[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking. Baren Digest Thursday, 20 April 2000 Volume 11 : Number 978 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: James G Mundie Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 11:42:55 -0400 Subject: [Baren 9352] Re: Hiroshige color Dave quoted Michener as saying: > late runs, when printer and publisher were in a hurry to make a few > extra yen, became merely crude travel prints and bear almost no > relationship to the artist's intentions. Whew! I feel vindicated in my apprehension (and by a by a man from my own home town, too!). No mere crank, me. The prints I was looking at were in fact from the Tokaido series. The attributed year was a vague guess of a range of twelve years or so -- during Hiroshige's lifetime, but that very vagueness apparently indicating these were later impressions, as Drew and the late Mr. Michener suggest. The "winners" of that auction snatched up every one of those ghastly prints available -- largely, I suspect, because that name "Hiroshige" has instant recognition and cachet whether it's a good impression or not. James Mundie Philadelphia USA ------------------------------ From: Wanda Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 09:45:34 -0700 Subject: [Baren 9354] James, were these prints on e-bay? Or where? I would like to look at them myself. I have seen reproductions (in books) of several Hiroshige works that were very bright colored, but still very harmonious in color & value, and still very detailed and balanced. But, I'm still learning about Japanese prints. For those interested, my "Heron In Rain" print is now in the hands of a restoration expert at the Portland Art Museum. When it is back to me, I will post a before & after page on the 'net for all to see. She said I had rescued it just in time. Wanda ------------------------------ From: Julio.Rodriguez@walgreens.com Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 11:45:30 -0500 Subject: [Baren 9355] utter disaster Hi Dan, been there, done that. A while back I used the same paper and brand inks you refer to and obtained similar results. In my case water was the problem. Too much of it!. The paper was too wet and I was also applying too much water/ink to the brush and paper. Similar to what you mentioned, the first color went well (yellow for me)....but when I printed the blue next to it, there was lot of bleeding.......also to make it worse, I piled the prints one on top of each other resulting in color bleed filtering down thru the papers.....what a mess! I think the main obstacle here is controlling your water. Also it is the gradual buildup of pigment on the brush that does the trick, not reloading the brush everytime with more color/water.....once you get going and do 6-12 proofs....things start looking up, you should not have to add more water to the process.... Not sure what technique you use, but I use a small brush to apply a drop of paste on the block, another to apply a small amount of color to the block, and yet a third larger, short haired brush to spread the color, paste mix all over the block. The small amount of added color serves to keep the last brush fully loaded and with a constant mixture of pigment and water. Too much water in the process is not good. Julio ------------------------------ From: amoss@mindspring.com (John Amoss) Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 15:21:49 -0400 Subject: [Baren 9356] hanga book Hey y'all- I was just alerted from Amazon.com that one copy of the following how-to book just became available: "Moku-Hanga; How to Make Japanese Woodblock Prints" by Keiko Hiratsuka Moore Price is $30.99 plus shipping. It's a decent book IMHO. If you're interested, see: Good luck! - -John A. ------------------------------ From: "Ramsey Household" Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 13:43:20 -0700 Subject: [Baren 9357] Re: un utter failure If it works with dry paper, why not use dry paper. Rules were made to be broken! Carolyn ------------------------------ From: Julio.Rodriguez@walgreens.com Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 17:19:41 -0500 Subject: [Baren 9358] April/Sarah's Opening Hi April, Sarah..........here's just a warm hello and wishing you guys good luck and all the best on your opening tomorrow night ("Patterned Behavior: Moku-Hanga") (for more info www.absolutearts.com). Have fun! Regarding "Patterned Behavior" I have a couple of questions for April. First one is regarding the printing of large digital images like "Big Bang" on washi paper. How is that done ? The second one is more of an inquiry into what led you guys to put on an exhibit with such a theme ? Did you work toward creating images specifically for this exhibit or was it something that just came together ? April, is your work on these images in anyway influenced by M.C. Escher's "Circle Limits" or are you following a different viewpoint in your images ?....... Curious George.....I mean.... Julio ------------------------------ From: "Daniel L. Dew" Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 22:01:50 -0400 Subject: [Baren 9359] Call for prints Hey everyone! I'm designing and laying out the Florida Printmakers Society web page. Part of the introduction includes a glossary of different types of printmaking (intalio,serigraph,etc..). I'm preparing a short paragraph on each and need a sample. Will gladly show your work with your name and link for free! Send me a jpg or two of your favorite piece off list at ddew0001@tampabay.rr.com or ddew@tampabay.rr.com if you want me to use one of yours. thanks, dan dew ------------------------------ From: "Marti M. Burns" Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 22:32:09 -0500 Subject: [Baren 9360] Re: good news Put the paper in the refrigerator and it will give you a lot longer printing time. Where I live it is usually hot and humid so I always refrigerate my paper. ------------------------------ From: Vollmer/Yamaguchi Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 23:45:08 -0400 Subject: [Baren 9361] Blasphemously