SW Main Street,
North Wing of the Portland Art Museum

This is an exhibition of contemporary woodblock prints by an exciting group of international artists joined together at barenforum.org, an online forum for woodblock printmaking. Baren conducts four printmaking exchanges each year, all following traditional Japanese size and format. View works by members of this unique consortium of printmakers. Works from the collection of Barbara Mason. Free. Open from noon-5 pm Tuesday through Saturday.

The Woodblock Tradition
August 10, Saturday, 2 pm
Barbara Mason
Location: 922 SW Main Street, North Wing of the Portland Art Museum

In conjunction with the opening of The Woodblock Tradition exhibition, you are invited to hear an informal program with speaker Barbara Mason from barenforum.org. Mason is a Council member with Baren, an online organization for printmakers. Free.

For further information, call 503-525-9259.

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Paine Webber Gallery will have an exhibition called "A Century on Paper". Prints by Art Students League Artists from 1901-2001.
Located at the UBS Paine Webber Art Gallery, 1285 Avenue of the Americas (6th) between 52st and 52 Streets. It will be on from April 11 - June 21, 2002. Open Monday to Friday 8 AM to 6 PM. (Contributed by Ruth Leaf)

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Second Edition of MINIARE -The Montreal International Miniature Print Biennial

The Conseil quebecois de l’estampe (Quebec Printmakers Council) is launching its second international Miniature biennial. It is open to all professional printmakers from all countries. All printmaking techniques including monotypes and digital prints are accepted. The maximum paper size is 18 x 18 cm and image size may be the same or smaller that the paper size. Deadline for submitting work: May 1st 2002. The exhibit will take place in Montreal from October 11 to November 17, 2002. A jury will award three cash prizes. A full colour catalogue will be published and all selected artists will receive a copy .

For this second edition, the Conseil has decided to showcase Australian Printmaking. Anthea Boesenberg is coordinating this Australian contribution and would welcome all Australian contributions. Please contact her on boes@ar.com and she will forward details and entry forms. All other printmakers can get an entry form and rules and regulation on the Conseil’s new website at www.cqe.qc.ca. If you have any questions, you can email the Conseil at cqe@cam.org.

Welcome to all and good luck! Claude Aimée Villeneuve, President, Quebec Printmakers Council.

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If you are missing out on the exchanges and exhibitions, be sure to tune into the Baren forum and take a gander through the Encyclopedia. Opportunities abound and await!

Carol Lyons - NYFD-911 Exhibit

Baren member Carol Lyons organized a New York Firemen's Benefit Exhibit. Starting on February 12, 2002 for lasting two weeks at the Irvington Library Display Room (Irvington, New York). John Center who originated the idea and coordinated the relief fund project traveled to New York to personally hand over the prints to Carol. Over 250 people got to see the prints and $1400 was raised in sales for the relief fund. Carol's relentless efforts, promotion and organizing skills ensured the exhibit's success.

A check was made out to the "NY Firefighter and Rescue Worker Relief Fund":

Fire donations Attention: Natasha
3214 50 St. Ct,Suite 303
Gig Harbor, WA, 98335

Our many thanks to Dean Clark from Graphic Chemical for graciously donating paper toward this benefit project.

The following letter appeared in the Rivertown Enterprise Newspaper, April 5, 2002:

"Woodcut artists thankful for $1,400 fundraising effort in Irvington"

To the Editor;

The Barenforum.org printmakers wish to thank all those who supported their recent fund-raiser of original woodblock prints to benefit the NYC Firefighters 911 Relief Fund. The entire proceeds of $1,400 from the 31 prints sold have been sent to the fund.

The idea for the fund-raiser was suggested by Barenforum.org printmaker member John Center of Chicago.

Thanks also to Lisa Dente of Sunnnyside Federal Bank, The Enterprise, the Viewpoint, Irvington Library staff, and the Irvington volunteers who helped make this exhibit possible.

The woodblock prints were shown in the Martucci Room of the Irvington Public Library and it was the first display on its national travels. Other showings are planned for Florida, Illinios, and California.

Barenforum.org is an international group of woodblock printmakers who exchange methodology and print critiques via the Internet.

Carol Lyons
Irvington, NY

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Sharen Linder - Firefighters Benefit Print Exhibit

Limited edition woodcut prints produced by members of barenforum.org to benefit the 911 Firefighters fund. Sharen coordinated the efforts to have the 911 print folio on display at two locations in her home town of Palatine, Illinois.

Palatine Village Hall
February 25 - March 8, 2002

Harper College, Palatine, Illinois
March 10 - 25, 2002

The Firefighters Exhibit opened the morning of March 11th, and that was very special. There had been many references to the 9-11 tragedy in the media in the days just before it opened, especially involving the documentary firefighter film that was shown that Sunday evening. When people came in on Monday and the corridor was filled with these prints--they gave us a whole corridor, so the prints were well lighted and well spaced-- there were lots of people stopping, and looking and talking.

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Fireman's Benefit Show in Tampa, Florida.

Member Daniel Dew is organizing a third venue for the NYFD-911 prints. The show officially opens on June 1st, 2002 at the Hillsborough County Library. A travelling show for the entire library system is possible. Print media, TV and radio coverage is underway. The local fire chief and police chief will be presented with an honorary print.

Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library
2902 West Bearss Avenue
813-264-3831

The prints will be displayed in nice metal frames with glass. Dan promises to take lots of photos for the next newsletter.

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David Stones - Exhibition at Artelino Galleries with prints by David Stones and other contemporary artists.

Leaving England in 1972, David Stones discovered the wonderful world of moku-hanga while visiting Japan. He has lived in Japan since then becoming a woodblock printmaker. Once a student of master Tomikichiro Tokuriki, David prints combine contemporary images with centuries old technique.

Link: Online exhibit

David Stones home page: http://www.i-chubu.ne.jp/~stones/index_e.html

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John Ryrie - Exhibition. e-mail.
From the land down under, an exhibition of prints at Chrysalis Publishing, 179 Gipps St, East Melbourne. Exhibit ran from April 29th till the 26th of May.

An exhibition of prints by John Ryrie: Exhibit info

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April Vollmer - Exhibition: "Iteration, Woodcuts from Digital Plans"

For those that missed April's exhibition at the Square One Gallery (closed May 24th, New York), April has provided us with a web page with all the prints: Exhibit

This past month, April & Sarah Hauser have done their annual hanga demonstration at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival.

