Well said Sharri ! I've been wanting to add a few words to all this
discussion so here goes.
I can't see why anyone on Baren could object to information re artists
and 'politics' being passed on - all these issues relate to daily life and
one should be aware of what's happening beyond our studios and homes
-aren't we supposed to be living in democratic societies which defend
freedom of speech? I shall risk the possibility of raising tempers by
saying that I really think Americans are too much on the defensive and
don't like to hear of matters which might tarnish OUR prestige in the world
at large. Perhaps the Baren Forum could ask that any so called 'political'
exchanges be limited to 3 e-mails (someone's statement or comment; a
rebuttal; and a closing (somewhat in the form of a debate).
So many interesting things come up on this discussion forum I can't see why
there is a need for censoring material unless it becomes truly offensive
which I haven't seen happening up to now - a bit heated perhaps but it
certainly hasn't interfered with talk of technical matters relating to
'woodcutting'!
Your North of the Border Neighbour,
Louise Cass
For a few years now, I've been sending out information on website
updates via email, but with the explosion of spam we've seen in the
last year or so, I'm finding that my update messages are not getting
through to many people. (Even though they requested my update emails,
their spam filter is killing them on arrival ...)
So to get around this problem, and to make access to updates on my site
easy for people to hear about, I've added an RSS newsfeed to the
woodblock.com website. The basic idea is simple - every time I update
the site, I add an item to my newsfeed. This is picked up automatically
by people who have set their RSS reader to subscribe to my newsfeed,
and they can then visit the site anytime to view the new content.
For those of you are already using an RSS reader, you can add this URL
to the subscriptions:
http://woodblock.com/rss.xml
For the rest of you, if you would like to get started with reading
newsfeeds, here are links to a couple of newsfeed readers:
For Mac, the NetNewsWireLite program (free software) works fine:
http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/
For Windows, this seems to be a good one:
http://www.sharpreader.net/
Dave
Continued......
The Sharaku Interpreted by Japan's Contemporary Artists Exhibition in
Perth Western Australia 5-25th July 2004.
I have been doing some further reading into the literature I brought
home with me from the Exhibition...
Firstly it states that the "exhibition is divided into three sections,
"Reproduction of Sharaku", "Sharaku in Graphic Art", and "Homage to
Sharaku". The "Reproductions of Sharaku" section lines up recent
reproductions of all twenty-eight bust portraits by Sharaku as created
by the Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints. Among the currently
identified some 140 works by Sharaku, the most highly acclaimed ar the
single series of bust portraits that formed Sharaku's debut work. This
series was based on the Babuki and Kyogen plays performed in May 1794
at the three Kabuki theaters in Edo. It is not hard to imagine how
these :"strange " bust portraits that deformed the faces of Kabuki
actors were quickly embroiled in a huge sensation when they were first
seen by the people of Edo who preferred the actor portraits of the
Katsukawa school artists or the beauty prints by Uamaro.
The prints created by the Adachi Instutute are faithful reproductions
of the original works which remain today in few numbers, only some 600
or so sheets are extant around the world. Compared to the original
sheets which have now faded, these prints by the Adachi Institute
appear in dazzlingly beautiful colors. As a result, these prints are
important materials in our understanding of the color sensibilities of
Sharaku's works which were printed in few colours, and whose colors
tended to be over shadowed by the unique poses and expressions of the
figures portrayed".
In the third section, the works adorning the "Homage to Sharaku"
section include works by elenven relatively young contemporary artists.
While we group them under the single heading of contemporary artists,
in fact their means of expression range from painting, scultpture,
photography, ceramics, and prints to sound objects, and this very
diversity can be seen as a microcosm of contemporary art. Indeed it is
very hard to indicate commonalties between them. We might daringly say
that their point of intersection lies in the fact that each iw an
artist who has established their own expressive style, and each is
capable of strategically responding to the subject.
