Today's postings
- [Baren 24963] Re: New Baren Digest (Text) V27 #2636 (May 1, 2004) ("carol wagner")
- [Baren 24964] Re: W Australian Printmedia Awards ("Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.")
- [Baren 24965] Re: W Aust Exhibition (Sharri LaPierre)
- [Baren 24966] Surimono Print lecture (slinders # comcast.net)
Message 1
From: "carol wagner"
Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 08:29:54 -0700
Subject: [Baren 24963] Re: New Baren Digest (Text) V27 #2636 (May 1, 2004)
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Dear Jan,
I think a number of us can relate to your feelings of frustration over such
ignorance as was displayed by those supposedly knowledgeable folk who not
only mislabeled your work, but appear to have dismissed a significant form
of printmaking! By the by, I for one am glad that you have decided not to
succumb to the siren lure of chucking your content to pursue a fad that
seems to appear when a given art discipline becomes an entry point for some
who are obviously new to the medium of printmaking.
On a happier note, The Great Puzzle print has been on exhibition for a month
now and has been eliciting a great deal of interest, as well as introducing
a good many people in this area of the existence of Baren Forum. I did have
some pictures taken, Julio, and will get them to you when I can find the
round-to-it that got pre-empted by events far too many to relate
here...suffice to say that in June, an exhibit of Baren forums new Years
cards for 2003 and 2994 will go in the same window. I really would like to
display the deck of cards along with them, but have had neither sight nor
sound of them. Could any kind soul inform me of their status or
whereabouts?Bette, I have attempted to contact you re this, but the message
keeps bouncing back saying I have failed to state a "Pop" something! Gads, a
computer tech I AM NOT. In any event, I remain,
Carol in Sacramento
I think a number of us can relate to your feelings of frustration over such
ignorance as was displayed by those supposedly knowledgeable folk who not
only mislabeled your work, but appear to have dismissed a significant form
of printmaking! By the by, I for one am glad that you have decided not to
succumb to the siren lure of chucking your content to pursue a fad that
seems to appear when a given art discipline becomes an entry point for some
who are obviously new to the medium of printmaking.
On a happier note, The Great Puzzle print has been on exhibition for a month
now and has been eliciting a great deal of interest, as well as introducing
a good many people in this area of the existence of Baren Forum. I did have
some pictures taken, Julio, and will get them to you when I can find the
round-to-it that got pre-empted by events far too many to relate
here...suffice to say that in June, an exhibit of Baren forums new Years
cards for 2003 and 2994 will go in the same window. I really would like to
display the deck of cards along with them, but have had neither sight nor
sound of them. Could any kind soul inform me of their status or
whereabouts?Bette, I have attempted to contact you re this, but the message
keeps bouncing back saying I have failed to state a "Pop" something! Gads, a
computer tech I AM NOT. In any event, I remain,
Carol in Sacramento
Message 2
From: "Bill H. Ritchie, Jr."
Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 08:55:46 -0700
Subject: [Baren 24964] Re: W Australian Printmedia Awards
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Members, I may be alone on this because I'm not printing these days (I'm
building a beautiful intaglio press, partly of wood). But I have a contrary
feeling about Jan Telfer's pain over the hand-coloring bit.
Maybe it's due to the nice weather here in Seattle - opposite, perhaps, that
in W. Australia right now.
Anyway, why the pain? When I print hanga, I'm "hand coloring" the block and
it gets printed over on to paper. Heck, I even like the way it looks on the
verso!
I think the fact there's a "hand" in there at all is important, with all the
so-called "digital" references out there in printmaking land.
A poet was talking to me yesterday about love in her writing, and her
concerns over mechanical (read, computerized) usage. I felt she was in a
similar frame as I am when I consider the hand-operations of prints,
papermaking and bookbinding. There must be love coming from the person whose
hands are thus involved.
And hand-coloring--whether on a block or on a print after printing--shares
this realm, I think.
I don't want to be preachy, but I had this icky feeling when I read about
the pain and suffering over being misinterpreted, "hand coloring" and I
think it was because I think there are worse things. I wanted somehow to
make it better.
But I, too, would feel pained, for example, if someone called a print of
mine a "digital" print when in fact I'd done it by the "digits" on the end
of my arm!
I love you all - Bill in Seattle.
building a beautiful intaglio press, partly of wood). But I have a contrary
feeling about Jan Telfer's pain over the hand-coloring bit.
Maybe it's due to the nice weather here in Seattle - opposite, perhaps, that
in W. Australia right now.
Anyway, why the pain? When I print hanga, I'm "hand coloring" the block and
it gets printed over on to paper. Heck, I even like the way it looks on the
verso!
I think the fact there's a "hand" in there at all is important, with all the
so-called "digital" references out there in printmaking land.