April's work is also featured in a group exhibition in beautiful Newfoundland. The works of three contemporary Japanese woodblock artists: Suezan Aikins, Charlotte Jones and April Vollmer, plus a show of Ukiyo-e at the Sir Wilfred Grenfell College Art Gallery . Newfoundland Exhibit

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[Baren] Awards Program

Brainchild of our Baren-suji illustrator, John Amoss, the [Baren] Awards/Donation program is officially open. Already an award has been given out at John's Georgia University. Here is an excerpt from the Awards page:

"The [Baren] forum has always prided itself on being a completely non-competitive organization of printmakers; the [Baren] Exchanges are open to any member, greenhorn or pro, and discussions on the forum itself are completely free-flowing, with input coming from both ends of the 'experience' spectrum. But although we have consciously avoided any competitive activities, we have come to realize that an important part of our function is the promotion and encouragement of woodblock printmaking among those who have 'not yet seen the light', and it is in this area that we feel such things as awards to young printmakers can have a useful function.

As we absolutely wish to maintain our own 'non-competitive' structure, we do not hold competitions ourselves, but do wish to support venues where developing printmakers can expose their work. To that end, we have initiated a policy of 'endowing' prizes and awards for woodblock prints entered in organized shows. The program is already underway, and the first award has been made.

We are very proud of being able to assist developing woodblock printmakers through this Awards Program, and hope that you will consider helping us!"

Feb. 18, 2002- 'Barenforum.org award' for best relief print at the University of Georgia Undergraduate Print Show in 2002 goes to Erin Black, Senior- $40

A four-color "untitled" linoleum print was the winner. The contest was a review of all printmaking projects made at the University of Georgia during the 2001-2002 academic year. Over 280 pieces were displayed in the Lamar Dodd gallery space. The juror was Ralph D. Slatton, Professor at East Tennessee State University.

For more details head over directly to Baren's "Awards" page.

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HANGA CLUB

"Do you like Japanese prints? Have you perhaps collected some? If so, then I'm sure that you have sometimes wished that you could spend time digging through the print shops in Tokyo ..."

That's exactly what David Bull's youngest daughter has been up to. Everyone familiar with [Baren] is familiar with Fumi's many talents. The Hanga Club is a place to purchase good quality japanese prints at very reasonable prizes. Service is fantastic!

Fumi has selected a variety of print genres to satisfy everyones appetite. Also prints by Matt Brown, John Amoss & Gary Luedtke are available for purchase.

Link: HangaClub

BM. Wanda, Where are you physically located in the vast network of Baren?

I live about 40 miles south-east of Portland Oregon, in the foothills of the Cascade Range. We have about 50 acres of pastures and timberland. I have a half-finished studio that I am slowly carving out of an old house built hastily during the WWII years. When (and if) I get it finished, it will be a comfy place to work. Right now it's kind of cold in there, as there is no heat.

BM. When did you realize that being an artist was important to you?

I have been drawing & painting since I could hold a crayon. "Paper with no lines" was always my favorite present, but if it had lines on it I would still draw on it. There weren't any artists in the family and I remember people wondering where that talent came from. I still wonder. But now I think that everyone has it in them to some degree, they just need to cultivate it to bring it out.

I know you have done a series of orchid prints, a couple that I have traded for and really love. What got you started doing all these orchids?

The orchid prints started last year when I inherited some huge cymbidium orchid plants from my mother-in-law. She died at the age of 89, still cheerful and giving. She was a wonderful woman and none of her family wanted to take on the orchids, so I got them. I was surprised at the small amount of care they actually require. And they bloom all winter in my studio. I feel the orchids and flower prints are actually symbols of our own mortality - the cycle that all living things go through.

BM. When did you start doing woodblock and particularly Hanga?

I have always admired the Japanese Woodblock prints. But I never could figure out how in the world they were able to do them. When I found "Baren" I was so excited. I spent two summer camps at Graham Scholes' workshop, getting some very cogent tips from David Bull at the second workshop, and worked with Yugi Hiriatsuka at the Northwest College of Art and Dennis Cunningham of Marylhurst University. I've made many friends in the printmaking community through these classes. For a person who has always worked alone, this new sense of community with other artists is really wonderful. It has made my life so much richer.

BM. How did you meet Barbara and become one of the terrible two?

I met my good friend Barbara Mason right after I signed up for Graham Scholes' first workshop in Sidney, B.C. He e-mailed & asked it it was O.K. to put us in touch with each other as we lived so close perhaps we could car-pool to the workshop. The first time we met, we were so amazed at the things we had in common. And we have been fast friends ever since.

BM. What do you like best about Hanga?

The first exchange program had just closed for entries when I first joined "Baren" in the fall of 1998. I whined a lot, but they held their ground - the entries were closed. So I have been a member of every exchange since then. It is a great way to stretch your creativity & your endurance. At first I had to print only 10 prints at a time. In some of the exchanges I have done oil based prints, but more & more I lean toward the hanga methods. They are so portable and the colors are so beautiful and the papers themselves are a work of art. I especially love to work with the paper from the Yamaguchi family. I think it is just the most wonderful paper I've ever printed with. Hanga is a very satisfying medium for me. I can see myself at 91, holding those carving tools & bending over a nice block of wood. I hope to live long enough to get good at it!

"The End"

More of Wanda Robertson's flower prints can be seen here:

Print 1: Paphiopedilum orchid
Print 2: Green Cymbidiums (detail)
Print 3: Red Cymbidiums
Print 3: Calla (from Baren's Swapshop)

PS: On a personal note, I want to say how much knowing Wanda has enriched my life. We seem to be two peas in a pod, similar families and interests and we just clicked when we met. She is funny and fun. She is a great friend, very caring and solid as a rock.

Editors note: Wanda Robertson has served as a Baren exchange coordinator and as member of the list's council. She is also moderator for the Baren Forum list.

