woodblock dreams

Inspiration Thursday

2012-01-26T12:00:00.000-05:00

January has been an emotional roller coaster for me. Lots of changes in my household, as my partner has a new job with a big commute, and lots of ups and downs in my art practice. I'm in the sloggy middle with my current George Washington print, a time when I tend to lose heart, and I've also accumulated more rejection letters this month than any other month I can remember. The trouble with rejection letters is that they just appear whenever they appear. You don't have time to get prepared and steel yourself, so if you happen to be having a low-energy day a rejection letter/email can throw you into a rapid downward spiral.

I recently encountered an artist on Twitter named Diedra Krieger who created an art piece about rejection letters called "Building Backbones." In this performance work, artists were invited to submit rejection letters from grant or residency applications, or exhibition submissions. The letters were then projected and attendees read them aloud in unison. I watched a video of the event on Krieger's site and found that the unison reading gave the letters both gravity and a tinge of absurdity. For me it also mingled with a liturgical feeling that probably comes from my many years as a youth attending mainstream Protestant churches. Chanting rejection letters with others seems as good a way as any of transforming the pain of rejection into a source of power for building backbone.

Another way I've found to keep my spirits up is to hear from other artists how they keep on task. I've just started reading a book called The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle by Steven Pressfield. Pressfield offers a strong, no nonsense, just-do-it approach to overcoming resistance in any art practice. A softer and more expansive book about work in general, not just art, is poet David Whyte's book Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity. A friend of mine reminded me of it today, so I plan to re-read it after I finish the Pressfield book.

What I'm feeling today, having digested the latest rejection email, is that acceptances and rejections are not what it's about. Yes, pursuing opportunities for my artwork is part of my job. But that job is to find the opportunities and apply. Once I've sent my application, I've done my job, I've made my effort. Expecting anything in return is a waste of valuable energy, energy that should rightly be spent on making work. Making work is the point, and is my joy. I'm making a plan for a little letting-go ritual to do when I send out the next batch of applications -- something to remind me that once I mail them they aren't mine any more.

This morning I came across a video of Stephen Colbert interviewing Terry Gross of NPR's Fresh Air and I got another lift of inspiration from that. In the beginning of the interview, Terry Gross admits that her first job was teaching English and that she was in fact fired from that job after 6 months. Colbert says what we're all thinking: "Why did they fire Terry Gross??" "Because Terry Gross was a terrible teacher," she replies. I love that. Terry Gross got fired from her first job. She must have felt very bad at the time. But wow, look what happened. Here's the video -- enjoy!

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Terry Gross

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

Video Archive

"Prominent Printmakers" Show At NH Institute of Art

2012-01-20T10:10:00.000-05:00

Artwork by Joyce Silverstone

This past Wednesday I delivered four pieces of art for my first group show of 2012, the Prominent Printmakers exhibition at New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester, N.H. The show will include the work of 13 artists, many from here in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts. For me, this show will be the first time I show work from my new money-related series "Loaded".

Printmaking: Prominent Printmakers
26 January - 23 February, 2012

French Building Gallery
New Hampshire Institute of Art
148 Concord Street, Manchester

1 February, 2012:
Opening Reception: 5:00 - 6:30 pm
Gallery Talk by Liz Chalfin: 6:30 pm

Local New England folks, I hope you can make it!

The Power of Image

2012-01-11T12:35:00.002-05:00

We in America like to think of ourselves as visually literate. We like to think that we're wise to the ubiquity of advertising in our environment, that we can spot a doctored photograph in a magazine, that we can "read" and interpret the hundreds (or thousands) of images that we see every day. I've spent the past 25 years as an artist, making images for commercial clients, and I'm not so sure we're as literate as we think we are.

For starters, we spend only a few seconds viewing most of the images we see in the course of a day. (We commercial artists have a joke that the thing we're working on, whatever it is, will be lining the bottom of someone's bird cage in a day or two.) You can't "read" an image in a few seconds any more than you can read a page of text in a few seconds. To read and interpret an image, one needs to observe the composition, the colors, the focal points, the lighting. One needs to consider context, historical setting, the medium used to make the image, and style. And then it's important to examine one's own emotional and intellectual response to help make the meaning. All of this takes time and attention and intention.

I've been conducting a small experiment among my friends and family, asking them to draw the back of a dollar bill from memory. None of my respondents, myself included, could do it. Yet this is a visual object that passes through our hands almost every day.

One thing everyone knows, though, is that George Washington is on the front of the bill. So even though I had intended to only use imagery from the back of the $1 bill, I've decided to give George some love. I've been slowly carving a giant 24" x 36" blow-up of his face. Its feeling kind of intimate, being so up close to this very well-known image of Washington, which is an engraving based on a painting made in 1796 by Gilbert Stuart.

Here are some photos of my progress:

George Washington had curly hair.

George Washington had blue eyes.

Happy Year of the Dragon

2011-12-31T14:20:00.000-05:00

Year of the Dragon by Annie Bissett, woodcut and digital, 2012

2011. What a challenging, strange, difficult and sometimes wonderful year. Here in New England we had big snow, tons of rain, a tornado, a hurricane that washed out roads, and a freak October blizzard that felled many beautiful old trees (Lynn and I spent thousands of our 2011 dollars dealing with water and weather issues). I attended an unsettling number of funerals this year, and watched some friends, including friends in Japan, go through difficult times. In the political world there were revolutions and protests everywhere, and here in the U.S. the sudden urgency of Occupy Wall Street. Meanwhile, the economy continues to feel frighteningly unstable.

Yet 2011 wasn't all bad. I got to go to Japan for the First International Mokuhanga Conference in 2011. I started a new print series that looks like it will continue well into 2012. My family and I are all healthy and employed and doing OK, and I have a large "family" of friends as well. I'm grateful to have good people in the river with me as we ride these waves of change together.

Overall I'm glad to see 2011 go. But I worry that 2012 won't be any easier, and when I found out that 2012 is The Year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac my uneasiness was not relieved. This article in the Japan Times echoes my own feelings about 2012. The author writes,

The year of the dragon, which is now very nearly upon us, certainly looks to be a year that will bear all of the fearsome characteristics of its zodiac namesake. It seems to me that much of what happened this year had the air of a preview, or a rehearsal perhaps, for the actual drama set to unfold next year.

I hope that's not true, but just in case, I'm cultivating my warrior spirit. For me, that means resolving to keep my body healthy and in shape, to stay flexible and open to spontaneity and surprise, to stay close to my loved ones, and to use my resources wisely. For my Year of the Dragon nengajou postcard (above) I decided that rather than picturing the dragon I'd focus on the knight/warrior who faces the dragon, not knowing if it's friend or foe, not knowing what will be demanded in the encounter. You may recognize the "fire" that tickles the knight's face -- it's from the print I made earlier this year called Great Wave. The curlicue design is from the back of a US $1 bill.

