[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking. Baren Digest Friday, 15 October 1999 Volume 09 : Number 744 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ruth Leaf Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 08:25:03 -0700 Subject: [Baren 6272] Re: Baren Digest V9 #742 Julio, I would be interested in sending a print for a show at the library. I think that getting your work shown is really important. Since I no longer teach I feel sometimes that I'm working in a vacuum. I've been in many library shows and incidentally gotten a lot of students interested in my classes. I have a permanent show in the library at Northeastern University in Massachusetts. Julio you can count me in. Ruth ------------------------------ From: Maria Arango Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 08:41:44 -0700 Subject: [Baren 6273] wee things and large things A tiny file for my wee chisel! Thanks Ayre, I will try that. I also tried shaping my honing stone and that works very well, so thank you Graham. I just love it when you get to try all these suggestions the same day they are posted rather than having to wait to the weekend between the dog-doodoo job and the lawn-job; man, I love being a full time artiste! Don't forget cork as a relief-printing surface, adds some nice fluffy backgrounds to, say a landscape print? I'm doing one now. Daryl and I are making headway on the 4'x8' project, we decided to use--drum roll--WOOD! We looked at this stuff made out of PVC that cuts like a dream come true, but turned out to be quite expensive. So it is birch plywood. On the experimental/traditional discussion...even for a crazy-head experimenter like moi, there is a strange draw to the traditional. I look at the Japanese method for answers, then pose new questions; I steal and borrow from the traditional, some times to bastardize, some others to attempt to imitate. But, there is an awe toward the cherry wood, the well sharpened chisels, the pigments waiting to be mixed, the rice paste, the beautiful strong and thin paper (how do they do that?) and, as Matt mentions, the pure water to make it all come together. I have no conflict between the experiment with the new and the reveration of the old. Why are they so incompatible for others? Why is the adoption of one method necessarily exclude the artist from the other? Perhaps the answers can stimulate some conversation. Health to all, Maria ------------------------------ From: "Jeanne N. Chase" Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 12:11:26 -0400 Subject: [Baren 6275] Re: possible Baren exhibit charset="iso-8859-1" Julio I really do not know why anyone in any of the Baren Exchanges would balk at having their work shown in the library. What Exchange were you meaning to hang? You have my "Go" That is a nice thing to do and a lot of work!!!!! Jeanne ------------------------------ From: Bella1yopp@aol.com Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 12:36:26 EDT Subject: [Baren 6276] Relief Prints >Prints made from masonite or materials other than wood would simply be >called relief prints. I agree with Shireen. It seems to me that to use any "plate" to create a relief print with would be fine. You just need to consider the limitations on certain "plates." But I guess part of the fun of printing is pushing those limitations. It is all a celebration of relief! I use whatever I want to get the results I want. I would think masonite would be very hard to cut. Would you seal it? - -Amanda Yopp ------------------------------ From: Maria Arango Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 09:53:27 -0700 Subject: [Baren 6277] Skokie Exhibition Almost forgot! Count me in for the Skokie Exhibition, Julio. And forget that nonsense about doing all the matting and framing. I will send a mat and frame so all you have to do is slip my print in there. Are we talking about Exchange #2 prints? #3? #54? (we'll be old and gray by Exchange #54!). Maria ------------------------------ From: Ruth Leaf Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 09:56:24 -0700 Subject: [Baren 6278] Re: Baren Digest V9 #742 Roger, I like your woodblock page. I particularly liked the woodcut "bumblebee and henbane" and the drawing of the "goliath beetle and tiger lily" Ruth ------------------------------ From: Julio.Rodriguez@walgreens.com Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 12:09:28 -0500 Subject: [Baren 6279] Aplogies & Correction I want to apologize for my post yesterday about masonite. Hopefully I did not offend any Baren members. Here is how it should have read..... " If an artist uses HIS/HER fine crafted tools and tempered steels to cut into a woodblock and create a print, that's a woodblock printmaker. If the same artists uses those same magnificent tools to cut into MASOnite board and create a print.......could HE/SHE be called a MASOchist ?.............(from Webster's: a taste for suffering!)" Julio ps. For the record, I think is okay to use any materials you want to create prints. The "modern" japanese printmakers of this century turned away from traditional methods, materials & tools to help revolutionize printmaking. You just can't call it a woodblock print if....... ------------------------------ From: Wanda Robertson Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 10:18:33 -0700 Subject: [Baren 6280] Re: possible Baren exhibit I would be thrilled to have my exchange print hanging in a library. But, I don't think you (Julio) should have to foot the bill for materials to hang them. With 30 or so to hang it could get spendy. Which exchange are you thinking about hanging? #1 #2 #3 #4? Wanda ------------------------------ From: judy mensch Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 14:52:14 -0400 Subject: [Baren 6281] Re:In the beginning Jeanne, I sent cards to Manhattan Graphics Center publicity list, but not much action. I only did the postcard, not a catalogue. Judy ------------------------------ From: Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 16:12:54 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Baren 6282] Julio's show (From Ray H in Vermont) Julio--the library show sounds great. The Manhattan Graphics show was stunning and the prints were merely placed behind plexiglass without any matting. They looked terrific & very professional. I always mat things and so I was not only surprised but very very pleased at how well they looked--so consider this and don't mat. You might want to check with Judy or April or Sarah about details. Ray H ------------------------------ From: Julio.Rodriguez@walgreens.com Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 16:18:21 -0500 Subject: [Baren 6283] re: Books..... Two books I picked up that I want to recommend for those interested..... "Women Engravers" by Patricia Jaffe ( Great Britain, 1988). A very nice book with lots of woodcuts & engravings by women artists. The illustrations are well reproduced and there are many excellent prints included. I only recognized one print from all those in the book, which I am not sure what it says...if anything.... about past recognition given to women in this art form. Perhaps it just speaks of my lack of education in printmaking. The B&W prints are great, really worth a look. "Bookbinding as a handcraft" by Manly Banister (1975). This is the same guy who published the plans for building a printing press back in 69'. Very detailed info and step by step instructions...for the serious......plus many good illustrations of home-made presses or press like setups for bookmaking & binding. Julio ------------------------------ From: "Philip Smith" Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 15:47:48 -0700 Subject: [none] Baren members,....Thanks for all the feedback on my question about masonite! I tend to agree with the majority,....creativity is, after all, the first consideration if you are producing any type of art work, not necessarily the materials you use....my own preference is narrative,....but then again stories are told in many different ways,.....I personally like outsider art alot,.......one reason is because all materials are considered when the naive artist "has to" create. I have another question,......Has anyone had or thought to have their work sold via an auction house? {not all auctions houses deal in antiques exclusively.} Any opinions about this? Thanks,....Philip ------------------------------ From: Josephine Severn Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 10:32:04 +1000 Subject: [Baren 6285] Update Hi The Print Australia website has just been updated, I need submissions from Australian Printmakers in particular. Please put the word out to all your print buddies for me. I asked, days ago, if anyone else had tried using craft wood as a wood alternative, you must hvae missed it. I have seen work made by a friend who used plaster as a block, and work in a book by someone who had used clay slabs as a block, and a magazine article somewhere suggesting polystyrene as a block. I use plywood and lino and collograph and craftwood. Loved the masonite pun! Hubby came to see what I was "cackling' about. Bye for now Josephine ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V9 #744 ***************************