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

Baren Digest              Sunday, 19 December 1999      Volume 09 : Number 826

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@home.com>
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 23:27:53 -0800
Subject: [Baren 7213] Re: PanAM vs Ban-Ban 

Julio wrote.....
> But perhaps is not so much an indication of the
>artists but rather of the jurors involved in selecting the prints for display.

Adjudicators will pick work that makes strong statements.  The seldom pick
work that is light and with nothing to say.  One of the judges I know calls
it "fluff stuff"  His initals are GS

>We all know how dark/abstract  those Canadians can be....right Graham ?

Don't confuse dark/abstract with deep and intense.......

Graham

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From: michael schneider <mikasch@t0.or.at>
Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1999 19:24:07 +0100
Subject: [Baren 7215] Re: A few points ... 

David Bull wrote:
> Do you
> think that contemporary society has problems?  If so, then don't rub my
> face in them - I'm not blind, I know all about them already - show me
> instead, the kind of world in which you _want_ to live. Don't 'reflect'
> contemporary society - create a better one in its place!

Now, commercials and advertising is doing that all the
time, we can see one "ideal" after the other. When we look
into magazines, the full color pictures of happy,
beautiful, (young and rich) people in a happy environments
are legion, are we feeling better then? I believe there is
already too much happiness suggested in every media
possible, that the only reason to produce yet another
picture in a world, that is producing more pictures than
ever before, is to create something that may offer a
different, eventually more thorough view on some things in
our live. In order to create a better society, it is
absolutely necessary to reflect the contemporary society.

One word to the "housewife's and retired people". Isn't it
the case that they are able to contribute some of those
different, but more and more needed views?

michael

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From: Studio Dalwood <severn@acay.com.au>
Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1999 00:15:11 +1100
Subject: [Baren 7217] Mobile trees and other stuff 

Julio

Your dragon yard is great. I was particularly interested in the mobile
trees. Down under our trees are the old fashioned type. They kinda stay
put, you know? Pity, if they were mobile they might be able to run away
from the loggers. Maybe the genetic engineers could do something useful
for a change a breed me a humongous gum tree with legs. (Mmmm mental
image here, I can feel a drawing coming on).
Will link to your backyard, next edit. My post office box is achingly
empty.

David, I hear and obey re exchange,( John I was rash too, put it down to
enthusiasm, you cannot be criticised for that). I didnt cut and run from
baren, otherwise why would I be here, though I do from some sites.

How are we all for Y2k? We watched a sad show last night about silly
misinformed people preparing for the collapse of civilisation at new
year. Made me wonder. How many of us will have problems getting on-line
on Jan 1? I think we're OK, are you?

On the content question concerning adjudicators in juried shows, I have
been lurking through some interesting dicussion on the ART-CRIT
discussion group which has been rather relevant. Isnt it horses for
courses? Art emerges in so many outlets, many tailored for specific
tastes and levels of understandings, we just have to stay with the ones
that suit us. Graham I like 'deep and intense' as well as dark.

Only one person responded to my comment about the paper used in the
exchanges.

Making christmas cookies today, thinking about images to carve. Looking
forward to the solstice, I was told it is to be a special full moon at
solstice this year, brightest in 133 years, make sure you go look.

Josephine
Ps what day is it? *grin*

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From: B Mason <bemason@concentric.net>
Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1999 18:17:07 -0800
Subject: [Baren 7219] 1999 

I have been in the middle of Christmas preparations and thinking about
1999 and all the good as well as the bad things that happened. Most were
good, so that is always a blessing. One of the major highlights was the
class in Victoria at Graham and Marnie's home. My first real "woodblock
class". I feel very lucky to have started out at the top as far as
instruction goes. When I heard some of the stories from other attendees
about their struggles trying to learn from a book and from the friendly
folks on the Baren I felt lucky indeed. Seeing is worth a thousand words
or something like that.
This website has truly changed my life and I think for the better. I do
not mind extra emails, but occasionally it seems there is a gap and some
are missing, sort of like coming in in the middle of a movie. Does
anyone else have this problem? It is not too serious but does leave me
scratching my head every so often and wondering what people are talking
about. Maybe Lee is sneaking in and erasing those pesky Baren messages
before I read them, but I don't think so.
My committments are less at the end of the year than they were at the
beginning, so that is progress as far as I am concerned, being the queen
of over committment. My husband Lee says my hand automatically goes up
as soon as someone needs something done. I am trying to fill these
committment spaces with woodblock printing, something I really want to
get better at. Looking at the real thing leaves me discouraged but
determined. I will welcome a little Y2K slowdown, I will spend it in the
studio.
Best to all,
Barbara