Pre-Day-One: Make-ready
    You would think that the ball starts rolling on Day One, but, as many things learned in these art adventures, you are wrong. One thing that I learned quickly is that creativity and flexibility come in handy. I'm not talking about artistic creativity, although you must have that also, nor the ability to touch your toes (although this latter is also necessary!). No, Creativity in this context refers to the ability to "think on your feet" and, absorbing a set of sudden circumstances at the blink of an eye, decide on a course of action. Flexibility, again in this context, is the ability of adapting to whatever these three to five days might throw at you, which could mean geting up at 4:30 a.m., sleep in the truck, going entire days without bathroom breaks or palatable food, reading a map while pulling a trailer through downtown San Francisco...you get the idea.
But long before all that, comes pre-day-one, so let me back track to that.
    I am now assuming that everything is framed and matted, which comes on the days before pre-day-one (we could call this pre-pre-day-one, but that just gets too confusing). Point is, there has to be enough work to sell and such work must be in Sunday wear. Matting and framing is a weekly task in the studio for me.  Pre-day-one entails really getting everything ready. We can start with such minutia as the SUV-trailer combo that is the work-horse of the trip, changing oil, checking tire pressure and so on. In fact, as I recall, on this day I made a list with some odd 23 items on it and blindly followed it until all the items were crossed out.
    Other than the work horses, the poor trailer has to be loaded with freshly framed prints, and outdoor gear was dumped in favor of the indoor gear as this was an indoor festival. Food, clothing, maps, cameras are among other things that had to be gathered, as well as finishing off the weekly tasks of the home that won't get done while I'm away (haven't quite worked out the "two places at one time" thing).
    Doesn't take long to write, but start adding things up and soon it is around 9:00 p.m., my head's spinning hoping that I have not forgotten something essential and wondering about things like weather, road conditions, enough socks... By this time I'm fairly tired, mostly from the loading task, and anxious to get on the road. A glass of wine and an attempt to get a night's sleep in preparation for the 11-hour, 550-mile drive to San Francisco.

Day-One: Getting There
    Hopefully getting there is uneventful. Pulling a trailer is no big deal once you get used to the task of driving a bit slower (no swerving in and out of traffic either), although working a horse to capacity is never completely stress-free. I only broke down once so far (knock-knock) and didn't really "break" down so much as having to deal with an electronic vehicle going completely dead while driving 60 miles per hour. In case you haven't experienced this, power brakes and power steering don't work in such circumstances, so you are forced to coast to a stop hoping you can muscle the steering wheel to guide the vehicle gently on the side of the road. Once my heart stopped thumping out of my chest (due to the act of pushing on the brakes and receiving no response), I had the presence of mind (read: insane recklessness) to try the ignition again and get back on the road. As we all know, God protects drunks and printmakers, so I made it that time.
    But on this fine day, absolutely nothing happened. Road-day is like a day off if you fancy driving as I do. A big chunk of America goes by rather quickly; much as I travel the same roads new things appear every time. Always on the lookout for coyotes and hawks, both seem to make a living cleaning up the roads. Always on the lookout for strange lights, cloud formations, fields of gold and emerald, unusual trees in the middle of nowhere...always something to see, even on the most boring trips.
    And while the trip was uneventful it did take away 11 hours of my life, just like that. I stopped just short of S.F. leaving the stress of parking and hustle bustle of the city for the next day, as it turned out, a smart move. A walk to stretch my cramped body and another good night of rest.

Day-Two: A Gallery is born
    Today is moving day. This is the day when I'm supposed to find an unknown place in unknown streets (most of them one-way streets, someone forgot to warn me) of an unknown town...by 7:30 a.m. That is why they make maps, conveniently with a N and an up-arrow indicating where N, is. Yeah right.
    I expected a crowd of artists already elbowing each other's motor-homes for unloading space. Usually if I get up at 6 a.m. I find that the motor-home crowd got up at 5:30, but this time I found only that most of the streets run only one way, that the buses are wider than their allotted bus-lane, and that my keen sense of direction can get turned around after...turning around a few times. But I got there without taking out any bike riders with the the tail end of the trailer, so I consider myself (and them) lucky enough.
    Double lucky, as I also found a parking space about 20 feet from my booth, which never ever has happened before, ever. One small drawback: the booth is indoors inside a convention center, three long and painful steps up from street level. At the tender age of 40 (ish), the body seems to protest quite a bit more than it used to, especially when completely emptying a very full 8' x 6' x 5' trailer only as a warm-up for what comes next. What comes next (after the unloading) is building a small gallery of sorts.
    As if by magic, walls of a 10' x 10' booth rise up from the floor, lights get hanged, display racks stand proud in a configuration that seemingly always deviates from the worthless piece of paper where I designed it last night, and approximately 100-120 pieces of my work go up on the walls. This "magic" that took a sentence to write, takes about all of the morning, several fingernails (why did I forget to trim them again?), a few chunks of skin and much more glycogen than a person my size can possibly store in one single set of muscles. The "magic" of building a booth also leaves bruises in all kinds of strange places and a delicious soreness that lasts well into the next couple of days, disappearing only a few hours before tear-down. In any case, after such heavy "magic" the only possible course of action is to replenish the food stores and blood sugar levels, which means that it is time to eat--eat much food very quickly.
    But it is magic that when I showed up roughly 5 hours ago there was only a 10 x 10 empty floor space with my number on it and a chalk line where my corners are destined to be. Now stands a proud little gallery complete with lights, carpeting, and even a "back-office" where I will sit and carve. Works have been dusted and straightened and carefully placed to hopefully attract the attention of potential buyers in the seemingly distant Day 3 of the adventure.
    Before then, though, comes the adventure of seeking food, shelter and the all important hot shower to get rid of the kinks. Exhausted and dirty, I set off to find the hotel in a labyrinth of one-way streets and an annoying forest of NO PARKING HERE EVER signs. I'm still pulling a trailer, now empty of weight, but still faithfully attached to the back of the truck, preventing me from simply zipping in and out of tiny streets.
    Somehow the adventure comes to a stop for the moment and I find myself full of food, smelling like Super-8 soap, clean and resting in a horizontal position. The entire day seems to have taken about 92 hours, but it is really only around 6 p.m. I find myself completely unable to move anything except the finger that works the remote and the hand that brings ice water to my lips...okay okay, a beer to my lips.
    I sit reclined on a mountain of pillows and dream of a speedy recovery because tomorrow I have to face the public and that takes much energy. A different kind of energy, grant you, but still can't just sit there with bags under my eyes and barely coughing up a smile. Selling takes much positive vibes, and they all come from you.

