Baren Digest Monday, 7 May 2001 Volume 15 : Number 1413 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Gary Luedtke" Date: Sun, 6 May 2001 11:20:37 -0500 Subject: [Baren 14373] Collaboration Dave's posting last night regarding collaboration is a cue for me to = jump in, as this issue is the crux of my work and nothing touched on in = recent Baren postings has had the relevancy to me that this issue does. Japanese artistic tradition pertaining to woodblock printing separates = the skills necessary to create a print into its various components, each = of which offered a craftsman or artist the ability to focus solely on = that skill and work at it toward perfection. The great prints from = that tradition stand in art history like the Taj Mahal or the pyramids = or the Parthenon stand in architectural history. They were = collaborative efforts. Could any one person have accomplished them? = There was an architect with vision, but that architect would be unknown = today and those historic sites would be vacant but for his collaboration = with the stone masons and the other artisans necessary to actually build = them. Western artistic tradition is more self centered. The artist is the = focal point for creating the work and is given the credit, even though = others may have assisted, their participation is minimized in the = shadow, the artist himself attempts to assume as many up-front roles so = the effect is that of being the sole creator of the work. Perhaps the = Eastern and Western cultural concept of ego is at work in the difference = here. =20 When these two traditions overlap in time or place, there are those = whose opinions, springing from their cultural history in either East or = West, are hostile or unaccepting of the other. Such were the shallow = comments made by some bystander in front of the Helen Hyde print. =20 Anyway, both of these traditions have shining examples of artistic = creation that have stood the test of time and are considered = masterpieces the world over. =20 So, is collaboration good or bad? I personally don't see how it can be = bad. If an artist seeks the help of others who are trained in a = particular craft which will enhance the work he has in mind, and credits = their participation in the effort, what's bad about that? If another = artist wants to learn the various aspects of the crafts necessary to = solely create his own work, I don't see anything wrong with that either. = It's for the artist to decide the best avenue for accomplishing his = work. =20 In the making of my designs into woodblock prints, I use the = collaborative method. It seems that I don't even have enough time to = spend developing all of my compositions, much less learning and = perfecting all of the craft techniques that would be necessary to bring = them to the kind of woodblock print I have in mind for them. I must = admit though, that had I not seen some of the spectacular woodblock = prints made by collaborative efforts, I might not have turned to = woodblock prints at all as the medium I want to design for. Western = woodblock prints are relatively uninteresting to me because of their = rustic and undeveloped appearance in comparison. It was the Japanese = woodblock print that fired my imagination and set me on the road to = merging my ideas with its techniques. This collaborative avenue, though, has not proved to be an easy one = either, for many of the reasons Dave mentioned last night regarding = distance and language. The goal of your work is sometimes down in the = nuances of color and line, and to communicate that to someone ten = thousand miles away in a foreign language is a daunting enough = challenge. Thank goodness for itinerant Englishmen living in Tokyo! = ( Well, not so itinerant now! :) We simply have two ways of doing things here. Neither one is bad or = wrong. Like any technique, you chose the one that suits you. ------------------------------ From: "sheridanpsm" Date: Sun, 6 May 2001 13:04:06 -0400 Subject: [Baren 14374] Re: Yoshida Book on EBAY Today Sunday 5/6 there is the Yoshia/Rei Book: "Japanese Printmaking; A Handbook of Traditional & Modern Techniques on EBAY auction . HANGA workers .. this is a great book !! It is going soon 7pm EST. Japanese Woodblock Reference Yoshida / Rei Item #1140776577 Joe Sheridan ------------------------------ From: FurryPressII@aol.com Date: Sun, 6 May 2001 14:57:07 EDT Subject: [Baren 14375] Re: Collaboration go back earlier in western woods cuts and woodengravings and you will see work that is not rustic at all. The work of the formschnicer woodcuts (such as Albrect Durer and others) and the woodengravers (from Thomas Buick forward to Timmithy Cole) were not rustic at all but they did have one thing in common with the social oraganization of the Ukiyo-e (floating world) wood cuts they were generally colaborative in nature. The problem you see is the fault of modernism's excesive demand for so called creativity at the expanse of craftmanship. Recently I got to see Blakes commerical engraving as opposed to his fine art prints. I liked the commerical engravings better than the art he is more famous for. I wish i could have bought the books in question as they were more intersting to me than the workhe is famous for.(i am a bit of a heratic) john of the furry press ------------------------------ From: Studio Dalwood Date: Mon, 07 May 2001 19:50:49 +1000 Subject: [Baren 14376] Graphic Chemical Inks Dear Dean I dont know whether you are on the Print Australia list yet so I will address this question to you here. I was wondering if there is a fail safe method of preventing the skin forming on Graphic Chemical O/B inks? I read somewhere that leaving a layer of water on the surface would work, similar to the way leaving a layer of oil on tomato paste stops it moulding. When I tried this I had problems with the water rusting the can. Also what is the best temperature/hunidity to get the inks to dry? SOmetimes they dry overnight, sometimes it takes days. I live near Sydney (AUST) and we have high humidities and temperatures. Thanks in advance Josephine ------------------------------ From: slinder@mediaone.net Date: Sun, 06 May 2001 17:14:44 -0500 Subject: [Baren 14377] Re: Graphic Chemical Inks Josephine, We use a spray...sparingly. It stops the dry/thick 'skin' from forming. They call it " Anti-Skin Spray is an aerosol spray of light oil. Sprayed on the surface of the ink in the can prevents skinning" Sharen > I was wondering if there is a fail safe method of preventing > the skin forming on Graphic Chemical O/B inks? ------------------------------ From: "Garth Hammond" Date: Sun, 6 May 2001 22:46:47 -0600 Subject: [Baren 14378] Umetaro Azechi charset="iso-8859-1" Hi folks, i just bought a print and book by Umetaro Azechi. From 1960. Anyone know anything about him? Pretty much a whim for me. Still don't have the hanga this print thing:)....... Garth ------------------------------ From: "Patricia" Date: Mon, 7 May 2001 15:58:02 +1000 Subject: [Baren 14379] Re: Graphic Chemical Inks charset="iso-8859-1" Thanks for the info. about the anti skin spray Sharen. Josephine, I checked Melbourne Etching Supplies catalogue online and they have it. Maybe we could order a bulk lot and meet at the AGNSW and divi it up. :-) Patricia ------------------------------ From: GraphChem@aol.com Date: Mon, 7 May 2001 08:43:10 EDT Subject: [Baren 14380] Re: Graphic Chemical Inks Josephine - The previous answer pretty much addressed you question, but I should mention two things -- one of which you have pointed out. 1.) By putting water into a metal can, you will add rust to the equation, and fairly quickly. 2.) Water as we all know contains oxygen, hence it only slows down the process of skinning. The Anti-skin spray is one answer. Used in moderation, it'll keep skinning to a minimum. Probably the best (and cheapest) solution is to remove ink from the can so that you leave a smooth, even top...and properly replace the skin paper. A supply of 100 skin papers costs $3-4 or so, and lasts a long time. Dean ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest v15 #1413 *****************************