Saturday, April 26, 2014

Interviews in 2014



I was so overwhelmed looking at my SGCI photos that I forgot to mention that I met the lovely Melissa Potter during the conference. We had "met" prior to then over Facebook, and had been corresponding since, realizing that we had many of the same interests and values. During SGCI, she interviewed me for her project, Gender Assignment. You can watch the video here.

My latest work, some of which was also featuring in Now. Here. This. is also featured in this interview, (which is actually my third of this year)!

Frieze, the print above, was completed for my recent show. (click on the image for a larger size). Some shots of the making can be seen here and here.

Its come to me that the pieces like Frieze and the others I poured myself into for the show emptied me out of something, a sorrow, some unfinished mourning. A catharsis has taken place. I'm thinking about new things, or more accurately, old ideas in a new way. Maps and navigation are coming back, but more refined, more directed. Still in the beginning stages, but on a course towards something exciting.

Friday, April 18, 2014

More papermaking at Magnolia Editions



Just finished up another workshop at Magnolia Editions - this time, a focused class in pulp painting. The class set a new record for me in distance traveled by a participant - this time it was Florida!

Above, you can see the entire class took place under the very intense gaze of Chuck Close in tapestry form.


Jenny (pictured above) has made paper with David Kimball, and brought along a pouring mold he'd made for her many years ago. Here she is experimenting with incorporating doilies into the poured sheet.

The class only had six students, all of whom worked pretty much nonstop. My assistant Heather and I had to switch off for lunch, since the students wouldn't slow down. Some of them stopped and had a quick snack, but I'm not sure all of them did.


Don introduced an interesting technique. Using a piece of gampi that had been digitally printed with one of his and Era's images, he laid it under a screen that he'd gotten from a commercial paper manufacturer. The printed image was visible through the screen - although I think a thin pellon would work just as well. Students in the class played with painting some pulp using the image as a guide.


We tried pulp with formation aid and without. You can see the difference above - the yellow is without formation aid, much clumpier. Whereas the black pulp paint has formation aid and appears much more smooth, controlled, and linear.

After the class was all done giving it a try, a sheet of paper was pulled and couched on top of the pulp painted design.


The whole thing was pressed in the group pressing at the end of the workshop. A close up is below.


I'm not sure I've ever had a class go through so much pulp, make so much paper. I was kept so busy these are the only photos I took.

On Saturday, May 3, Magnolia will be offering the workshop "Creating Paper Sculptures," Rhiannon Alpers, a highly recommended class. For more information or to arrange payment, please email papermagnolia@hotmail.com.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

SGCI 2014 Photos



March was also so busy due to the Southern Graphics Council International Conference here in SF. I was on the Steering Committee, in charge of the Vendor Fair. We had 60 vendors, from the USA, Canada, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, and France.

During the event, I met the gentleman who had been in charge of the fair for 25 years. When he started, the fair had six vendors.

Click on photos for a larger view.


Below, Conrad Machine company helps convert another printmaker:


Wee little barrens for sale at Graphic Chemical!


Maddy Rosenberg of CENTRAL BOOKING at the fair:


An intriguing vendor, Halfwood Press. Elegantly built, and you could plug in a USB into some models.



The second evening of the conference, the Friends of Dard Hunter had a meetup in the hotel bar. As the photographer, I'm not in this picture, but you can see Eli, Rhiannon, Rebecca, Jen, Peter, and Colin. Not pictured, but John and Anne were also in attendance.


I didn't get to attend as many panels as I would have liked, but I did see Paul Mullowney's talk about multi-panel prints assembled with wheat starch. Below is a slide from a 16th century diagram of how to assemble a map. Despite sounding completely esoteric, it was fascinating.


One of my favorite things about SGCI is always being introduced to printmakers whose work I'm unfamiliar with. Three artists received lifetime achievement awards, Don Farnsworth, Juan Fuentes, and Silvia Solochek Walters. I didn't know Juan or Silvia's work before, so glad I got a chance to see some of it in person.

Didn't manage to get a shot of Silvia receiving her award, but here are Juan, and below him, Don. A little blurry due to low light.


The whole conference ended with a dance party. Break dancing, conga lines, and even printmaking-based dance moves ("whipe the plate" etc.) made an appearance.


This was the first SGCI on the West Coast. The Bay Area held up as a great region for printmaking, naturally. And these pictures are only a fraction of everything and everyone I interacted with. Fingers crossed I can afford to go to Knoxville!

Sunday, April 13, 2014

"Now. Here. This."



March was a busybusybusy month, so much that I'm still in recovery, I think. Now. Here. This. came down the first week of April, here are a few shots of the show and opening reception.