I wish us all courage, wisdom and, yes, joy as we face this new year. Let us find rest and comfort in one another and let us learn, finally, that we're in this together.

love, Annie

Pyramid

2011-12-05T15:10:00.001-05:00

PYRAMID
Japanese-method woodblock (moku hanga)
Image size: 35" x 21" (89 x 53 cm)
Paper size: 38.5" x 25" (98 x 63.5 cm)
1 shina plywood block, 2 birch blocks
10 hand-rubbed color layers
Paper: Shikoku White
Edition: 7

Pyramid and eye are enlarged from the back of a U.S. dollar bill.
Figure is from a found 1880 etching of migrant workers in a field. __________________________________

The pyramid image found on the back of the U.S. dollar bill is part of the Great Seal of the U.S. and is, as my friend Mary so aptly put it the other day, "kind of strange." The eye, which I find especially odd, is said to indicate that God, or Providence, favors the U.S. enterprise and will watch over it.

I moved the eye farther away from the bottom portion of the pyramid and inserted a small human figure between the two to give the meaning a different twist. The figure is from an 1880 etching I found of a group of African American migrant workers in a cotton field, their labors watched over with care by a white man.

I love the posture of this figure. To me the man looks weary, as if he just arrived at the top of the 13 steps, and he seems to be in the act of turning towards the eye, maybe just realizing that he's not going to get there from where he is. The way he's holding his right arm almost looks to me as if he's about to raise it, in defiance or in frustration. Even though the drawing is from 1880, the pose looks modern to me and it feels like an accurate posture for expressing the feeling you can have when you've worked really hard for something and fallen short. Or the just-waking-up feeling embodied in the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The sky and star trails were very difficult to print, so the sky is a little different in every one of this edition of seven. I guess I'm still nowhere near being a master printer, but I sure enjoy making these prints. Hope you enjoy them too.

Printing the Drill Drawing

2011-12-01T20:44:00.001-05:00

This week I printed the sky portion of the Pyramid print, which I had previously drawn on the block with an electric drill. I printed three layers of color, and because the drill lines weren't very deep the printed lines closed up quite a bit.

Fortunately the last layer, the blue, was a strong color, so it came out OK. Next up is the final linework (keyblock).

Undercolors

2011-11-28T14:54:00.000-05:00

Here's some progress on my Pyramid print made over the Thanksgiving long weekend. There are 5 layers of color (the two areas of blue are slightly different and printed separately).

If you look at the original pyramid and eye motif on the dollar bill (left), you'll see that I've enlarged the amount of space between the bottom of the pyramid and the "eye of God" that hovers above it. You'll also see that I've given the God's eye some skin tone and iris color. There will be a small human figure standing in that enlarged space, on top of the unfinished pyramid. But first, I'll be working with the "sky" and the falling stars.

Drawing With Power Tools

2011-11-22T11:27:00.001-05:00

Sometimes it's hard for me to loosen up my drawing hand, so I decided to force myself into looseness by using a power drill to draw on my wood block. Not sure how this will look once it's printed, but I'm hoping it will look like falling stars.

Carving Can Be So Slow

2011-11-16T14:20:00.001-05:00

Gradually making progress. Here's the pyramid sketched onto the board:

And here's a closeup of the carving in progress:

NY Print Fair 2011

2011-11-06T15:36:00.000-05:00

I always love going to New York during Print Week, and I was happy to make it again this year. Here is just a taste of what I saw yesterday on my whirlwind tour. Most of the photos I took were of woodblock work, but I also snapped a few shots of other work that I enjoyed. Hope you enjoy it too.

My first stop was the Editions and Artists' Book Fair in Chelsea. I neglected to take photos there, but you can see a slideshow in this online article from Art in America to get a flavor of the event. The one shot I did take was the one here, Daniel Heyman's large 65-part etching called When Photographers Are Blinded, Eagles' Wings Are Clipped. I also enjoyed the work at Anchor Graphics. Check out their website to see their impressive roster of artists.

My second stop was IPCNY for New Prints 2011/Autumn. Of all the shows I saw, this was my favorite. IPCNY exhibitions always run the full range, from hugely famous artists to emerging artists and covering pretty much all the techniques available to printmakers. Here are some of the works I saw, focusing on woodcuts.

Trevor Banthorpe, color woodcut


Matthew Colaizzo, woodcut


Susan Goethel Campbell, woodblock and perforations


Alex Katz, moku hanga woodblock

S.V. Medaris, mounted woodcuts

I was also happy to see work by my cyber-friend Rick Finn on the wall at IPCNY. My photo was blurry, but you can see his winning "Buddha (mourning drape)" here.

I finished my day at the IFPDA Print Fair at the Armory. Here are a few photos, again focusing on woodblock prints.

These reduction woodcuts by Tom Hammick were some of my favorites at the fair. They struck me as both light and brooding, both simple and complex. They made me linger even though my eyes were tired, or perhaps because my eyes were tired.

These woodblock prints by Fang Lijun were astounding. They looked so much like ink paintings. Very beautiful and haunting.

I've recently gotten acquainted with artist Sarah Brayer, who lives and works in Japan, and I looked for her work at the fair. I found it at the always-jam-packed Verne Gallery booth where I was unable to take any good photos, but check out Sarah's web site to see her latest handmade paper works, some of which contain luminous pigments.

Thanks for reading!

xo Annie

American Pyramid

2011-11-02T17:11:00.000-04:00

The series about money that I'm currently working on, Loaded, is based on designs found on the back side of a U.S. one-dollar bill and I think it's safe to say that no examination of the symbols on the bill could ignore the Great Seal. Finalized in 1782, the Great Seal is basically the coat of arms of the United States and has appeared on coins, stamps, uniforms, passports and other government issued items. The "front" of the seal shows an eagle bearing a striped shield with the motto "e pluribus unum (out of many, one). The "back" of the seal, an image of an unfinished pyramid topped by "the Eye of Providence," is the image that I'll be working with for this next print.

On this pyramid side of the seal there appear two sets of Latin words. Above the Eye is written Annuit Cœptis, meaning "He approves (or has approved) [our] undertakings", and below the pyramid it says Novus Ordo Seclorum, which means "New Order of the Ages." The pyramid, which appears to be unfinished, has thirteen steps, representing the original thirteen states and the future growth of the country. The lowest level of the pyramid shows the year 1776 in Roman numerals. The Eye of Providence, like the pyramid, can be traced back to Egyptian mythology and the Eye of Horus, as well as Hindu and Buddhist iconography. In Christianity the Eye is usually surrounded by a triangle and is said to invoke the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). The implication of the combined images is that Providence, or God, favors the establishment of the United States and will watch over its development.

One of the designers of the seal, Charles Thomson, said this about the pyramid.

The pyramid signifies Strength and Duration: the Eye over it and the Motto allude to the many signal interpositions of providence in favour of the American cause. The date underneath is that of the Declaration of Independence and the words under it signify the beginning of the New American Era, which commences from that date.