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From: David Bull <davebull@woodblock.com>
Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1999 13:07:57 +0900
Subject: [Baren 7220] Re: A few points ... 

Michael wrote:
> Now, commercials and advertising is doing that all the time, ...

> I believe there is already too much happiness suggested in every media
> possible ... 

Hmmm, may I disagree Michael?  (I'm feeling quite 'disagreeable' this
week!)

You will certainly laugh when you hear my view on this, but I'm
convinced that it is correct, and if you give it some thought you may
see what I mean ...

Yes, we are indeed surrounded by images showing us some kind of 'happy'
life, and this sort of thing goes back well before the introduction of
TV - many hundreds of years in fact. I think that the constant and
pervasive presence of such imagery has been one of the major factors in
the development of our present advanced society, with all its
astonishing benefits.

Our current society has not sprung from nowhere, it has been built
piece-by-piece and step-by-step by people who worked and built because
they wanted something that they didn't have. I don't just mean
'something' as in the 'latest washing machine' here, I mean it in a more
general sense. People who are surrounded by images and impressions of
happiness, of pleasure, of success _gained through productive activity_
... such people will themselves absorb not only a desire for the
benefits they see, they will absorb the implicit, unspoken message
underneath it - "Do you want these things? Then get busy ... join in,
and become a productive member of this society. You too, will thus share
the benefits."

Are you laughing?  Maybe, but even though I may be clumsy at trying to
express this concept, I'm certain that there is something true about
this.  Looking 'down' in the mud gets us nowhere - looking 'up', and
trying to climb will get us everywhere. It has brought us from treetops
in Africa, all the way to this incredible society in which we live. 

Look into your own life for an answer here ... What motivates _you_? 

I make prints that at first sight seem to have no 'redeeming social
value' whatsoever. They are simply scraps of paper with colour rubbed
on. But they are _beautiful_; they are 'attractive' in the sense that
people feel attracted to them, want to own them, want to be close to
them ...  But the only way that people can 'have' these prints is by
'buying in' to the values of our society, and exchanging some part of
their _own productive endeavour_ for this part of mine. That could be by
a straight swap of prints, but not too many people are printmakers, so
more commonly it is done by a transfer of some of those 'tokens of
productivity' that we call money. Desire for 'happiness' leads directly
to _productive activity_!

'I want...'  'I want ...'  This is what drives us.  Not just to
'brighter laundry' of course, but to a brighter life ...

(Disagreeable) Dave

:-)

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From: B Mason <bemason@concentric.net>
Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1999 21:41:34 -0800
Subject: [Baren 7221] happy vs deep and dark 

Dave,
I think you are correct in a sense. It's a lot like raising children. We
want the best for them, so we are careful what influences them, even
when they are old enough to choose for themselves.
I always told my kids, "You wouldn't eat garbage would you? Then why put
it in your mind?"  It's the same as "eating" it, it drastically effects
your body, one physically and the other mentally.
Surrounding oneself with beautiful things (happy things?) certainly
makes ones mental outlook better and a better mental outlook makes one
more productive.At least it makes me more productive.
I don't mean there isn't a place for social commentary or work with deep
meaning, but there is also a place for happy work and by the amount of
"happy" vs. "deep" and "dark" work sold, I think we can say the general
public wants beautiful and happy work also.
This doesn't mean I am changing my own work to sell more, I accept the
fact that my work is not for everyone but it makes me happy so I keep
doing it. Isn't that what we all do? Try to do work that makes us
personally happy?
Barbara

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End of Baren Digest V9 #826
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