Today's postings

  1. [Baren 28810] More on the Ball Bearing Baren (Cucamongie # aol.com)
  2. [Baren 28811] Adachi demo (Barbara Mason)
  3. [Baren 28812] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)
  4. [Baren 28813] Woodblocks prints as propaganda ... (baren_member # barenforum.org)
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Message 1
From: Cucamongie # aol.com
Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2005 09:26:51 EDT
Subject: [Baren 28810] More on the Ball Bearing Baren
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Hi again all, just wanted to add to my previous post re barens -- Annie,
another two large pluses for the ball bearing barens (in addition to them being
perfect for printing large flat areas) is that it's MUCH easier strength-wise
to use than the other types of barens for this purpose, it feels like the
power tool of barens. You are going have to struggle to get the same effect
with the disk baren. Also, you do not need to replace a cover as you have to
with the bamboo barens.

Happy printing!
Sarah
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Message 2
From: Barbara Mason
Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2005 19:00:48 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Baren 28811] Adachi demo
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Just a quick report on the demo here in Portland. It was good, very well printed and by a woman printer. They have 2, the first one 10 years ago in the 80 year history of the institute and this one. She has been printing 7years and it takes 5 to be considered good enough to print the editions.

It is obvious to me that I need to get my shoulder more over the work and that I am using too much paste and too much water...still. After all this time, when I saw the printing I was surprised. She used a very light feather touch to load the block with the brush and almost no pigment and paste. Hard to believer she could get the block damp enough. She did have a block of wood with a cloth over it that she rubbed over the block to dampen it for bokashi printing. The amount of pigment and paste was so small.....and she used a lot of pressure to print. So she is making up in force for less moisture. They use the paper from Iwano-san, which we have in the mall, exclusively. They feel it is the best available. Nothing was for sale, it was just a demo and they gave us promo stuff from the Japanese cousulate on traveling to Japan and said to go to the website if we were intereted in purchasing. They sent the prints around through the audience for closer inspection at the end so all
could
look at them up close.

They printed the last 5 blocks on paper that already had 12 printings on it. (17 impressions all together) They did the blue and yellow blocks and a sort of peach sky, with a grey around the base of the mountain. It was so very impressive to see this done and the audience was fascinated and asked lots of intellighent questions.
Well worth going to see.
Best to all,
Barbara
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Message 3
From: Blog Manager
Date: 26 Sep 2005 03:55:04 -0000
Subject: [Baren 28812] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification
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This is an automatic update message being sent to [Baren] by the forum blog software.

The following new entries were found on the listed printmaker's websites during the past 24 hours. (8 sites checked, just before midnight Eastern time)

*****************

Site Name: Woodblock Dreams

Author: Annie B
Item: Ouch!
http://woodblockdreams.blogspot.com/2005/09/ouch.html

*****************

[Baren] members: if you have a printmaking blog (or a website with a published ATOM feed), and wish it to be included in this daily checklist, please write to the Baren Blog Manager at:
http://barenforum.org/contact_baren.php
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Message 4
From: baren_member # barenforum.org
Date: 26 Sep 2005 06:29:41 -0000
Subject: [Baren 28813] Woodblocks prints as propaganda ...

Message posted from: Google News Alerts


The Art of Propaganda

Prints & Paintings from North Korea
Exhibit opens Wednesday, October 5, 2005
Showing until October 31, 2005
Foreign Correspondents Club, Bangkok, Thailand

http://www.bangkokpost.com/en/Outlook/26Sep2005_out11.php

A special exhibition of political art from the DPRK (North Korea)

Beijing-based filmmaker and journalist Nicholas Bonner has assembled a remarkable collection of political artworks produced in North Korea's national studios over the past decade. It ranges from oils to traditional ink washes, but it is the astonishingly bold and vivid woodblock prints which are the most striking. In what may be perhaps their largest public showing outside of the hermit kingdom, the FCCT is pleased to present many of these works on our gallery wall during October.

This is truly art with a purpose. The woodblocks in particular, either commissioned by the state or painted as an act of selfless patriotism, are meant to be a permanent visual testament to the North Korean communist revolution, each one an ideologically pure parable on its values and virtues. They may be images of courageous military accomplishment or heroic construction but all are intended to evoke pride and wonderment at the larger-than-life events they supposedly chronicle. This is propaganda as art, not the reverse, and the pictures offer the outside world a rare, and colorful, glimpse into one of the world's most closed and controlled societies.

The skill of woodblock printing derives from an old and well-established Korean traditional art form. It was adopted for political purposes during Korea's fight against Japanese occupation and later during the Korean war when woodblock prints, able to be made without cumbersome machinery, proved a quick and effective way of disseminating information and, through cartoons, thumbing a nose at the enemy. The tradition remains alive today and training in their production continues at several Korean universities.

Prints can be seen at:
http://www.pyongyangartstudio.com/traditional/woodblock.html