The Eye of Providence is a symbol that became associated with Freemasonry in the late 18th century, and conspiracy theorists make the claim that the Eye in the national seal indicates the influence of Freemasonry in the founding of the United States. I did a little research on the Freemasons and as far as I can see the worst fault of the Freemasons is that they don't allow women into the lodges. I'm not sure why conspiracy theorists would dwell on the pyramid and eye, but maybe I'm missing something. If anyone knows more, feel free to enlighten us in the comments section.

Meanwhile, I can think of plenty of other associations that the pyramid might have with our modern day economy, things like "pyramid schemes" for example...

I'm now in the carving stage, which will take a few days.

Print Raffle 2011

2011-10-25T08:55:00.000-04:00

Every year, in conjunction with "Print Fair North" open studios, Zea Mays Printmaking in Florence, MA, holds a print raffle to benefit the Ruth Chalfin Memorial Scholarship Fund. The fund allows individuals who have financial constraints to take printmaking classes.

There are some great prints this year, including two works by Barry Moser, an internationally recognized illustrator and master wood engraver. Also included is my Blessings Kite print (seen at left) and works by studio member artists Anne Beresford, Liz Chalfin, Scott McDaniel, Pam Crawford, Meredith Broberg, Lyell Castonguay, Maya Malachowski Bajak, Lilly Periera, Claudia Sperry, and Joyce Silverstone.

The raffle prints can all be seen at this link. Tickets cost $10 each or 3 for $25. You can buy as many tickets as you want, and can direct them all towards one print, or spread them out over several. Tickets can be purchased in person during studio hours or, if you're from out of town, by phone.

The drawing will be November 13, 2011.

Smoke

2011-10-19T14:38:00.000-04:00

SMOKE
Japanese-method woodblock (moku hanga)
Image size: 35" x 21" (89 x 53 cm)
Paper size: 38.5" x 25" (98 x 63.5 cm)
2 shina plywood blocks, 1 birch block
10 hand-rubbed color layers
Paper: Shikoku White
Edition: 5

Car image is from a news photo of a burned-out automobile in Iraq.
Smoke design is adapted and enlarged from design on the back of a U.S. dollar bill.__________________________________

I meant to invoke all the money that the United States has wasted on war for the past 10 years, but as I worked with the image I began to see other meanings as well -- the money we spend to maintain our petroleum culture, the collapse of the auto industry, the costs of both war and oil relative to our environment. Maybe there's more. I'm trying not to over-think this series, trying to follow my initial self-assignment of using a dollar bill as my starting point and allow images that appeal to me to be just that -- images that appeal to me. This one felt right.

On a technical note, and this is one of the big drawbacks of publicly blogging my process, many of my fellow printmakers commented on the beautiful wood grain that appeared in the smoke after four layers of brown. I hadn't expected that, but I liked it and I was upset and conflicted when it disappeared upon adding the carved dollar design. It was a really hard decision for me to go ahead with the carved design, but I felt that without it the piece didn't say what I wanted it to say. I wanted to talk about money, not wood grain and not woodblock printing. So the wood grain is gone. And if I hadn't blogged it, you would never have known it was there…At least now I know how to control -- and not control -- wood grain. Always learning.

The other thing I'm grappling with is that I started Loaded, this series about money, on July 7 and on September 17 Occupy Wall Street began. I like to tackle topics that are timely, but this is maybe a little too timely. I feel a lot of pressure now. Yet here I am.

Here's the series so far:

Lots of Brown

2011-10-16T18:19:00.003-04:00

Last week I added four layers of brown to my "Smoke" print. One more layer to go and the print will be finished. I think.

Show in Worcester MA

2011-10-11T19:45:00.000-04:00

Two of my prints, Borders #1: U.S./Mexico (left) and Borders #2: Great Wall (right), have been accepted into a show at Worcester State University called The Global Perspective. I'm also happy to announce that Great Wall has received an Honorable Mention from the judges. The recently remodeled Worcester State Gallery features 2500 square feet of exhibit space and is building a reputation as a primary gallery for arts in central Massachusetts. I'll be attending the opening on Thursday, October 20, 2011 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. and I hope if you live in the area you'll join me!

The Global Perspective: Understanding the Past, Looking to the Future
Ghosh Science and Technology Building, First Floor
Worcester State University
486 Chandler Street
Worcester, Mass

Opening reception, Thursday, October 20, 6-8 pm

Gallery hours:Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday 1-4 pm
On view September 11 – December 2

Got Some Carving to Do

2011-09-29T21:45:00.002-04:00

I have some carving to do before I print again.

Car Completed

2011-09-28T12:41:00.000-04:00

Third layer of color applied.
Black layer applied.

This image is based on a news photo of a burned-out car in Iraq. The car is complete, but the full image is not finished yet. Next I'll be using a new piece of wood to create some smoke and fire.

A Car by Reduction Method

2011-09-23T17:33:00.000-04:00

The traditional Japanese method of woodblock printing calls for carving one block for each color, although in practice a printer will often designate areas for more than one color on a block if the areas are far enough apart to be inked accurately. But for the most part, it's one color per block.

As I've begun to work with very large prints and blocks of wood, more and more often I've found myself seeking ways to save money and time by consolidating my materials, and one way I've found to save on wood is to use the reduction method whenever possible. The reduction method involves carving a block, printing that block on all the sheets of paper in the planned edition, then carving ("reducing") the block more, printing again, carving again, and so on until the image is completed.

Last week I started a new print in my "Loaded" series of prints about money, and I'm using the reduction method to create an image of a car that will be central to the print. Below are photos of the first two printed colors from the initial reductions, plus a photo of the block carved for a third time and ready to print. There will be one more reduction after this one.

First, a pale blue impression of the whole shape of the car. Then I went back and carved again.

Next I printed a gray layer.

Today I finished the third "reduction" and tomorrow (hopefully) I'll print it using another tone of gray.

Pilgrims In Journal of the Print World

2011-09-13T11:28:00.000-04:00

Several friends have told me that my portrait of John Alexander and Thomas Roberts, the gay Pilgrims from Plymouth Colony, was on the cover of Journal of the Print World but I was unable to find a copy. Today my printmaker friend Melody Knight Leary sent me a link to an image of the cover online, so I've finally seen it.Thanks, Melody. And thanks, Journal of the Print World!

Storing Large Prints

2011-09-06T11:29:00.002-04:00

The last couple of prints I've made are too big for my flat files, so I've been at a loss for how to store them. Right after the Great Wave prints were completed I rolled them and put them in a tube, but I was concerned that the curl would be hard to get rid of so I started thinking of other options.

I was considering setting up something in our basement, but we took in a couple of inches of water during Hurricane Irene so I'm very leery of using the basement now. Buying larger flat files is the obvious solution, but my spare-bedroom studio in our not-very-big ranch house is already feeling cramped with the flat files I have, so I'll need to figure out where I can put more. In the meantime I put out the question to the Baren Forum listserv to see if anyone had any ideas and I got some great responses.

For now, until I figure out something better, I'm hanging the prints on the back of my studio door simply using skirt hangers and some strips of foam core (photo) as suggested to me by printmaker Barbara Mason. You can see that there's still some curl at the bottom of the prints from being in the tube for a few weeks. There's also not much room on my over-the-door hook, so I'll need to upgrade that as I make more prints.