Compared to the graphic designers who had some degree of contact with
Sharaku, these eleven artists who have formed their own world or art
works from contemporary means of expression each faced Sharaku from
scratch. Sharaku was undoubtedly progressive in ukiyo-e, and yet for
these artists, ukiyo-e is an entirely separate world, and they had
rarely had an opportunity to squarely face Sharaku. ....the request to
these artists to create works was simple and singular; please create a
new work that is your own interpretation of Sharaku, your homage to
Sharaku".....
(It appears that my interpretation of this section was correct in
summing up ....) The official quote in the brochure says:
"These eleven artists did not, in general, flatter Sharaku, rather they
called Sharaku into their own expressive precincts, and through the
styles they had themselves established, revealed their own personal
view of Sharaku." It was my feeling that only five of these works
really related to Sharaku's work.
This exhibition has been sponsored by The Exhibition Division of The
Japan Foundation but I am sorry that there is no web address for
further information. Those Baren members who like "surfing" may like
to find out more on this elusive Toshusai Sharaku.
He is a bit of a mystery man.....
Jan
Perth, Western Australia
Why not let the Baren Council decide about what is appropriate for our
Exchanges? They have been maknig those decisions and others since our early days. I
know first hand that much of this time - consuming work is going on
off-line. We appreciate their concern for what is best for Baren, although you may
not always agree.
Carol Lyons
Irvington, NY
James: Wonderful article. I knew there was a mistake in the address,
but managed to get there by a convoluted highway and it was worth
double the trouble. Great work!
Eli, Janet, Robert and others,
Well thank heavens someone is in agreement about the definition of
'political' - I was beginning to think I was in the wilderness and the
tree that no one could decide whether they had heard or not, since they
weren't there when I fell.
Lawrence just sent me a great jpeg of an image he had just completed: a
man yelling his head off at a woman & my immediate thought was that it
could be interpreted as 'political' in that it is all about a
relationship between a man and a woman. It has also occurred to me
that what is an intelligent conversation and enlightening discussion
to some is seen as an argument by others - especially when they write
back "enough already" or have to leave the list because they can't
stand it. Content and concepts are as much of printmaking as the
actual cutting and printing. If we can't discuss ideas for imagery
then that vastly depreciates the value of the list. Yes, the technical
help is invaluable, but most of it is in the encyclopedia and people
can be sent there to look it up. Ideas take conversation and exchange
and one can't be sent someplace to 'look it up'. The reiteration of
some of the same technical questions gets old after a while, but the
discussions of ideas does not.
Please don't eliminate the exchange of ideas about images, procedures,
themes, exchanges, or information that affects us as artists and the
world in which we practice our craft. These things are all important
to our growth not only as artists, but as human beings. Politics has
such a broad meaning I see no reason why one exchange every year or two
could not be 'politics in general' - if someone wants to do the Whigs
against the Tories, fine. Dems vs. Repub., fine. marriage or other
personal relationships, fine. Flowers vs. veggies, fine. You get the
point. Politics does not need to be limited to government affairs only
and is a rich repository from which to pull great images.
Peace to all,
Sharri
Hey, sorry for the double post today but while looking thru some of the
Sharaku links I found this really neat link which gives you a virtual tour
of the old city of Edo (now Tokyo) in Japan. The thing is that the tour
really goes into great detail and explanations and uses woodblock prints
from the period to describe the different places and activities going on
in the tour... it goes into detail to explain just what we are seeing in
some of these print images from 200 years ago...check it out. it is quite
elaborate if you are into the ukiyoe period ...before you start the tour,
click on the pink 'help' question mark in the intro page, it explains all
the navigating and the special 'surprises' to be found...
http://www.us-japan.org/edomatsu/
thanks.....Julio Rodriguez (Skokie, Illinois)
Margaret Szvetecz wrote:
>Does anyone have any information on when it will be possible to sign up
>for Exchange 22?
>Does anyone have any information on when the images from Exchanges 19 and
>20 will be available for viewing online?
Well, Margaret -- Exchange 22 sign-up begins tomorrow morning, July 8, at
10am Kansas City time -- see
http://www.barenforum.org/exchange/exchange_sign-up.html for details and to
sign up.
