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

Baren Digest               Wednesday, 26 May 1999       Volume 07 : Number 574


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From: horacio <horacio@centroin.com.br>
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 23:19:57 -0300
Subject: [Baren 4463] Re: Baren Digest V7 #572

kim wrote:
> This statement is valid in the USA but go to Argentina to see the
> woodcut and linocut prints plastered to streetposts, protesting "The
> Disappeared", those who have been taken and murdered by the Argentine
> government.  Printmakers must make these prints discreetly and post
> them up in the middle of the night to avoid arrest.

During the Brazilian military dictatorship I had friends and relatives
arrested (my grandfather), tortured (my brother in law) and killed. I
and my colleges protested in the university, in the Data Processing
Workers Union and on the streets.  At that time, some alternative and
underground newspapers (mainly PASQUIM) played a extremely important and
definitive role in the resistance and they used a lot of political
prints (including woodcuts) and graphic art. Unfortunately, I was then a
part-part-time printmaker and had no chance to publish my prints and
drawings.

A true story about political printing
[1] Some weeks ago, in the Maracan Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, during a
soccer match, Romario, an idol in Brazil and in many other parts of the
world (best player in 1994 World Cup), after making a beautiful goal,
undressed his club shirt showing, on the undershirt, the following
printed message: "STOP THE WAR, PEACE IN THE WORLD". One hundred
thousand people in to the stadium watched the scene.
[2] At night, CNN showed many times the beautiful goal of Romario, but
carefully omitted his white shirt printed message; hence millions of
people ignored it.
Moral: A message manually printed in a white undershirt can be an
adequate political instrument. (I don't know how Romario printed his
shirt: woodblock, silk screen, computer transfer...)

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From: Mariten@aol.com
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 23:52:19 EDT
Subject: [Baren 4464] Re: Clean up the easy way

Just read the clean up woes of some of my "oily" friends. The secret, as has 
been suggested, is to get as much ink off everything before resorting to 
solvents. Headache free cleanup:
-For rollers, the phone-book trick is excellent. Just roll off most of the 
ink on pages of an old phone book until nearly no ink is left. With a couple 
of torn pages, wipe the edges of the roller to avoid that paint buildup. Set 
roller aside, we'll come back to it.
-Wipe all putty knives and palette knives clean by pressing them between the 
pages of the phone book. Don't forget the edges.
-Scrape the glass slab (I use a huge white ceramic tile) with a razor blade 
in a scraper or similar, but it has to be a blade rather than just a putty 
knife to get the ink off the slab. There should be nothing but a residue left 
on the slab. Saving the ink for proofs is a good idea, just make sure you 
didn't pick up a lot of dust with it.
-NOW bring out the solvent of your choice and trickle a small puddle in the 
middle of the slab. Roll your roller on the puddle and then wipe clean with 
paper towel (Don't forget the edges!). Finish wiping the knives, and the slab 
with additional paper towels. 
Casualties: about 1oz. of solvent, 10-20 phone book pages, 3-5 paper towels.
Oh yes, dispose of your solvent-soaked stuff properly or use an environment 
friendly solvent!
Health to all,
Maria

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From: April Vollmer<jy6@columbia.edu>
Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 00:09:27 -0400
Subject: [Baren 4465] Goya and Posada

Just so you don't think I dropped off the edge of the world, I'm letting
you all know I am off to Italy for two weeks. I will try to visit the
Florence printshop someone mentioned recently, where they are having a
Leonard Baskin class (also Karen Kunc in the fall).

And yay for Kathe Kollwitz, Sue Coe, and let's not forget Goya and Posada!!

But Italy has really great old stuff, so I expect I will spend most of my
time looking at Roman mosaics, Piero della Francesca, Giotto, etc, etc.

For this reason I am regretfully declining to fill in for Exchange #2....as
tempting an opportunity as it sounds!

See/hear/read you all in  a couple of weeks!

P.S. I just sent Michael's book off to Jack. For all of you who don't know,
the postage to far off Hawaii is exactly the same as to any other city in
the U.S. Good planning, eh? It took me a couple extra days to figure that
out.

April Vollmer

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End of Baren Digest V7 #574
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