Woodcut artist Maria Arango pointed out that there are products made for hanging architectural drawings, so I'm looking into that option. I'd like to find a wall-hanging unit of that type, since I'm lacking in floor space.

Some folks seemed to think that rolling the prints isn't really a bad option. That would make it very simple if it were true, so I may try keeping a set of prints rolled and see how it works over time.

My favorite response came from Mexican artist Guadalupe Victorica who has a friend who stores large prints between 2 plywood boards under the mattress. Now that's a good use of space! Under the bed is possible too, although my dog likes to sleep there.

Of course, I could just sell all the prints! That would completely solve the storage problem.

I'm open to any other ideas if you'd like to leave a comment.Thanks for the help!xo Annie

God

2011-09-01T11:24:00.000-04:00

GOD
Japanese-method woodblock (moku hanga)
Image size: 21" x 35" (53 x 89 cm)
Paper size: 25" x 38.5" (63.5 x 98 cm)
2 shina plywood blocks
13 hand-rubbed color layers
Paper: Shikoku White
Edition: 9

Based on a much enlarged section of the back of a one dollar bill.
__________________________________

Honey bees have fascinated human beings for millenia. The honeybee, honey and hives are emblems of sweetness, wealth, and industry. Like us, bees have elaborate societies, they work hard, and like us they are suffering from strange maladies in this century. These creatures, who sting and yet are able to transform beauty into sweetness using their own bodies, have been cited in religious texts for thousands of years. Here's a small sampling of the ways that bees and honey have been linked to God in various traditions.

The decrees of the LORD are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. (Bible, Psalms 19:9-10)

Have you found honey? Eat only what you need, that you not have it in excess and vomit it. (Bible, Proverbs 25:16)

Your Lord revealed to the bees: "Build dwellings in the mountains and the trees, and also in the structures which men erect. Then eat from every kind of fruit and travel the paths of your Lord, which have been made easy for you to follow." From inside them comes a drink of varying colours, containing healing for mankind. There is certainly a Sign in that for people who reflect. (Quran, 16: 68)

Just as though a man were at a crossroads pressing out pure honey and a large group of people were poised in expectancy, so too, when the recluse Gotama is teaching the Dharma to an assembly of followers, on that occasion there is no sound of his disciples' coughing or clearing their throats. For then that large assembly is poised in expectancy: "Let us hear the Dharma the Blessed One is about to teach." (The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha)

O noble one, the wise always offer a handful of flowers humming with bees in the direction where Bhagavan is awake. He is the eternal witness of the drama of the rise and the dissolution of this universe. (Shree Guru Gita, verse 51)

Interestingly, John Eliot, who translated the Bible into a Native American language in the 1660s, noted that there was no NativeAmerican word for wax or honey. Eliot claimed that the Indians used the term‘White Man’s fly’ to describe bees. It seems that the native Americans were more in tune with the sting of the bee than the honey, as bees were interpreted by tribes farther west as a dark omen and harbinger of the white man's arrival. I guess this links bees with the expansion of capitalism in America.

This morning I'm thinking of this little edition of 10 prints as a handful of flowers humming with bees.

God On Money

2011-08-31T15:03:00.001-04:00

I've been wanting to make a series of prints about money for a long time, maybe since 2007 when Lynn and I experienced something of a reversal of fortunes and decided to downscale our lives before life did it for us. My usual approach to art making, researching a topic until I feel I have enough understanding to begin, didn't work this time. I audited a class on the history of American economics which did nothing to inspire me, and my own ambivalent feelings about money also didn't help me. But I've finally found a way in to the topic, a way which is purely visual.

This new series, called Loaded, is based on a simple conceit. Each print begins with an image isolated from the back side of a one dollar bill as the starting point. In the first print, Great Wave, the wave design came from below and to the right of the pyramid motif. For this print I've worked with a tiny crop that includes the word "god" from the "in god we trust" motto at the top of the bill.

Carving on a 24" x 36" shina plywood block by Annie Bissett

The words "in god we trust" have appeared on American coins since 1864, but have been written on paper currency only since 1957, and the words are controversial, as are all things having to do with religion in the United States. As I worked with the image, at first all I could see was the cynical view that we in the U.S. actually worship not God but Money. Which is certainly true in many ways.

But then I began to think about all the ways that money perhaps is sacred: the trust we have in each other and in our economic system that is essential to its functioning, the hopes and dreams that we all hold and that money can help us attain, money as a symbol and exchange for honest labor, money offered to another out of a desire to help and serve.

This morning, when I pulled a couple of dollars out of my wallet at the post office to send my mother news clippings about flooding in her beloved home state of Vermont, that was love in the form of money.

These have been my thoughts as this print emerges. Today I'll be adding the bees I carved yesterday.

Woodblock print in progress by Annie Bissett

Carving Bees

2011-08-30T22:24:00.000-04:00

Carved some bees today, which I'll print tomorrow.

Silkscreen

2011-08-25T20:47:00.000-04:00

I spent the past 3 days at Zea Mays Printmaking in Florence MA at a silkscreen workshop taught by Jennifer Cooke of Raeburn Ink. It was a really fun workshop and I was very surprised to discover that I could make silkscreen look like watercolor by using extender in the inks. Here's one of the pieces I made at the workshop.

Experimental silkscreen print by Annie Bissett

I think silkscreen will come in handy when I want to include text in a woodblock print and I don't want to carve it. Or printing on fabric. Or...

Another Week, Another 3 Colors

2011-08-21T14:54:00.000-04:00

This is another shot of my current print in progress. There are 8 layers of color shown here, printed with a mostly uncarved block of plywood (just the little "stars" are carved). Now I'm carving more on the same block to create a design that will be overprinted. This is the second print in my series about money. The series is tentatively titled "Loaded."

I'm going to be taking a silkscreen workshop at Zea Mays Printmaking for the next 3 days so I won't be working on this print, but I'm excited to try another printmaking method. I can imagine silkscreen and woodblock being super compatible.

Recent Printing

2011-08-15T14:26:00.000-04:00

©2011 Annie Bissett

I started working on a new print last week. It's another full-sheet print, so the paper is about 25 x 38 inches (63.5 x 96.5 cm). I'm trying another new-to-me type of paper, this time a machine-made paper I bought from Hiromi Paper called Shikoku White. So far I've applied 5 separate all-over overprints of color, so the paper is taking quite a beating but it's holding up under the baren as long as I use an ategami (a protective backing paper used under the baren to keep the print paper from abrading). It's a thin paper, but not as thin as the Kizuki Kozo from Japanese Paper Place that I used for the Great Wave print.

The photo at the top is how the print looks after 5 applications of color. I shot the photo while the paper was still wet, which is why it looks wrinkled. I've done all of this with a block that's basically uncarved. The only carvings are the little "stars" which I carved out just so I could know where they're located. I've used yellow, red and blue on top of each other to allow a complex color to emerge. I've been surprised to see that the grain reacts differently to each pigment. Below is a closeup of the grain beginning to show through. I expect that there will be at least 10 more color layers, and soon I'll begin doing some carving.