Day 3 - Showtime!
    Customarily things start out so slowly that I start thinking I will never make a single sale. Well, at least I saw San Francisco again...and at least I saw what this show was like...and at least people seem to like my work...
    ...And just when you think nothing will ever happen folks start warming up to the idea that this is an art festival and that you built a gallery just for them and that everything is indeed for sale. If I am patient and keep up the good energy aura about me ("they" sense those auras!), eventually "they" trickle into my booth. Then a funny thing happens: art speaks to people and they want to get it and own a piece of your soul. Because everything you do must come from the soul, and it is then that they will want a piece. "They" then pull out that substance we call money and an exchange takes place. "They" have worked all week to earn that substance and you have poured yourself into your art. The exchange is fair and satisfying to both parties, and it feels darned good that someone will part with a bit of their life for a bit of mine.
    More on the practical sense, I get many compliments and some insults, and I often sell enough woodcut prints to make the show well worth-while, although this was not always the case.
    What actually happens is that I sit all day inside my booth (outside the booth if space permits) and demonstrate "the art," talk about my influences, where I learned to do this and how I came to be here. I also answer many questions of all kinds (most of the time I can keep a straight face). Some of the more and least common go something like this:
[[ASIDE! Incidentally, there is a mental answer to these which must NEVER leave your lips. Then there is the actual polite answer that somehow, someone inside me manages to make into comprehensible audible sounds.]]

- Do you ever cut yourself?
- Do you have any football players?
- Can you make me something that I have in mind?
- Isn't that nice that you can make some money from your little hobby?
- Your work reminds me of ---------- (your favorite unknown artist's name here)
- Oh look I used to do this in the fourth grade!
- Oh look I used to do this in the fifth grade!
- Oh look I used to do this in the sixth--you get the idea...
- Can you change the title of this piece for me?
- Will you deliver? (sure, with fries on the side)
- Can my kids stay here while I go buy some jewelry from that nice lady?
- Do you do ---------- (toads, clowns, Kincaid copies, tigers, owls, Michael Jordan...)
....And so on!

Day 4 - Neutral Day
    First day came and went without a hitch...and usually without many sales. But you never judge a 3-day show by the first day, or the second day, or at all. In fact, this business is much like legalized gambling, and I think that is one of the reasons so many artists get addicted. One year you make $100, next year $3800; same show, same booth, same art, same weather... One weekend you sit and twiddle your thumbs, the next weekend, same city, you can't get any carving done and you actually have people waiting to pay standing in line. Someone told me once the good shows just spoil you and I tend to agree. I expect nothing and most of the time I leave pleasantly surprised.
    Neutral Day is the only normal day. There is no set-up, no break-down, no early morning, no late night, no bruises, no backaches. Today feels like going to work at a gallery--MY gallery! Never mind that I was kept up last night by the lively disco music from some restaurant that doesn't know when to quit and is in dire need of new amplifiers. Never mind that in other cities I may have slept in the truck, campground or not, bathroom or not (don't even ask). None of that matters because a rush of adrenaline seems to be permanently flowing during these adventures, which keeps me fresh and rested and ready for action.
    Today is rest day, but I begin to think the strategy for tomorrow, because tear-down is messy. The logistics of where to park and when to sneak out and get the truck closer and how the dickens will I get everything back stuffed inside my poor tiny trailer all have to be well thought out in advance. Then the time comes and all plans get tossed out the window.
    But those thoughts are some distance off for now, because I still must sit and smile pretty all day. I need to explain over and over how I make these and convince them very subtly, that they really do want the one that caught their eye. I am really no saleswoman and admire those artists that feel compeltely at ease in the role, but nevertheless today I have to wear that hat simply due to the fact that there is nobody else to do this.
    And speaking of sales persons, that is only one of the hats. Any given show on any given weekend I transform myself from moving man to framer, truck driver and reservations clerk, stage builder, camper and auto-mechanic, sales clerk, handy-man, accountant, delivery person and...well, woodcut printmaker. Whining about having to do any of the above is pointless, as there is often nobody around to help. The expression "suck up my guts and go" comes to mind when people ask me what I do for a living. Add to that the utter unpredictability of the business and I begin to wonder why I do what I do!
    Well, for one, I don't have to wear panty-hose and suits anymore, but I'm pretty sure that the love for the craft is what keeps me passionate and energized. There is no better way to make a living, I'm convinced of that.

Day Five - Moving out
    Today can be described as hectic, long, stressful, busy, long --(did I already mention hectic?)...
For one thing, the last day of the festival is ususally the busiest. Folks come back (we call them "be backs") on the last day hoping for a good deal, maybe just couldn't sleep at night thinking of their empty wall space and that lovely woodcut print. Dealing with people who want deals is doubly stressful and a bit insulting; on the other hand, we all want to go home lighter than how we came--much lighter if we can. Every piece sold is another piece that doesn't have to be re-packed. On the other other hand, I don't want to give away the house or lose money on framed art or even give things away at "cost."
    Figuring out "cost" is a bit flaky for an artist. How do you value creativity? What price to pay for an artist's mind? What is intellectual property worth? The Artist's Dilemma = Sure, I will mat and frame and even print for minimum wage and sit at my booth for free; but taking my ideas for...how much?

    Anyhow, today's plan goes something like this:

A. Pack clothes and food and things and check out of the motel.
B. Leave all your valuable possessions wrapped in the car in some parking spot in the middle of some city.
C. Sit at the booth and sell much stuff.
D. At the sound of the bell, pack every piece of art.
E. Dismantle tiny gallery.
F. Shove everything gently and neatly back into tiny trailer.
G. Head off into the sunset.

    That's the plan anyway, did I mention that artists packing up and leaving a show resemble somewhat a wildebeast stampede running from a pride of wild hungry lions and zig-zagging among galloping rhinos?
    The good news is that tear-down doesn't take as long as set-up, about 2-3 hours if I am by myself.  By this time it is way past sunset, usually dark, adrenaline is flowing from the physical tasks of dismantling and packing but the body and mind are exhausted after yet another 16-hour day. Within about 15-20 minutes of driving, everything starts to shut down and the eyelids get heaaaavy. New bruises start to hurt, my back hasn't straightened out since set-up day, I realized I never washed my hands and haven't gone to the bathroom since noon, and in that sorry state the best thing to do is find a place to sleep and leave the drive for the morning.

