[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking.

Baren Digest               Friday, 10 April 1998       Volume 03 : Number 123

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From: Don Furst <furstd@UNCWIL.EDU>
Date: Thu, 09 Apr 1998 09:20:11 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Baren 593] New member introduction 

My name is Don Furst, and I have just joined this group. You might consider
me a printmaking omnivore, since I teach and enjoy intaglio, litho, relief,
and screen processes.  I will admit also  to being an oily character--when
it comes to printing ink--but I am intrigued by the traditional Japanese
water-based methods, too.  Handoku Ito, a guest artist from Japan,
demonstrated the process and got me very interested.
This specific focus of your discussion forum on wood block printing appeals
to me.                  --Don

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From: Blueman <blueman@pantek.com>
Date: Thu, 09 Apr 1998 11:11:33 -0400
Subject: [Baren 594] Re: Baren Digest V3 #121 

Baren,

Ray said:
>   The only
> difficult thing in life is the lack of balls to try (excuse me ladies).  

Ray, I think I have balls sometimes (excuse me, gentlemen).  Your
project sounds good, Ray.  I believe you can do it because it sounds to me like
you have what I like to call "gumption".  When my boys were teenagers I
used to try to discourage, especially the youngest one, from
experimenting too much (drugwise) and I told him that all the people I knew 
who did it regularly (old hippies) lost a lot of their "gumption".  Once the
youngest was at a party and one of his  friends was obviously under the influence
of something and Jeremy (my son) said teasingly, "Where's your
gumption?"

I would like to take part in your exhibit.  The idea of a little show in 
restaurants is very appealing to me.  Right now six of mine are framed
(black frames) and hanging on the wall in the local coffee
house/restaurant and I don't have prices on them, but I love seeing 
people enjoy them.  I sold four (not the ones hanging) because someone 
admired them and asked me to print them for her.  

I've been following your conversations with the Baren members about the
show and I've been quiet because I wanted to see where it was leading
before I said anything.  

I like the idea of educating the people about  "real" prints.  The
beauty of handprinting must be seen.  

Another theme title:
>From Durer to Cyberspace:
Woodblocks from the Baren

Gayle

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From: Dan Wasserman <dwasser@slam.org>
Date: Thu, 09 Apr 1998 11:54:59 -0700
Subject: [Baren 595] Framing 

Ray et al:

I killed my website and discontinued my private ISP account... couldn't
justify the time or expense involved (I'm not anywhere near as generous
as our host Dave).  I left a skeleton of the website up at tripod.com,
one of those commercial site servers that pops up an ad when the page is
viewed. See: <http://members.tripod.com/~qaart/>.

Re. minimalist framing: The pin holes are a real concern tacking prints
right to the wall but I like April's idea about holding work to the wall
with plain sheets of plexi... there is plexi scratch remover that works
pretty well realy.

~dan

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From: Dan Wasserman <dwasser@slam.org>
Date: Thu, 09 Apr 1998 12:16:41 -0700
Subject: [Baren 596] Re: Baren Digest V3 #121 

Ray sez:
> By keeping the exhibition pure and never mentioning money, we come across
> as an organization that wants to promote Japanese and other wood block
> arts.  I can sell this a whole lot easier.  

I think Ray is absolutly correct. Anything with prices makes for much
trouble with any non-profit forums. I personaly always have more respect
exhibitions that do not come across as sales pitches... if someone is
seriously interested in acquiring a piece they will make the effort
needed to contact the artist or her/his appointed representative.

~dan

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 13:30:08 -0700
Subject: [Baren 597] Welcome New member  

Don

Welcome

Hope you enjoy this listserver. Lots of good info gets discussed here.
So ...tell me where do you live and do you pronounce your name as in Second!

I don't see drypoint.  Is this ever a consideration.

Regards
Graham

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From: Don Furst <furstd@UNCWIL.EDU>
Date: Thu, 09 Apr 1998 17:08:52 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Baren 598] Re: Welcome New member 

Graham, 
Thank you for the welcome.  This seems to be a friendly group.

>..tell me where do you live and do you pronounce your name as in Second!
I live in Wilmington, North Carolina and pronounce my name as you surmised.

>I don't see drypoint.  Is this ever a consideration.  
I occasionally do drypoint, but more often mezzotint. However,  I just 
pulled out a box with some thin Japanese plywood, so you know what 
I am up to next!   

--Don

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From: Gary Luedtke <GLuedtke@compuserve.com>
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 17:22:53 -0400
Subject: [Baren 599] New member introduction 

Welcome to the group, Don.   I am not a printer, but a designer of prints,
so my input may be infrequent, but it's nice to add to the diversity of the
group.   It will be interesting to hear another view on things.

Gary

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From: David Bull <davebull@asahi-net.email.ne.jp>
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 07:35:49 +0900
Subject: [Baren 600] Re: New member ... 