©2011 Annie Bissett

Sometimes I'm Married, 2011

2011-08-08T19:27:00.000-04:00

SOMETIMES I’M MARRIED, 2011
2-color Japanese-method woodblock (moku hanga)
6” x 8” (15 x 20 cm)

The 2011 installment of an ongoing series in which I track the state of my own gay marriage. I’ve made an updated version each year to celebrate my wedding anniversary, August 15, 2004 — the first year that gay marriage became legal in Massachusetts. Someday this will be a one-color print.

See the whole series on my web site.

Mokuhanga Show In Scotland

2011-07-30T08:54:00.000-04:00

Opening today in Edinburgh Scotland is an exhibition curated by Scottish artist Elspeth Lamb RSA titled IN JAPAN, a large survey show of woodblock art from around the world. My print American Bible Story will be included along with work by approximately 45 other artists, including work by Helen Frankenthaler! The show will be up through September 18.

IN JAPAN: Highlights of Academicians' projects in contemporary Japan
30 July - 18 September, 2011
RSA Finlay & Projects Room
The Royal Scottish Academy
The Mound
Edinburgh

Opening Times:
Admission Free
Mon-Sat 10-5pm
Sun 12-5pm

Great Wave

2011-07-28T17:34:00.001-04:00

GREAT WAVE
Japanese-method woodblock (moku hanga)
Image size: 22" x 37" (56 x 94 cm)
Paper size: 24" x 40" (61 x 101.5 cm)
3 baltic birch plywood blocks
12 hand-rubbed color layers
Paper: Kizuki Kozo
Edition: 7

The wave design is referenced and much enlarged from the back of a one dollar bill.

Two More Colors

2011-07-26T18:19:00.000-04:00

Basically monoprinting here...

More Progress

2011-07-25T19:49:00.000-04:00

A little more progress made today.Trying for a painterly look.

Last Week's Printing Progress

2011-07-24T21:28:00.000-04:00

Having gotten my three large pieces of birch plywood carved, I spent the next few days starting the printing process. I've never used this paper before, Kizuki Kozo from The Japanese Paper Place in Toronto. It's sized, but it's fairly thin for mokuhanga, so I was nervous about how it would hold up with multiple overprintings. So far so good, although it's starting to stretch and distort a little. I'll see at the end if I can get it flat again or not.

Anyway, the paper is 24" x 40" (61 x 102 cm) which is the largest piece of paper I've ever tried to handle. Short of hiring an assistant just to help me get the paper onto the block, I knew I'd have to try something new. Friends on the Baren Forum had once suggested rolling as a possibility, so I tried that and it worked pretty well. I just picked up the roll, guided it into the kento, and then let it unfurl onto the inked block.

Here's how the print looked after three passes.

I still have to deepen the reflection under the hills before I move on to other areas of the print.

Prints In Wales

2011-07-19T22:43:00.000-04:00

I'm excited to be part of a show in August with printmakers of Zea Mays Printmaking called Prudent Prints at Aberystwyth University in Wales. The image on the announcement is by the awesome Lilliana Pereira.

Baltic Birch vs. Shina

2011-07-19T12:07:00.000-04:00

I've started working on a new print over the past few weeks, and it involves a lot of newness. It's the largest print I've ever tried, at 24" x 40" (61 x 102 cm), and I'm using a new kind of wood as well as a new kind of paper. All in all, this makes for an exciting print!

The print called for three 24" x 40" plates. Shina plywood that size at McClains was beyond my budget, so I decided to go to my local lumber yard and see what I could find. The best they had to offer was a sheet of 5' x 5' (1.5 meter) high grade baltic birch plywood. Even though there was a lot more wood than I needed, the price of the birch was about 1/3 of what I would have paid at McClains, not including shipping fees. So I had the lumber guy cut it for me and I drove the boards home in my Honda.

But would the birch work? And could I get the level of detail I wanted? The answer is yes and yes, but not without a few trials:

I started with the easiest block, the one with the least detail, just to get a feel for the wood. As I expected, it was much harder to work with than shina plywood. The shina I'm accustomed to is shina all the way through the layers, but the birch ply is a thin birch veneer with fir on the inside. As you can see in the photo above, there are a lot of knots in the underlayers. The wood is also much more splintery, and I have some little punctures in my fingers to prove it. Ouch! Also, the glue is sort of crunchy as the tools move through it. I quickly decided to use some of my cheaper tools on the birch and save my expensive ones for shina.

For clearing on a block this size I tried another first -- a hammer and chisel! Up until now I've most often used a large shallow u-gouge that I can push with my hands, but this called for more. I'm embarrassed to admit how many times I hit the knuckle of my thumb with the mallet. Ouch!

I tried it a few different ways, but the wood seemed to require that I first chisel away from the raised image and then back from the other direction to release the "wave" of wood created by the initial chiseling. I'm sure that there are some of you printmaker readers out there who know a better way, so please feel free to offer your advice.

Here's the detail I was able to achieve, which I feel happy about:

I think it would have been quite a lot easier with shina, though, and less painful too!

Art Guerra Makes Art

2011-07-16T10:43:00.000-04:00

I didn't know that Art Guerra, founder of Guerra Paint and Pigment in New York, is also an artist. I've used his pigment dispersions straight out of the bottle for woodblock ever since I started making prints. Check out this Two Coats of Paint blog post about Art's current show at Sugar gallery in Brooklyn.

Mokuhanga Conference 5 - Demos & Shows

2011-07-07T14:40:00.001-04:00

Just so you get an idea of how jam-packed the conference was, I'm still telling you about events from the first day! I checked in at a couple more demonstrations that first afternoon.

Italian printmaker Niccolo Barbagli demonstrated how he depicts water using both western and Japanese woodblock techniques.

Hidehiko Goto, who is among the last living specialized baren craftsmen, demonstrated the construction of a hon baren.

Artist Eva Pietzcker (left) got a bird's eye view of Goto san's work.

Goto san has just published a book about his work called Baren: hon baren seiho to tsukaikata (Baren: the construction and use of a hon baren). It's available only in Japanese, but is chock full of photos so there's a lot to glean even if you can't read the Japanese.

I'll also note that Hidehiko Goto is a mokuhanga printmaker in his own right. Unfortunately he didn't show any of his own work, but above is an example. You can see more at the Verne Collection web site.

At this point in the day I couldn't take in any more information, so I took a walk around the neighborhood to see a few of the print shows that were happening around Kyoto for the conference.

First I went to "Mokuhanga Innovative," a show of 7 woodblock artists: Akira Kurosaki, Tetsuya Noda and Seiichiro Miida from Japan, Karen Kunc and April Vollmer from the U.S., and Kari Laitinen and Tuula Moilanen from Finland.