I have received the scans for #20 from Darrell Madis and both 19 and 20
galleries should be up pretty soon -- within about 10 days, if I can ever
plow through my inbox after being away from the Internet almost 3 weeks!
-- Mike
Mike Lyon
http://mlyon.com
Hello all,
Came back from artfestivaling to find my art work was chosen for two
Clark County cultural projects and one public display. So I'm tooting:
First, my work Just Walk With Me will be printed on magnetic vinyl and
"wrapped" around the Clark County cultural transportation vans (I think
there are around 13 of these things running kids to and from their after
school cultural programs). Second, my work Out Early will be printed on
placards and mounted on CAT (citizens area transit) buses. Presumably
there it will be subject to graffitti and wads of gum and such things,
but we can then call that a collaborative project. Oh yeah, and third,
the Girl Scouts got jealous of the Boy Scouts and purchased an original
block, Precious Waters, to be proudly shown along with the last print in
the new Girl Scouts of America building.
I'll be famous with the Vegas populus in 2005! Or something...
End of toot toot toot
Maria
PS For those anxiously awaiting Monumental Collaborative Puzzle Project
#2, it's coming it's coming!
I do not have the impression that anyone associated with Baren is interested
in "censoring." My read of the input is simply that many printers prefer to
route mail according to topic, if you will. That way, when opening up your
email service you know what you're getting,
more or less --
más o meno --
mòid á bigid --
and if you want more you can click elsewhere, where the info has actually
been passed on.
I don't rely on Baren to remain aware or informed about world or even local
events.
I also don't think, personally at least, the democracy or free speech has
too much to do with the disagreements being posted of late.
Does freedom of speech trump the fine and useful boundaries that Baren set
as motivation for the originiation of the site in the first place?
Isn't it possible that people just want to be able to rely on Baren for
Baren's purpose as stated on www.Barenforum.org? (below)
The motivation in starting this list was to provide a forum for
dissemination of information about woodblock printmaking. There were a
number of places on the Web where printmaking in general was discussed, but
one always had to wade through a lot of extraeneous information before
finding anything relevant to this topic...
This forum is about woodblock/woodcut printmaking...
It is also my impression that member's defensiveness is more an outcome of
the percieved breakdown of Barenforums's purpose, especially when the After5
is available and allows people to divide their reading time in ways they
want to be able to do so. You don't have to spend the the time to read half
way through a mail before you find it's not the topic you thought it might
be. Spam is even more directly recognizable than that.
Last, I think all the Americans have the right to be as defensive as they
want to be, given all the tragedies and anti-American sentiment that
abounds. But then again, defensiveness is a way of life in Ireland that is
acceptable are heatedly argued simply because us Gaels have a preference for
boundaries.
And by the way, I think all the chatter has interfered with technicals etc.,
just count all the mail that's come through in the last 2 weeks and notice
the % related to woodblock.
What about an exchange on the art of lines in the sand?
This is the last time I will contribute to Baren on this non-print topic.
I'm afraid I'm just adding to what I hope will fade out.
Mary Ann
Mexico
Congratulations, Maria... You do wonderful work, your website is an
inspiration to so many of us, and it's marvelous that you are being
recognized in your home stomping grounds. That doesn't happen that often...
Diane...
www.dianecutter.com
Maria wrote:
> Just Walk With Me will be printed on magnetic vinyl and
> "wrapped" around the Clark County cultural transportation vans
What a hoot! Nice to hear they are going to give you such a major
run-around! :-)
Photos when they are available, please!
Dave
Oh gasp! I almost forgot...the name of the project is, of course--wait
for it...--VAN-GO!
The County will send me an official press release and such when the vans
are ready and I will run over there and take pics before the vans get
dirty. Rumour has it that they are going to colorize the print's
background, to which I agreed.
How fun, huh?
Happy TOOTS to you, Maria ... well deserved.
Cheers ..... Charles
Congrats to you Maria.
Good news times 3 -you deserve it!
Carol Lyons
Irvington, NY