Welcome to our newest member ...

Don when I saw your name going through a few days ago, it made me sit up
and notice!  'Furst'!

This is a bit of a long shot, but would you possibly be related at all
to Herbert Furst, the English writer on woodcuts and woodblock prints,
from the early part of this century?

He published 'The Modern Woodcut' in 1924, a definitive book about the
state of the craft at that time ...

Wouldn't it be neat if his grandson was here on [Baren] ...


> However,  I just pulled out a box with some thin  
> Japanese plywood, so you know what I am up to next!

Good news - I hope you'll keep us in touch with what you get up to!


***


The other day, I let you know that a few of Gayle's prints were on view
in the Encyclopedia.  She saw the sample page I put up there, which I
had just 'clipped' from her emails, and decided that she could improve
on it a lot.  This morning I received her new piece - which describes
how she cuts and pulls her portraits - and it is now up there waiting
for you to read it.

(Gayle - the piece you sent has a mix of 'technical' and 'philosophical'
stuff, so I put it in the same place as last week - the 'Letters From
the Studio'.  Do you think that's the best place for it, or should it be
'out' in the technical section of the Encyclopedia ...?)


***


Administration notice - for [Baren] members on Compuserve: some of your
[Baren] mail has again been bounced back by Compuserve.  If you see some
missing numbers in the sequence, those postings can, as always, be found
in the archives ...

Dave

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From: jimandkatemundie@juno.com (James G Mundie)
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 00:32:02 -0400
Subject: [Baren 601] The Ongoing Esposito Project 

Graham and Ray,
	Sorry to interrupt your ongoing dialogue.  Geez, guys. When do
the two of you have time to cut boards? Well, I might as well step in and
rapsodize about the education/pricing issue.  It's late here, so this may
not follow any sort of coherent order, or make a cogent argument, but
here goes:
	1) Your average Joe hasn't a clue as to want a print is-- let
alone what a woodblock print is-- and you might as well forget about
terms like "hanga", "ukiyo-e" or even the humble "woodcut" ever
penetrating his consciousness.  Joe cannot distinguish from a first state
Rembrandt and a Norman Rockwell reproduction. Educating Joe might be
impossible, but worth the effort.
	2) Joe's ignorance is understandable when you consider that most
of the "art world" doesn't 'get' prints either.  [Good luck trying to get
into a juried works on paper show with a print-- unless it has puppies or
something like that in it, which perhaps the juror will propound as
kitsch-ironical, whereas it's merely crap.] It's up to printmakers like
the members of Baren to get prints some attention and 'art prestige'. 
	3) The traditional forms are abandoned because the majority of
modern artists are too lazy to become craftsmen as well.  Only kooks such
as ourselves are so old-fashioned as to make art from _wood_.    And
another thing-- If I see "Xerox" as a possible media acceptable for entry
in a print show you might find me up in the bell tower with a high
powered rifle.  Has the world become so addicted to instant gratification
that we accept closing the lid and pushing a button as a legitimate art
form?!  If so, there's surely a paralegal out there somewhere who should
be in the next Whitney biennial.  [I'm thinking about taking a more
traditional old-fashioned spin on this trend.  From now on, I will devote
myself solely to the art of the mimeograph prints.  Love that smell.
Expect a future Encyclopedia entry on that, Dave.]
	4) Not only are most artists these days lazy (our pal Ray being
the notable exception), but so is the art buying public.  Unpriced work,
even with information on how to contact the artist directly, will only
sell once in a blue moon; because that requires the buyer to move their
digits and ask questions and --gasp!-- research. [Now mind, I think
having that contact info with the work is a great idea, but we all know
how infrequent it is that people respond to this sort of advertising. 
Exposure is the primary goal for Ray's proposed show, but I'm sure that
none of us (especially Ray's kids) would object to a sale or two thrown
in as a bonus. For that reason, I say, "Let's get those prices in there!"
 A wide range of prices might confuse some folks, but anyone who has ever
been in a group exhibition has experienced the same phenomenon. Remember
that a show like the one Ray is proposing will likely first attract those
already somewhat familiar with the art form.  These folks are
knowledgable about what is a reasonable asking price and what is not.]

I'm just free-associating here.  I think that an MPBaren show is a sound
concept.  Enough of that from me for now.


On a less rambling and cranky note:
I received two lovely woodcuts in the mail from Gail today which
represent her first attempts with the oddball razor and needle approach I
favor.  The portrait of her husband is especially well realized.  Fine
and assured scratching (across the grain, even!). Way to go, Gayle!  Kept
it coming.  We'll turn around all of these traditional Japanese-style
fuddiduddies yet.  Welcome to the dark side (it's mimeograph next).   

Sla/n go tamall,
James Mundie, Philadelphia USA

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End of Baren Digest V3 #123
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