'Garden of Disasters' by Karen Kunc

Two works by Akira Kurosaki

Next I visited the large "Mokuhanga: Dialogue and Dialect" exhibition, which included 55 woodblock prints from all over the world. Here are just a few of them:

By Rick Finn, whose work I've been admiring online for a while now. Great to see it in person.

By Ray Heus of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, who makes lovely small works in the shin hanga style. I also saw work by Ray last week at Gail Browne Gallery while I was vacationing in Provincetown.

By Elspeth Lamb of Scotland, who is putting together a mokuhanga exhibition in Glasgow for later this summer.

A spectacular piece by Margot Rocklen of Connecticut USA

There was also a wonderful book show called "Hanga Ehon" in a very cool Japanese antique bookstore called Kyoto Paradise. Unfortunately I didn't get any photographs of that show.

Mokuhanga Conference 4 - Carving the Ineffable

2011-06-22T21:05:00.002-04:00

While Sato san was demonstrating Kyoto-style woodblock printing in one part of the large room at Kyoto Kaikan, a carver named Hiroshi Fujisawa was demonstrating traditional carving. Fujisawa san is a professional carver who works in a home-based workshop in Kyoto. He was an apprentice beginning at age 16 to master carver Kikuta Kojiro and has now been carving for over 50 years. He is said to be one of the best carvers in Japan.

Fujisawa san speaks while Claire translates

By the time I made it over to Fujisawa san's demonstration, he had finished carving and was giving a talk about how his study of Buddhism informs his work. In his talk he used the words kokoro (心) meaning heart/mind/spirit and kuuki (空気) which means atmosphere/mood/tone. He spoke about the importance and the difficulty of representing these qualities, the heart of the artist and the tone of a place, in a print.

As he spoke, I thought about the "kokoro" and "kuuki" in my own work. I thought about how I've been using mokuhanga to express my thoughts and feelings (kokoro) about my country, about religion, about the uneasy international relationships of this early global 21st century. I thought about how I often surround myself with music or audio books or podcasts that have to do with the topic or the time period I'm working with, an attempt to create the "kuuki" of a time and place in my studio while I work. I've always felt that somehow those feelings and songs and words and ideas that I'm immersed in, the emotional/mental/spiritual energy I use to create my work, become embedded within it and are readable by the viewer, however subtly.

Fujisawa san's beautiful notes

It seemed to me that Fujisawa san was saying that something inherent in mokuhanga allows these invisible and ineffable qualities to be expressed, that something about the method itself allows this process of embedment to occur. My answer to what it is about mokuhanga that allows these ineffable qualities to appear would be the following list.

- The slowness of the method allows (or forces) one to go deeply into the work.
- The tradition and history attached to the techniques and tools give them an almost ritualistic quality.
- The deconstruction of an image required in separating the colors onto different pieces of wood and then putting them back together into a new form offers many opportunities for the artist to react and respond to the materials in the process, embedding new decisions in the "memory" of the printed image.
- A woodblock artist uses her whole body to make the work. There is a very physical wrestling with the resistance of the wood in order to carve an image, and printing with a baren instead of a press also requires a lot of physical energy. The artist's body is part of the print.

Of course, some of these qualities are not unique to mokuhanga. I'd love to hear from you readers who work in other media -- do you, and if so, how do you express these ineffable qualities in your work? Please leave a comment if you have thoughts about this.

Detail of a print with over 300 impressions

Fujisawa san spoke about another factor of mokuhanga that he believes is integral to expressing the ineffable in a print: the transparency and layering of the pigments. Because of this transparency the colors are complex and deep and each layer, even if seemingly invisible, affects all the other layers. He showed us a series of prints that had each received hundreds of layers of colors to illustrate his point, saying that this kind of tone and feeling would not be possible in a print made by other methods, particularly digitally.

I was very moved by Fujisawa's talk. He articulated many things that I've barely articulated myself, and I felt a deeper understanding of why I've been so attracted to mokuhanga.

Mokuhanga Conference Part 3

2011-06-19T17:04:00.000-04:00

As is always true about a conference like this, there were too many things to do and see all at once! While Sato san was doing his printing demonstration (previous post), there were demonstrations going on in three other rooms at the same time. I decided that it was most important for me to see the Japanese craftsmen, since I had come halfway across the world just for that opportunity, but I was very interested in the other demonstrations too, so I stopped in at each one for a short time.

Catherine Kernan discussing her technique

I was particularly interested to see Catherine Kernan's demonstration of making woodcut monoprints with Akua waterbased intaglio inks. Susan Rostow, the inventor of Akua Inks, was present as well, so it was a rare opportunity to hear input from her about the behavior of the inks as Catherine worked. Catherine uses large blocks, various ink modifiers and resists, and some interesting techniques such as transfering ink from woodblock to plastic to paper to create beautiful painterly monoprints.

Detail from a demo print by Catherine Kernan

Detail of woodcut monoprint by Catherine Kernan

Catherine's process is much more freeform and spontaneous than mine has been to date, and I found myself longing to move in that direction. Luckily, Catherine owns a printshop called Mixit Print Studio just a couple of hours away from me in Massachusetts, so I expect I'll be headed there soon to take some lessons.

In the next room, Richard Steiner of Steiner Print Workshop in Kyoto was speaking about his self-developed mokuhanga methods and the various tools he has invented or modified. Richard has been making woodblock prints for over 40 years and teaches both in Japan and abroad. Recently he's been teaching classes in the Pacific Northwest almost every year. He is also founder of Kyoto International Woodprint Association (KIWA) which puts on an international woodprint exhibition every 4 years in Kyoto, the most recent being this year, 2011. I really enjoyed meeting Richard and talking with him at various points throughout the conference.

In the next post I'll tell you about woodblock carver Hiroshi Fujisawa's talk about Buddhism and woodblock prints, a talk that moved me to tears.

Mokuhanga Conference Part 2

2011-06-16T14:46:00.000-04:00

The conference began on a Tuesday evening with an opening party where I spent the evening peering at name tags. There were over 100 participants from 20+ countries, and I met so many people whose names I already knew -- Richard Steiner of KIWA, artists Ralph Kiggell, Paul Furneaux, Elizabeth Forrest and Tanja Softic, Susan Rostow from Akua Ink Company, my Cullom Gallery mates Eva Pietzcker and Tyler Starr. I was also delighted to meet many artists I already "knew" from the online group The Baren Forum, including Andrew Stone, Jan Telfer, Margot Rocklen, George Jarvis, Mary Brodbeck, Preston Lawing and the previously mentioned Linda Beeman. Everything was running smoothly thanks to the hard work done by conference organizers Tuula Moilanen, Kari Laitinen, Karen Kunc and April Vollmer.

The next morning the heart and soul of the conference began with demonstrations and workshops offered from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. I'll take you through the demos I saw over the next several blog posts.

I walked over this little canal every morning on the way to Kyoto Kaikan where the conference sessions took place

The first demonstration I attended was a printing demo by Keizo Sato. Sato San (san is a way of saying "Mr." or "Ms.") is a 2nd generation master woodblock printer who runs a studio in Kyoto with three apprentices. Sato Studio makes ukiyo-e reproductions, Nihonga reproductions, and original prints based on works by various living artists. Sato San is Deputy Vice President of the Association for the Preservation of Japanese Traditional Woodblock Printmaking Techniques.