Morning comes pretty early, the adrenaline is still trickling and I want to get HOME, like now. Fortunately I like driving and also fortunately, so far (knock on wood) all my outings have been successful. I hardly ever remember the trips back home, because I can't think and drive at the same time after the exhausting weekend. Auto-pilot takes over, the open lands of the desert renew my spirit and make me smile out loud-- and soon I have in my sights the lights of Las Vegas.

Post Day 5
What, did you think you were done? Well, actually, once the wheels hit the driveway of my beloved home I consider myself done. The rest is a matter of resting, unpacking, updating the database with new customers and sales and such accounting things, re-inventorying, re-matting, re-framing and re-covering! All in all, this day is about recharging the batteries and not making any life decisions while exhausted.

It's a hard fun life, in fact, this venue may be the "hardest funnest" thing I have ever done in my life. Usually in two or three days I'm ready to go again.  Hopefully my experience will be useful to some, or just humorous.
 

The author is an artist whose favorite medium is printmaking. Above is a woodcut he’s working on as he writes this essay. He believes the ancestor of new media technologies is the print. He explains that his desktop today is evidence of this, and suggests that’s the story about how new and traditional technologies are “interdependent” with one another.

Subject: Considering assisting art dealers calls to this writer’s mind the tacit agreements they’ve reached with living printmaking artists during his career. If art is to live on, dealers need to help fight wars against ignorance in this digital reproduction age.

"I’m not talking ‘bout a one night stand,
A hasty tumble and a shy goodbye.
Hurrying home in the morning light,
That’s not really what I have in mind . . ."

Those approximate the words in a song in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Evita. I listened to the soundtrack from the film version, and today it came to my mind because I was thinking of an idea put to me by an art dealer. She suggested helping art museums fight a kind of war on ignorance of printmaking, the kind of printmaking we fine art printmakers know and love. This is not new technology kinds of digital printmaking, but rather the traditional kinds of print making from plates made by hand, such as woodcut.

I thought about her suggestion, which is that a film or videotape would be useful now if only someone would make such a thing available. Or, a film about the history of printmaking—that would help, too. She’d had that dream some time ago. I agree with her. I think a film or video program is a wonderful idea. She dreamed of doing this, and almost did, years ago, but finding the money for it was hard.

To my mind we seem to be stuck in a kind of tar pit, always judging and calculating our next move by looking only at the surface of things. A tar pit looks more or less like the surrounding landscape, but if you step into it, you’re going to get mired. And you may not survive. Making a film on the history of printmaking might be possible, but due to the economic situation that printmakers and artists (and their dealers) find themselves in today, it’s not likely. You’d not find enough money to make a difference using film or video. Or, you’d end up deep in a money pit, stuck with a film very few people care to watch more than once.

That, to me, is what a one-night stand is like. I’m in this printmaking thing for the long term. Making a single film or video is like what I think those words in Evita mean. A one-night stand is like making a film. People see it once, and then go home, or change channels and find something more interesting. After all, traditional prints, as a basis for such a film, are no more interesting as fine art images than a drawing or a painting. What hurts printmakers more is the fact that mechanization is taking command of printmaking on paper, if you are looking no further than the surface appearance. An inkjet print can look like a woodcut.

The surface may appear safe, but free fine art prints are not like the rest of the surrounding areas in the landscape of graphics and paintings. My personal history is such that I took a risk, like a great many other artists, and ventured out onto those tar pits of printmaking—into the deep roots at the center and out to the edges. I got stuck on printmaking and the fascinating history of printmaking, and on the most eccentric uses of video and computer imaging, hypermedia and Digital Versatile Disc based stamps.

There were many others about whom I could tell you and relate to you their stories, their histories. So to think of making a single, linear film is like a one night stand. I’d rather make something like a soap opera about printmaking, prints and printmakers. I like the idea of multiple perspectives, different angles of looking at it.

As for the art dealers and the museums—to name two of our allies in defending traditional printmaking—I now think they might come to the aid of living print artists like myself if they wanted to. This triumvirate could, just as we used to do (when the schools gave us classrooms to do it in) defend the free fine art print in the war on ignorance as to what real prints are. We could win by teaching, learning, researching and practicing what real fine art prints are and what they are becoming. Yes, and that includes the digital print and cyber art, too.

Interfere, always interfere !

In order to understand my idea of a soap opera on printmaking, you would have to suspend a great deal of what you think you know about soap operas. You would also have to suspend a great deal of what you think about prints, printmaking and printmakers—what you know based on your past experience. I want to interfere with your present ideas. The mention of soap operas, for example, should have shocked you! I don’t watch soap operas, but I know millions do, and I’ve read theories as to why soap operas are a success.

The salient point of my interference approach is that within today’s redundant world of education, printmaking is failing in schools and colleges. There is a lack of resources, for one thing, to support the equipment and tools, and a lack of management too. Redundancy, the boredom in other words, of printing itself is mind- and creativity-killing. At first it’s interesting to bystanders and tourists. But once they get it, it’s on to another display of craft and handiwork. If art is to result, it must have with it both a degree of redundancy, (i.e., recognition as art or formal qualities) plus enough of something new to keep peoples’ interest. We hunger for variables. And you need variation to keep people coming back. This can be taken to extremes until we merge art and entertainment. Sometimes entertainment loops back into art. It is a tricky, magical business, and the creators of soap operas on TV are masters.

But anyone can do it. First, however, one must have to have a mission or a goal. Soaps that are earning a profit, week after week or year after year serves some people well enough. If you mission and goal is education for many people, profitability is a matter of dumb luck but not the main reason people teach or learn, research and practice their art and craft. Like art for art’s sake, there is more to this mission than meets the eye.

On the other hand, we can learn a lesson from the entertainment world, such as TV soaps and blockbuster films. Also, computer games and interactive Internet experiences all have something to teach us about being effective in the age of digital reproduction. I begin with my idea, “interfere—always interfere.” As I am now working on a new block of wood (pictured above) writing this very paper is interfering with my woodcutting. On the other hand, you might say that making a woodcut by hand-carving a block is interfering with my writing! And, if my writing, in an attempt to help art dealers and museums by joining me—an artist and teacher—in my scholarly contribution and concept for a remedy, then you can see what we both have to gain.

We are interdependent. Our three ventures are like the three legs that hold up the stool. The platform is the fine art print. With this in mind, I would be free to continue making prints, and dealers, museums and other academics would be free to do their jobs—at a profit.

