Today's postings

  1. [Baren 39572] Re: if a tree falls in the woods....... ("Terry Peart")
  2. [Baren 39573] Re: RAKESH BANI has commercial message (aqua4tis # aol.com)
  3. [Baren 39574] introduction and inquiry into printmaking in Tokyo (siznax)
  4. [Baren 39575] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)
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Message 1
From: "Terry Peart"
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:07:07 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39572] Re: if a tree falls in the woods.......
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Linda,
Where do you live? I might be able to help you with this if you are near Seattle.
Terry
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Message 2
From: aqua4tis # aol.com
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:53:11 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39573] Re: RAKESH BANI has commercial message
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i enjoyed seeing graces room?? :-)
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Message 3
From: siznax
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:14:21 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39574] introduction and inquiry into printmaking in Tokyo
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hello bareners,

i'm new to woodblock printmaking and have enjoyed the
discussion on baren forum, and all of the really great work
i've seen online through the forum.

i'm not an artist, but i have developed a keen interest
in Japanese woodblock prints over the years, and in recent
months have been inspired by David Bull and others on this
list to make a print myself. i haven't yet pushed ink into
paper, but i'm having a lot of fun getting there. :)

i've arranged for a last minute summer vacation to Tokyo
(Fri Aug21 - Thu Aug27), and i'm interested to know if anyone
has any suggestions for seeing a demonstration of woodblock
printmaking or woodblock prints in general while i'm there.
i've never been to Japan and i cannot speak Japanese (but
i'm willing to try).


regards,
Steve
sisney@panix.com

Digest Appendix

Postings made on [Baren] members' blogs
over the past 24 hours ...

Subject: Slow Looking
Posted by: Dave Bull

It was a 'Tokyo' day for me today - a couple of hours on the train to get downtown (to Kinko's to print out the summer issue of my newsletter), so I had plenty of time to get caught up on some of the unread newspapers stacked-up here!

I came across an interesting story in the New York Times from last weekend. I see that it's also online, so you can read it at this link (if you have registered your email with them).

It's entitled 'At Louvre, Many Stop to Snap but Few Stay to Focus', and the writer basically just riffs on some thoughts that came to him while 'people-watching' in that museum, and by posing the question 'What exactly are we looking for when we roam as tourists around museums?'

The key sentence that jumped out at me from his ruminations was:

'Almost nobody, over the course of that hour or two, paused before any object for as long as a full minute.'

Now this is of course my experience too. I don't mean as a gallery visitor - no, not me - but my experience with watching the visitors to my own exhibitions. People walk over to where a picture is on the wall, look at it for 'a moment', and then move on to the next one. Some stop longer than others; some never actually stop at all, but stroll slowly along the line of images with their feet always moving ...

Part of me always wants to shout out, "Lady, I spent three months making that thing! You think that twenty seconds is enough to drink it all in?"

But of course I keep quiet.

I spoke to Sadako one day at one of my exhibitions about this, and her comment was predictable (and true): "Well, perhaps if your prints were a bit more interesting ..." And I have no argument with that. I cannot claim that my images are so intense - or wonderfully made - that I can demand that people bow down in deep admiration, but ... ten ~ twenty seconds? Surely, I deserve a bit more than that! Just what, actually, did their eyes focus on during the time they looked at the piece? What did they 'think'?

The writer of the New York Times piece - in a section of his story that touched on this question of 'how long' to look at the object . . .
[Long item has been trimmed at this point. The full blog entry can be viewed here]


This item is taken from the blog Woodblock RoundTable.
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Subject: Possible New Block
Posted by: Ellen Shipley



Well it's about time. I'm finally considering a new woodblock, a paleo-critter. This is the Przewalski's horse, or Takhi, the small Mongolian horse, the oldest horse in the world. Looks rather like something you might find painted on a cave wall.

This is one possible version, a kicking horse. Or it's mirror image:

I like the upright brush mane and the stripe down the back to the tail. Kinda like a zebra. Also short-legged with a large head.

This item is taken from the blog pressing-issues.
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