Above is Sato san preparing his materials for the demonstration. Seated to the left is Bill Mathie and, right, Andrew Stone and George Jarvis is standing behind them.

Sato San demonstrated printing gofun, a white pigment made of ground shells, on one design from an early 20th century compilation of textile prints called Aya Nishiki depicting twill and damask brocades in 11 volumes. These prints were originally created for Kyoto Nishijin Museum with the dual purpose of supporting woodblock artists and displaying examples of textiles considered too fragile for actual display. Above is the original page that Sato San was reproducing from the volume.

Sato San was using the original blocks to work on his reproduction. Here's a beautiful block that looks like a textile in itself.

And a beautiful kento!

This is the block that Sato San was printing from during the demonstration.

As the demo progressed, it became clear that the white of the print was being built up very slowly with many overprints of gofun. This slow and painterly approach is said to be a hallmark of Kyoto-style mokuhanga. Essentially, Sato San was creating many tiny bokashi blends on the block.

In one instance, Sato San used quite a bit of water and a pouncing device to ink the block.

He said that the screen inside his pouncing tampon was made of human hair.

It was difficult to see the effect of this single pass: the pounced layer on top of the white that had already been laid down.

Sato San printed the pounced layer alone on the edge of one of the prints so we could see what it looked like by itself. It was a very delicate application that added texture and depth.

Someone asked how the gold in the print was made, so Sato San did a quick demonstration for us. He uses a powdered brass to simulate gold. He said that he usually rolls on a transparent oil base and prints it to hold the powder, but since he didn't have any of the oil base with him he brushed on nikawa (animal glue).

After printing the glue just as one would print ink, Sato San used a soft brush to apply the powdered brass.

Woodblock scholar Claire Cuccio did an excellent job translating. Next to Claire is Seiichiro Miida, an artist and professor at Tokyo University of the Arts.

Andrew Stone taking a close look at Sato San's work.

Karen Kunc and Tetsuya Noda watching Sato San's demonstration. Left of Karen is Kari Laitinen, artist and conference organizer. There was a professional film crew there taping Sato San's demo.

Linda Beeman taking careful notes at Sato San's demonstration.

Mokuhanga Conference Part 1

2011-06-15T21:29:00.000-04:00

I love Japan. The 10 days I just spent there was my third time in the country, but before this trip to attend the First International Mokuhanga Conference it had been six years since I last visited. I've also never been to the Kansai area before, so there was a lot of newness for me this trip. I did all my free-time traveling in the four days before the conference, and I began my travels in Urawa, which is north of Tokyo, at my friend Mariko's house. I stayed in Urawa just long enough to have a lovely dinner with Mariko's family and to be awakened by an aftershock during the night. The next morning Mariko and I hopped the shinkansen (bullet train) and made our way south and west to Kyoto.

Mariko getting directions for us

In Kyoto we met up with Baren Forum member and printmaker Linda Beeman for an afternoon tour of temples and shrines in the district of Kyoto called Gion. Meeting Linda was just the first encounter of many that I had with printmaker friends who I have only known online. I'm happy to report that everyone I met, including Linda, was even nicer in 3-D than I had imagined them to be in cyberspace.

Linda Beeman in front of a big concrete Kannon (Kuan-Yin) statue in Gion

I was amazed and impressed when Linda told me that not only was this her first time in Japan, but it was her first time overseas at all! Such courage. She was staying at a really nice traditional ryokan (inn) in Gion.

Here are a few more photographs from my sightseeing before the conference.

Another view of the big concrete statue of Kannon (Kuan-Yin). Someday I want to do a Kannon Pilgrimage

Kyoto is a school trip destination for students from all over Japan, and we saw these groups wherever we went

Mariko and I spent a long quiet time here at the famous Ryoanji Temple rock garden

A little stupa-like structure at Kinkakuji

Golden Pavilion at Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto

Tomorrow I'll start on my reports about the actual Mokuhanga Conference.

Blogging from Japan

2011-05-31T10:53:00.001-04:00

Dear blog readers,

I'm so excited! In two days I'm leaving for Japan to attend the 1st International Mokuhanga Conference in Kyoto and Awaji! As part of my preparation, I've been trying to figure out how I can communicate with you while I'm there. It's complicated, of course. I'm opting not to bring my laptop as it would be too cumbersome, so I'll be using my Verizon Android phone instead. This limits me in a couple of ways. First of all I can't type well with my thumbs, so I won't be able to be my usual verbose self. And secondly, my phone can't communicate with Japan's cell network, so I'll only be able to use it when there's wireless available. Wireless, it turns out, is not nearly as ubiquitous in Japan as it is in the US. So I'm really not sure how often I'll be able to post.

Then there's the question of where to post when I can post. I have a Twitter feed, a Facebook page, and this blog as possibilities, but I don't want to make multiple posts, so I want to use RSS to "broadcast" each post to those various streams. I tried Blogger for Android to see if I could use Woodblock Dreams to do that, but I found it too difficult to use the Blogger software on my phone. Twitter is too concise (140 characters) and Facebook isn't my favorite site. So, I started a Tumblr blog. Tumblr is a sort of hybrid between old-style standalone blogs like this one and social networking sites like Twitter or Facebook. The interface is simple and designed for easy sharing of content from either computers or mobile devices. The social functions are Tumblr's "following" and "reblogging" features, which allow people to follow others and share things they like.

All this is a long way of saying I'll be sending live reports from Japan, photos etc. on my Tumblr:

http://anniebissett.tumblr.com/

If you're one of my friends on Facebook or if you follow me on Twitter, the Tumblr feeds should show up there too, but in some of my test posts the results have been inconsistent. If you want to be sure to see the posts, I'd suggest checking directly on the Tumblr site.

When I get back in mid-June I'll do some longer posts here on Woodblock Dreams with all the gory geeky printmaking details. I hope you'll follow along for both!

love,
Annie

Such A Person I Want to Become

2011-05-19T23:18:00.000-04:00

Not long after the triple disaster in Japan, a friend on Twitter posted a link to a poem by a writer named Kenji Miyazawa who lived in the devastated area of Tohoku. The poem, Ame ni mo Makezu (Not Losing To the Rain), was discovered in a notebook after Miyazawa's death in 1933. I was instantly taken with the poem, with its powerful Buddhist emphasis on both compassion and social activism.
I emailed a copy of the poem to my friend Mariko and asked her if she knew it. Silly me! Turns out it's one of the best-known poems in Japan -- Mariko learned it by heart when she was a schoolgirl.