Concerned dealers in Los Angeles

Recently there was a panel discussion at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, sponsored by the International Fine Print Dealers Association that discussed the future of printmaking as we know it today.

Their fear (believed by some) was that schools are reducing the number of printmaking classes they offer, art history departments ignore the history of prints (techniques as well as their cultural influences) and an important part of the history of mankind will be supplanted by quick "screen saver" art or "digital images."

Such do not encompass the many different skills (including engraving, the preparation of the plate, the acid bath, the color of the ink, the wiping, the pressure of the press, etcetera) that were historically used to produce a fine art print.

Nonetheless, if Art results anyway, then it would be argued that we're in a new age utilizing new materials, and collectors will still desire images and artists and those who show them will profit.

There’s an underlying fear that appreciation for the old will disappear because there is less and less face to face exposure to the old prints. Images are proliferating through a faster, easier method that may or may not have real artistic merit, such as the now-ubiquitous giclee technique of printing.

Immediately after I learned about this panel, I began to think about my soap opera approach to a remedy. In the context of the age of digital reproduction, I have concluded that digital imaging and printing is here to stay. Anyone who hoped it would go away and not affect the market for their handiwork are wrong. I think printmakers, print dealers and museums need some good blockbusting promotion so that buyers and collectors know what they are getting for their investment money.

An uneducated market will not buy, or people will spend more money on things than those things are actually worth. If they are investing, then matters get even worse—with consequences that happen when buying penny stocks or junk bonds. People will lose faith in the object of their investment and grow to resent and denigrate the kinds of works that proved not to be what they claimed, i.e., free fine art. This will be fatal to both dealers and artists. Museum attendance will fall off.

Back to my DVD

Now a third interference factor enters: My Digital Versatile Disc, or DVD. In the age of digital reproduction this is no surprising interference. I believe when people look back (say, for example, ten years from now) they’ll see nothing unusual about the picture, below, of my desktop as it now looks—strewn with a partly-finished wood block, videotapes and digital versatile discs. Everything a “modern” of today should have on his or her work area.

The author’s desktop at the time of this writing. Woodblock and knives (1) lie beside videotapes he made during his college teaching career (2) and are the source for parts of his work in Digital Versatile Discs today (3).

But wait! Is it a work area or is it a play area? I am not sure. I do know that I get a great feeling—like I’m in a role play or acting in a soap opera perhaps—just in cultivating the legacy I’ve been given by my teachers and fellow students, my art collectors and dealers. Also, thanks to the Internet e-mail system, there are a dealer, and an art museum helping to keep me on a locus of beauty and in the ranks of digital defenders of printmaking. All I need now is a school and this “stool” would stand strong again, holding up the free, fine art of printmaking.

About the Author:

Bill H. Ritchie, Jr. is an ITinerant Professor of Art based in Seattle. He taught printmaking and media arts for 19 years at the UW. At 37 he became a full professor. Resigning after six more years he left campus to seek “The Perfect Studios—where teaching, research and development are concurrent in one time, one place.” He plans a circle of teaching companies and, in 1992, he invented Emeralda as a role playing, cooperative on-line game set in a fantasy region accessible by computer. For further information contact Bill H Ritchie via e-mail at ritchie@seanet.com.

Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Emeralda Works
500 Aloha #105
Seattle WA 98109
(206) 285-0658

Web sites:
Professional: www.seanet.com/~ritchie
Virtual Gallery and E-Store: www.myartpatron.com
First Game Portal: www.artsport.com

©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

It took about 30 minutes to photograph 41 prints, and another 90 minutes to crop, re-size, color-correct and zip.  That's by far the most efficient digitizing I've ever done!  I owe it all to my handy dandy new construction, the vacuum photo jig!  The photo jig was built from a $25 (used) hospital bed, the ball-head from a used $45 mono-pod (like a tripod only with one leg), the vacuum frame and pump were salvaged for free from an old photo-litho camera which had been discarded and some plywood, paint, hardware and electrical wiring and switch (about $10). I've been planning this for a month, and built it yesterday and today.

This method is much less harmful to the prints than scanning because there's no xenon tube (or whatever) drenching the prints with UV and other light spectrae. I love it! With the pump off, I open the vacuum table so its surface is horizontal. Then I position the print (easy to get this just right because the vacuum frame has markings to help center stuff), flip the vacuum switch 'on', raise the vacuum table to its vertical position -- the camera is already locked in place just the right distance from the photo frame on a piece of aluminum extrusion designed and given to me by my friend, Mike Schuler, so that when zoomed in fully, the camera sees the whole plate and the center of the lens is exactly perpendicular to the center of the vacuum frame. Voila! Perfect pix every time without having to rotate them to make them square.

Too cool! You can view some photos of the jig itself by clicking on the images above.

Time for some fun and games! How good are you at recognizing famous people from the world of Woodblock Printmaking ?

Send the Baren-Suji Editor a list of your answers and first reply to get them all correct wins a prize! In the likely event nobody gets all the answers correct, the entry with the most accurate answers will be awarded the prize (TBA).

Hint: Click on the image to see a popup, in some cases you will see a different photo of the same artist...and by the way, all of the faces here have at one time or another served for good discussion on the "bareforum.org" list.

Suburban Chicago Faculty positions opening. Wm. Rainey Harper College has two full time positions opening in Art for the coming year. 3-D Foundation/Sculpture, and Art History. Information can be obtained at www.harpercollege.com/

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Studio 51 located in Pullman WA, is having a moving sale, This full service Printmaking studio/Gallery is selling everything this month: Charles Brand 30x50 litho press, Rembrant 32x57 litho press, Fuchs &Lang 24x29 litho press. Douthitt Plate Maker 40x50 bed /3000watt lamp, Plate Mate light table 31x41, Drafting tables,Flat files wood 36x37 5 drawer, flat files 25x40 metal, flat files40x50, rolling tables 42x72, tempered glass 46x76x1/4 (for table tops) 36 inch paper chopper, mat cutter,mat samples,framing supplies, everything goes...I have well over $50,000 invested in this first class printmaking studio.I am sad to see it go but studio51 is now a music venue....contact me by e-mail studio51@turbonet.com

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WORKSHOPS:

Moku-Hanga Class (June-July, 2002). April Vollmer is offering a class in moku hanga June 12 to July 17, six Wednesdays. For more information contact:

April Vollmer
Lower East Side Printshop, 59-61 East 4th Street,
NYC, 10003 212-673-5390 or at http://www.printshop.org/

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Keiji Shinohara Summer Workshop
Penland, in W. North Carolina is offering this summer workshop in Japanese Woodcut Printmaking. They still have openings in this class

July 21-August 6 (two-and-a-half weeks)

Keiji Shinohara--Japanese Woodcut Printmaking. "Japanese woodblock printing is a 1000-year-old method that does not involve presses or oil-based inks. Students will print by hand, applying color with watercolor and rice paste. We will cover color, design, composition, and carving techniques as well as advanced gradation techniques (bokashi). All levels."

