Adventures in Intaglio!

I took intaglio and woodcut back in college almost 30 years ago. Since that time I have contemplated restarting my interest in printmaking, and now I have finally pulled the trigger.

I enrolled in a printmaking course at Portland Community College. Signing up for a class two days a week for 11 weeks is no small commitment! But it turns out it was barely enough time to scratch the surface (no pun intended!) of the possibilities and complexities of this medium.

Intaglio is a process where lines are etched or scratched onto a metal plate. Ink is applied to the plate, then wiped, leaving ink captured within the lines. Then damp paper is placed on the plate, and is rolled through a printing press. The ink transfers onto the paper, creating an image. 

In total, I did three different plates over the course of the semester.The first one I did is called "The Bitter Sea" (5"x7")

Here is a picture of the inked up copper plate before the first printing:

Here is an image of the print after rolling it through the press.

Notice the image gets reversed when transferred to the paper!

This initial state of the print was done entirely with drypoint (which is simply scratching the image onto the plate with a metal object).

Here I added aquatint, which creates fields of varying shades of grey.

The second plate I developed might be called my magnum opus of the semester. It is named "Vacancy" (8"x10")

Utimately I did a total of 11 states before deciding it was finished!

I decided to utilize some of the earlier states by tinting them with watercolor. I’m fascinated by how the mood can very so greatly with different color schemes.

The final piece I did was a tiny 4”x6” image, based on a jazz record album from the 50’s, called “Struttin’”.

 Although I would LOVE to keep going with the printmaking, it is necessary for me to put it aside for the time being and concentrate on some collage painting projects coming up this year. Keep you eyes open for more news of those projects, and when they are completed, I will surely dive back into printmaking! 

Stay tuned...

My NYC Art Infusion (plus-my first internet rant!)

I turned 50 years old this year. It’s enough to make a girl think about her past, and how it affects her present. 

I was fortunate enough to go to college in New York, and graduated from Queens College in 1991. I came back home to Portland and never moved away.
If I am any good at art at all, I’d say it’s because a.) my instructors at Queens College were exceptional and b.) I spent many countless hours in some of the greatest museums in the world, wandering aimlessly and drawing.
So I went on a sentimental journey through my past. My goals were to visit a few college friends and to recapture that experience of the slow, intuitive progress through a museum.

Rembrandt

(For more pictures of the drawings I did in NYC, see my facebook photo album here.) 

No matter how much you enjoy the company of a companion in a museum, it changes your experience. Like Madeline said in Vertigo, “Only one is a wanderer; two together are always going somewhere.”

Unless, of course, you go with another artist.

My BBF Bridget Benton Carwyn met me in NYC and together we infused ourselves with art. The key to our successful saturation is that much of the time we split up, sometimes even going to different museums, and meeting up to share a meal and debrief.

We saw some amazing exhibits, such as The Brooklyn Museum's Frida Kahlo show, and The Guggenhiem's Hilda af Klint show.

I visited paintings I used to gaze at during my formative student years. I reexamined art I had dismissed before. I sketched, and filed away material for potential future work into the recesses of my unconscious. 

Now for the rant.

Tourism has changed in the past quarter century. Namely, there is a lot more of it. The number of folks milling about in art museums seems to have grown steadily. But the onset of the smart phone has changed everything.

To me, an art museum is a place where one goes to look at art. But to many, it is a tourist destination. They are there to say “I was there”, but don’t seem to be paying much attention to what they are actually seeing. Crowds of people take selfies in front of famous paintings makes it so that no one really gets to see the painting in question. To add insult to injury, often I saw one person posing in front of a painting pretending to look at the art, while a companion shoots a pic to upload it onto social media.

 I understand that, as an artist, I am in the minority, even in an art museum. I know I am probably coming off as a snob. It’s just tough having a wonderful experience get mauled to death. When you go to museums, try to talk quietly. Don’t talk loudly on your phone. Be aware of the people around you who are also trying to see the art. Stand slightly off to the side when looking at a painting, don’t block other peoples’ view. If you bring your kids, engage them with the art by talking to them about it and asking them questions about what they see, and teach them about museum etiquette.

For an interesting article about how social media has changed viewing art, click here for the New York Times Article “What the MonaLisa Tells Us About Art in the Instagram Era”

"Ephemera: Imagined Memorabilia of Astoria"

The wonderful people at RiverSea Gallery came up with a great idea for a show- " Ephemera: Imagined Memorabilia of Astoria", a collection of small works based on imagined memorabilia of a past, present or future Astoria.
For this invitational group show I created three special pieces, all 6"x8", depicting imaginative postcards based on actual events in Astoria's colorful past.
Inspired by the tag lines and slogans on traditional travel posters, I visualized postcards commemorating events that are not usually the stuff of promotional campaigns and depicted them as though they were perceived as being as noteworthy and exciting as a major tourist attraction or event, such as a World's Fair or The Grand Canyon.

On the front of each one is an original painting, based on a historic photograph. On the back, I added a vintage-looking postcard reverse, with a short note written as though the postcard had been written upon and sent to you, the viewer.

 

This one is based on a very courageous protest by Chinese American residents of Astoria in 1939. They were protesting the sale of scrap iron and steel to Japan, where it was recycled into war material. At the time of the protest, the Japanese government was waging an undeclared war against China. Although it is a very somber subject, I depict it as if it is regarded by the postcard sender as a joyous incidence of morality triumphing over profit.

To read more, click onto The Oregon History Project.

This one is commemorating the fact that being a Socialist wasn't such an obscure position at one time, and that Astoria was a hotbed of radical, populist politics. I loved the name of this brass band, and it perhaps reminded me of Sgt. Pepper's a bit!

To read more, click on over to The Oregon History Project.

Last but not least, this is an imagined postcard commemorating Astoria's historical red light district, sometimes referred to as "Swilltown" because of all the saloons. Although the glamorization of prostitution is a moral tangle, there has been a long tradition of sex workers of all stripes defying authority, demanding their rights, standing up for the underdogs of society. 

To read more, visit The Clatsop County Heritage Museum.