A poet was talking to me yesterday about love in her writing, and her
concerns over mechanical (read, computerized) usage. I felt she was in a
similar frame as I am when I consider the hand-operations of prints,
papermaking and bookbinding. There must be love coming from the person whose
hands are thus involved.
And hand-coloring--whether on a block or on a print after printing--shares
this realm, I think.
I don't want to be preachy, but I had this icky feeling when I read about
the pain and suffering over being misinterpreted, "hand coloring" and I
think it was because I think there are worse things. I wanted somehow to
make it better.
But I, too, would feel pained, for example, if someone called a print of
mine a "digital" print when in fact I'd done it by the "digits" on the end
of my arm!
I love you all - Bill in Seattle.
Message 3
From: Sharri LaPierre
Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 09:02:47 -0700
Subject: [Baren 24965] Re: W Aust Exhibition
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Jan,
I don't have a magic bullet for the correction of ignorance, but I can
tell you this. Maybe the Barenforum will help more than anything else
could because, in my mind, the main problem lies within our printmaking
departments. Our educators, both printmaking instructors and Art
History teachers, do not distinguish between Hanga and Western
techniques in their instruction. A relief priint is a relief print -
no difference. We're taught that the Japanese Woodblocks had a
profound influence upon Contemporary Art, yet no explanation of how
those prints differ from the relief prints being made in our own
departments. It is the rare instructor who points out the difference.
And, even though some do, many times the difference will fly right over
the heads of the students partly because many of these same people are
visual learners and they need to see a hanga print being done. I know
that I had been through school for 20 plus years before I understood
the difference. I always wondered how they got those tiny little lines
and beautiful colors!!
One of the reasons Hanga is not a core curriculum course in
printmaking, I believe, is the ungodly expense to get one set up with
all the proper tools. The Western technique is so inexpensive in
comparison. If we could convince instructors that they could
substitute other less expensive tools, or some enterprising younger
than I person would manufacture some student grade products/tools,
maybe we could make some headway. I am a late comer to Hanga, but am
jumping in with a vengeance now. All of the prints in my next show are
abstract hanga prints using found wood, very little carving, but a lot
of printing! Most have a dozen plates & some chine colle, and framed
they are 22" x 30", I like to think of them as a marriage of East and
West, but then I'm a romantic at heart -
Onward Hanga Soldiers in the War of Education,
Cheers!
Sharri
I don't have a magic bullet for the correction of ignorance, but I can
tell you this. Maybe the Barenforum will help more than anything else
could because, in my mind, the main problem lies within our printmaking
departments. Our educators, both printmaking instructors and Art
History teachers, do not distinguish between Hanga and Western
techniques in their instruction. A relief priint is a relief print -
no difference. We're taught that the Japanese Woodblocks had a
profound influence upon Contemporary Art, yet no explanation of how
those prints differ from the relief prints being made in our own
departments. It is the rare instructor who points out the difference.
And, even though some do, many times the difference will fly right over
the heads of the students partly because many of these same people are
visual learners and they need to see a hanga print being done. I know
that I had been through school for 20 plus years before I understood
the difference. I always wondered how they got those tiny little lines
and beautiful colors!!
One of the reasons Hanga is not a core curriculum course in
printmaking, I believe, is the ungodly expense to get one set up with
all the proper tools. The Western technique is so inexpensive in
comparison. If we could convince instructors that they could
substitute other less expensive tools, or some enterprising younger
than I person would manufacture some student grade products/tools,
maybe we could make some headway. I am a late comer to Hanga, but am
jumping in with a vengeance now. All of the prints in my next show are
abstract hanga prints using found wood, very little carving, but a lot
of printing! Most have a dozen plates & some chine colle, and framed
they are 22" x 30", I like to think of them as a marriage of East and
West, but then I'm a romantic at heart -
Onward Hanga Soldiers in the War of Education,
Cheers!
Sharri
Message 4
From: slinders # comcast.net
Date: Sat, 01 May 2004 17:43:06 -0500
Subject: [Baren 24966] Surimono Print lecture
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"The Chicago Art Institute - May 11, 6:00 p.m., welcomes Matthi
Forrer, from the National Museum 0f Ethnology, Leyden, who has
catalogued the Japanese print collection in the Rijksmuseum and
has written groundbreaking studies on surimono prints. Join him
for a lecture on these intimate works of art at 'Poetry and
Luxury: Japanese Surimono Prints'.
Among the Art Institute's vast holdings of Japanese woodblock
prints is a splendid collection of surimono- small, exquisitely
crafted prints that combined images with poetry and were often
used as greeting cards or invitations. Because surimono were
not for commercial use, patrons splurged on the finest papers,
pigments, and printing techniques to create them. The
production of surimono flourished in the early 19th c., many
designed by the foremost artists of the day, such as Hokusai and
Gakutei."
News and Events, The Art Institute of Chicago. --Sharen