Teacher at Wesleyan University (CT); studied Ukijo-e technique at the Uesugi Studio (Kyoto) for ten years; Japan Foundation and NEA fellowships; collections: San Francisco Museum, Cleveland Museum, Harvard Art Museum (MA), Library of Congress.

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Frogman's Press & Gallery, Workshops.
105 North Third Street, P.O. Box 142
Beresford, SD 57004 - 0142
Phone/Fax: (605)763-5082

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Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave, Berkeley, CA 94710. Workshops and class schedule.

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Bootcamp 2002. Woodblock Printmaking Workshop by Canadian artist Graham A, Scholes. June 2002. Link: Bootcamp Workshop .

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Zea Mays Printmaking, located in beautiful western Massachusetts is offering a wide array of wonderful summer workshops. Zea Mays Printmaking is a studio/workshop dedicated to safer approaches to printmaking. We research and test the latest developments in safer and non-toxic printmaking and share our research through workshops and collaborations with artists. Our 1,000 sq. ft. studio has a 34"x60" Takach etching press, plate exposure unit, airbrush and full intaglio, relief and monotype facilities. Workshops are limited to 6 people. Come work with some fabulous guest artists (biographies follow the workshop descriptions).

For further information and images, visit our website, or call the studio at 413.584.1783

June 8-9 Saturday/Sunday 10 am - 4 pm
Woodcut Techniques - Reduction method in two colors with guest artist Bobette McCarthy $170 + 30 materials

In this intensive workshop we will start with a brief overview of relief printmaking and the various methods used to produce colored woodcut prints including reduction and key block methods. Design considerations, block preparation, tool care, making cuts and the selection of appropriate papers and inks will be discussed. Participants will complete an 8x10 woodblock print in the course of the workshop and learn the skills to continue this process on their own. Tools for use during the workshop, including a prepared block will be provided. No previous printmaking experience necessary.

June 22-23 Saturday/Sunday 10 am - 4 pm
Living Paper from Local Fibers: Handmade paper from the garden with guest artist Sheryl Jaffe, $170 + 30 materials

This is an excellent time to harvest fibers that are found right outside. The green leaves of Day Lilies, Irises, Tulips, and grass clippings when combined with flax, abaca and cotton make uniquely textured handmade papers. These papers can be durable yet delicate, luminous and translucent. We will harvest and prepare plants, laminate sheets, use flower petals for dyes and inclusions, experiment with drying methods, and create numerous sheets of different sizes and shapes. The paper you make will be artworks in their own right, or can be used for bookmaking, collage, printmaking, drawing, etc. Both your garden and paper will become part of a whole new world of creativity.

June 24-28 Monday - Friday 10 am - 4 pm
Intensive Intaglio Workshop with guest artists Mark Zunino, Peter Pettengill and resident artist Liz Chalfin $400 + 50 materials

This is going to be fun! We'll start the week out in the field working out ideas and compositions inspired by the provocative landscape and architecture of the former Northampton State Hospital grounds. With a small etching press in the back of the van participants will develop drypoint drawings that will later become color etchings. Back at Zea Mays Printmaking, Master Printer Peter Pettingill and artists Mark Zunino and Liz Chalfin will work with each participant to translate their "sketches" into multi color prints. Peter, Mark and Liz will assist participants with idea and plate development. Don't miss this opportunity to work with three professionals that each bring a unique perspective on printmaking and a passionate love of the medium.

July 13 Saturday 10 am - 4 pm
Nature Prints - Monotype Workshop with guest artist Anita Hunt $75 + 25 materials

In this one-day workshop we will work with the summertime abundance of plant mateials to create lush and colorful monotypes. We will print directly from the plants themselves - leaves, flowers, grasses, twigs - and build up layers of color on thin Japanese papers. Additional layering work using stencils, lace papers, string and other found objects will be explored. The results are rich surfaces with an amazing variety of form and texture. Participants will create several multi-plate monotypes during the day and will also produce some beautiful pieces of decorative paper for use in other projects such as collage and book arts. No prior printmaking experience necessary.

July 15-19 Monday-Friday 10am - 4pm
Artists' Books with guest artist Sheryl Jaffe and resident artist Liz Chalfin $400 + 50 materials

Artists' books are unique works of art that use the idea of a book as a jumping off point for a work of art that can be narrative, sequential or randomly linked. This workshop will begin in the Rare Book Room at Smith College where we'll have an opportunity to look and handle many inspiring artists' books from their collection. We'll discuss different types of book structures and different ways to approach the open-ended idea of an "artist's book" with curator Martin Antonetti. We'll return to Zea Mays Printmaking and begin exploring printmaking techniques such as monoprints and linoleum block. Each participant will develop their own idea for an artists' book and will create the book with the skilled assistance of book artist Sheryl Jaffe and printmaker Liz Chalfin. In addition Sheryl will teach several types of bookmaking techniques, including: accordion fold, Japanese stab bindings, and pamphlet stitch. You'll come away with a unique "livre d'artiste" and the skills to continue making artist's books on your own.

July 22-26 Monday-Friday 10 am - 4 pm
Multi-plate, Color Intaglio - A Master Printer's Perspective with guest artist Peter Pettengill $400 + 50 materials

This is an opportunity for artists with some printmaking experience to work with a master printer and explore methods and concepts for developing multi-plate, color images. Working with a variety of intaglio techniques, each participant will begin with an image or image idea and spend a week working closely with master printer Peter Pettengill to create a multiple plate color print. As we proceed we will cover issues of registration, offsetting techniques, ways to work in color as well as chine collé and multi-viscosity printing. Participants can work at their own speed with advice from the master printer. Peter will bring some of the prints that he has produced as a master printer to show, to talk about and to inspire!