Jean, I must be a pretty good teacher since you made such a nice print! Thanks for the good reviews. I will post the picture of our exchange to my website and post a link ASAP. (That's Pat Pickering, Ruth Leaf's friend in Jean's photo at http://users.lanminds.com/~jeaneger/jean/april.jpg) And Dwight, sorry to hear you didn't get the date change...I did have to dely my Kala workshop. It was originally scheduled for Feb, moved to April 8 & 9. I hope they'll invite me back next spring, though! Kat Pukas, your name is not familiar, but thank you for asking about Frogman's. I'm going to teach hanga Japanese woodcut from July 10 to 15 in place of Keiji Shinohara, that's why my name is not on Frogman's info. Hope we overlap, please introduce yourself! And as for James Mundie's blasphemy, I was also rather shocked at just how intense the colors were in the Hiroshige show at the Brooklyn Museum. The set of prints there is famously well-preserved, so when you walk in, they are all shouting for attention. GREEN!, RED!, BLUE! I am not sure how late a set it is. I sort of liked it, they seem cruder and more popular than I remember. There is one of a horse's ass that is REALLY crude! Little piles of horse manure all around! Not too refined, but that's part of Japanese prints too, I guess! Yes? No? April Vollmer 174 Eldridge St, NYC 10002, 212-677-5691 http://www.aprilvollmer.com ---------------------------------- From: "Matthew Parks" Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2000 12:28:49 -0400 Subject: [Baren 9362] me, ephemera &stuff. okay. so here it is. me. im a junior at a tiny liberal arts college in wv, (printmaking major --duh.) my concentration is contemporary art (specifically ephemera & installation work) the primary reason i feel compelled to be involved in this mass of information is that i realize tradition is a very important part of print. however im not really that involved in old skool printing. (aka that last time i pulled a edition, ummm, like four months ago.) so if nothing else all the old skoolers here should jump my poop and make me pull editions. after looking at a couple portfolios it became obvious that a majority of all you fabulous people are traditional printmakers. and i dont really get that much at school and its actually quite refreshing. but really, enough about my obsessive need for history and tradition. (its a generational trait --flaw?-- generation y/why not?) now about what i do. as i said, my concentration lies in ephemera (printed material intended for short or temporary usage-- originally things like flyers and tracts) & installation (using materials to create a complete environment, encompassing not only the visual, but also touch, smell, auditory et cetra. overwhelming synesthesia. . or, another variation/definition of installation: using elements already present in specific surround as actual elements in creating a piece of art.) okay. sorry if that sounded "snooty" or like a "i know everything college student." i just think definitions are necessary sometimes. next question: how do these buzz words apply to printmaking (or at least this mtthw character's printmaking)? example: a piece that i am working on for a contemporary printmaking show next february consists of a monolith constructed of four & ahalf inch squares of cardboard & found material (linoleum, sheet metal, paper wastes) with a series of four images printed on them.[single & reductive woodblocks, of course] these squares are then bound into 4.5 x 4.5 cubes. the cubes are then stacked to create the monolith which is 8" x 18" x 6' --the same dimensions as my body. (damn, thats alot of prints, yo!) this monolith is accompanied by another monolith of the same dimensions, but rather than solid cubes of cardboard with images, they are empty origami boxes with the same series of images printed on them. creating a "shell" of the primary monolith. . . is this making any sense? (for any art theorist out there. . post minimalist or post structuralist?) anyways, so, um. . . yeah. i guess i should chill out for now, because i dont know the etiquette quite yet. ive virtually written a novella (i was an english major for two years before i decided printmaking was cooler than literature!) but, im anxious for responses and all. so thanx for reading & i'll be around. lv,mtthw. ------------------------------ From: baren_member@woodblock.com (john ryrie) Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2000 02:52:30 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Baren 9363] Exhibition Message posted by: john ryrie Hi all I haven't contributed for some time as I have had some trouble with my new internet provider. Hear is my new address. jryrie@one.net.au It will be a wile before I get it changed on my web site I have been looking into the possibility of having a Baren Exchange Exhibition hear in Melbourne. There is a new public space opening next year called The Access Gallery. I have spoken to the Curator and he seems to think it would be the type of exhibition they would be looking for. I will be speaking to him again about it in the next few weeks. I have an exhabition that opened this week at the Mitchlton Winery Cellar Door Gallery Prints, Paintings and Drawings. It will be on for about six weeks. John http://www.geocities.com/laddertree ------------------------------ From: B Mason Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2000 00:56:47 -0700 Subject: [Baren 9364] welcome Hey Mathew, Welcome to the baren. I like your monolith idea. It will be a huge amount of work, but I encourage you to do it and post pictures for us when it is finished. Many of us old timers (that sounds soooo old) have had similar ideas, I'm not sure how many have acted on them. Printmaking is so much a part of your blood once it get it's hooks into you, you want to let the world see it, perhaps in a new way. Jar the public into knowing printmaking isn't just something of the distant past. Good luck with your project! Barbara ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V11 #978 ****************************