August 7-9 Wednesday-Friday 10am - 4pm
Photographic Imagery and Collagraphs with resident artist Liz Chalfin $250 + 50 materials

This three-day workshop will explore the integration of photographic imagery into collagraphs - collaged printmaking plates, which are inked as monoprints. We'll use Imag-On film to transfer photographs, digital imagery, text or drawn imagery onto collagraph plates and further develop the plate with collage. Multi-plate printing, layered inking and monoprinting will be taught as part of this rich expansion of collagraphs.

August 19-23 Monday-Friday 10am-4pm
Lifts, Bites and Washes with resident artist Liz Chalfin and guest artist Mark Zunino $400 + 50 materials

Sugar lifts, spit bites and washes are painterly ways to approach the etching process and add distinct character to the print. With spit bite you can achieve subtle tonal variations. Sugar lift give you the spontaneous look of a brush painting or pen drawing. Washes are just that - beautiful reticulated washes you etch into the copper. You'll learn all three techniques during this week and apply them to a fully realized, multi-colored intaglio print. Some prior printmaking experience necessary.

The Wood Engraver's Network (WEN).
Since 1994 WEN is an organization dedicated to the education and enjoyment of relief printmaking and, in particular, engraving upon end-grain wood.
WEN offers the delicate and engaging Block & Burin, a quarterly newsletter (soon to be semiannual) filled with wood engraving history and wisdom. Members design the cover and it is always a beautiful surprise. Members also exchange prints, called Bundles, on a quarterly basis.
Membership information can be found at WEN's new and improved web site:
http://www.woodengravers.net

LOS ANGELES PRINTMAKING SOCIETY 17th NATIONAL EXHIBITION - LAPS

Open to USA and Canadian Artists
Slide deadline: September 14, 2002.
Location: The Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, California.
Dates: April 5 to June 8, 2003.
Media: All prints except traditional photography
Fees: $25 for 3 slides or $30 for 5 slides; LAPS members $20 and $25
Awards: $3,000 minimum, membership in LAPS, and CATALOG
Juror: Kevin Salatino, Ph.D., Curator of Prints and Drawings, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

For Prospectus: Send SAS legal sized envelope to:

LAPS 17th National Exhibition
Gail Jacobs
719 Gretta Ave.,
West Covina, CA 91790
Tel: 626-919-4919

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The 2003 Postcard Art Competition / Exhibition has just been announced! Click on this link for more information: Postcard Art

The Curt Teich Postcard Archives at the Lake County Discovery Museum announces the fifth Postcard Art Competition/Exhibition (PACE) offering artists the unique challenge of creating original art works in postcard size. The exhibit is dedicated to the American Picture Postcard, celebrating the postcard as art and as visual document.

The winning artworks will be displayed at the Lake County Discovery Museum and will travel to various galleries and cultural institutions for approximately one year. The first opening will be in November 2003 at the Lake County Discovery Museum, Wauconda, Illinois.

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Call to artist and writers:
Orlo - Oregon's environmental arts nonprofit - announces an invitation for artists to submit work that explores any facet of bicycling or bike-based travel. Each postcard-sized work will be displayed at the Orlo gallery in Industrial NW Portland in August 2002, in celebration of Bikesummer.

Rules of this road:
Work must be received by July 29th 2002. Work cannot be bigger than 8.5" x 5", You can use both sides of the "postcard" - work will be displayed so that both sides can be viewed. If you want your work returned, send a self-addressed stamped envelope. If your work is for sale, indicate the price and send a self-addressed stamped envelope. (Orlo keeps a 50% commission on all sales of art in its nonprofit gallery).

To Participate, Put your thoughts and images on or in postcard form and send them to:

Bike, correspondence art
Orlo
P.O. Box 10342
Portland, Oregon 97296. An international response is expected. Please pass this on to friends.

Time line:
Work must be received by July 29th 2002
Show opening 6:00 - 9:00 August 3, 2002
Closes August 31st 2002

This exhibition sponsored by Orlo - a nonprofit organization exploring environmental issues through the creative arts. As part of Bikesummer 2002 - Bringing people together to celebrate bike culture and cycle toward Biketopia : Contact: dirh@pdx.edu or www.orlo.org

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Hutchins $8,000 Art Prize 2002
The Hutchins Art Prize is an annual award of $5,000 for works on paper. The award is open to all artists working in Australiasia. The winning work will be acquired by The Hutchins Foundation and the winning artist paid $5,000. Five additional prizes of $500 may be awrde to the works selected as the Judges' Selection. An addition $500 prize may be paid to the best full-time post-secondary undergraduate student entry and a Certificate and $350 will be issued for the entry voted the People's Choice.

All entries are to be works on paper. Closing date for entries in 28 June 2002. Finalists' exhibition will be held at The Long Gallery, Salamanca Place, Hobart between 22 October and 02 November. Entry forms available by contacting 03 6221 4246, or 03 6221 4247, or by email artprize@hutchins.tas.edu.au

The search for good tools and materials is a never-ending activity for the woodblock printmaker. Unlike days of old, when the technology had wide commercial applications and supplies were thus readily available, in the modern world woodblock printmaking has ... how shall we put this ... a rather limited appeal.

In consequence, supplies - good supplies - are difficult to come by in many parts of the world. But there is one place where woodblock printmaking is still practiced widely, and that is Japan. Hobby-level supplies are available locally in any town, in stationery shops and do-it-yourself centers, and professional tools are still made for those who need them.

But Japanese suppliers are focused on their domestic market and have no ability or experience in dealing overseas. The foreign customer too, finds it very difficult to obtain knowledge about the products that are available in Japan, and how to get them.

This is where the printmakers of the [Baren] group are stepping forward - to put these two 'worlds' together.

The [Baren] Mall is a buying service - it has no physical store, there is no inventory, and there are no employees. Orders placed on this website are transmitted to the mall manager (a [Baren] member), who also processes the payment. The manager forwards the order to the appropriate suppliers in Japan, where the goods are immediately packaged and shipped directly to the customer (by Air Post). [Baren] settles the account with the Japanese suppliers later - receiving a small commission in return for acting as 'go-between'.

The dealers are happy to have their products exposed to a global market - the consumers are happy to be able to have easy access to the supplies - and the [Baren] group gets a small boost to its treasury, to help this non-profit group fund some of the exhibitions and activities it undertakes around the world.