There are a number of translations online, but I especially like this one on Wikipedia which is a fairly direct translation of the Japanese:

not losing to the rain
not losing to the wind
not losing to the snow nor to summer's heat
with a strong body
unfettered by desire
never losing temper
cultivating a quiet joy
every day four bowls of brown rice
miso and some vegetables to eat
in everything
count yourself last and put others before you
watching and listening, and understanding
and never forgetting
in the shade of the woods of the pines of the fields
being in a little thatched hut
if there is a sick child to the east
going and nursing over them
if there is a tired mother to the west
going and shouldering her sheaf of rice
if there is someone near death to the south
going and saying there's no need to be afraid
if there is a quarrel or a lawsuit to the north
telling them to leave off with such waste
when there's drought, shedding tears of sympathy
when the summer's cold, wandering upset
called a nobody by everyone
without being praised
without being blamed
such a person
I want to become
- Kenji Miyazawa

I had been wanting to make a small print that I could bring with me to Japan to give as a gift to people I meet while I'm at the Mokuhanga Conference, so I decided to use this poem as my muse. I asked myself, "Who are my heroes? What kind of person do I want to become?" and my answer was Martin Luther King Jr.

So this is the little 5 x 7 print I made for MLK, such a person I want to become.

It's a simple print so I won't show you the entire build sequence, but here's one stage that I think made a big difference. Before I printed the final black layer, I tried adding a bokashi (blend) on the upper part of the face to make it look like the hat was casting a shadow on the forehead. I liked how that looked, so I did it on the whole edition.

Before the bokashi

After the bokashi

Workshop Photos

2011-05-08T22:09:00.000-04:00

Here are a few photos from the moku hanga workshop I taught this past weekend at Zea Mays Printmaking. It was a beautiful weekend and a great group of participants.

We used registration boards (above) from McClain's rather than cutting kentos for every block. This allowed us to use the full face of the 4 x 6 blocks for image area and eliminated the need to work on mastering kento cutting in an already compressed time frame. Even in the short time we had (two 7-hour days), the participants made some lovely prints.

Susan used just 3 block and some selective inking to compose this image of her sister's cat.

Angela used the transparency of the pigments to great advantage, overprinting primary colors to achieve a full spectrum rainbow.

Elizabeth worked with several simple but graphic images that were amazingly strong and three-dimensional.

Dana created many variations with just a couple of simple blocks, taking a painterly approach that was like monoprinting with wood.

Delphine did a beautiful job translating a watercolor sketch she brought into a woodblock print.

Pierre created this appealing lighthouse image from a simple pencil sketch, using overprinting to create some secondary colors.

K. devoted herself to exploring all of the variables of printing -- paste, water, baren pressure, ink transparency -- and created many variations from her set of four abstract but related blocks.

Flemming managed some complex carving in the short time frame and made several variations of this lively hummingbird design.

Leslie tackled the difficult task of simplifying a photograph for woodblock and created this image of a child at the water's edge. (My apologies for not noticing that the photo was blurry when I shot it.)

Such a great weekend. Thanks everyone!

Hanga Workshop May 7-8

2011-04-28T18:40:00.000-04:00

In honor of the 5th annual International Print Day, I'll be teaching a weekend moku hanga workshop at Zea Mays Printmaking in western Massachusetts May 7-8, 2011. You can sign up here: www.zeamaysprintmaking.org.

I'll be bringing the "bottle prints" I made with my three simple blocks (see previous two blog posts) as examples of simplicity in carving, since participants will only have one day to carve. I did another round of little bottle prints this afternoon, in fact. Here's a photo:

What will you be doing on May 7, International Print Day?

More Little Bottles

2011-04-26T19:34:00.000-04:00

Still just messing around with three simple blocks.

I started by making a yellow stripe on the plain block.

Added a blue background (I do like blue).

Then started to build up some other colors.

I bought this metal printing plate at a Tibetan store a couple of years ago and hadn't tried printing it yet, so now seemed like a good time.

I thought I would have to use western-style intaglio ink, but I tried sumi ink first and it worked!

I love this little rubber-stamp alphabet set. I was in a Buddha state of mind, so I decided to typeset one of my favorite Buddha sayings.

I'm not sure if I'm going to do yet another group of studies or not. Of course, I'll let you know.

Little Studies

2011-04-21T17:14:00.000-04:00

A lot of my work in the past couple of years has been very carving-driven, and thus very time-consuming. Sometimes I just want to do something simple and fast and loose, so last week I cut some simple little blocks with the idea that I would just play around with them and see what happens. I didn't have any small blocks, though, so I used a larger piece of shina that I had left over from another project and blocked out four 5" x 7"image areas. I transferred a simple sketch of a bottle onto two of the images and cut one negative and one positive. Then I cut a 5" x 7" area with no carving at all.

Yesterday I did the first group of experiments. I ended up using just two of the blocks, the plain one and the positive version of the bottle (the 2 on the left in the photo above. Here's what happened.

This is a photo after the first two impressions. First I inked the plain block with blue, using a good deal of paste, and I used a cloth to wipe away ink to make the "clouds." Then I used a pale wash of sumi ink to begin to define the bottle shape.

Here are two of the prints with another couple of layers added. I did another layer of ink on top of the gray of the bottle, this time with a pale yellow-brown. Then I added some red ink. I varied the application of the red on each print, just to explore what kinds of effects were possible.

I tried the technique of "transfer drawing" too. Also called trace monotype, this is a direct-drawing printmaking technique where the paper is placed on an inked plate and an image is drawn on the back of the paper, picking up the ink on the other side. It seemed to work with the Guerra pigments I use.

In all, I made 12 of these small studies.

Tomorrow I plan to start all over with the same blocks and do something entirely different. It feels good to play loose like this.

Photos From 2011 KIWA Exhibition

2011-04-18T16:51:00.000-04:00

My friend Jamie Hubbard, Professor of Buddhist Studies at Smith College, has spent the past few months studying in Kyoto and this weekend he emailed me some photos from the 6th KIWA Exhibition which just took place there. Here are Jamie's photos.

Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art

Installation view

Installation view

KIWA Director and woodblock artist, Richard Steiner

Richard Steiner with my "Lumbini" print.

I'm looking forward to meeting Richard at the 1st International Mokuhanga Conference in June. To see more photos of the works in the show, check out KIWA's Flickr page.

My First Baren Wrap

2011-04-15T11:35:00.001-04:00

OK. You can't be a self-respecting moku hanga printmaker and not know how to wrap a baren in the pretty bamboo skins (~~leaves~~ "bark") that make a Japanese baren a baren. But here I am, coming up on my 6 year anniversary of working with moku hanga and I have never wrapped my own baren. I used it oh so carefully for the first couple of years and the skin didn't split until year 2 1/2. Then I got Matt Brown to wrap it for me at a workshop (thank you Matt). And then I took to using a ball-bearing baren for large prints, so I eked out another couple of years on the bamboo skin Matt had installed. But it's time to face the music...

Last month I ordered a new skin (takenogawa) from McClain's and set about re-covering my very fine Murasaki baren. Oops. I split the skin before I could even get half the baren wrapped. And I only had one skin! So there's lesson #1. If you've never done it before, buy more than one skin.

I found out that my friend Rick Finn was trying to learn to wrap a baren at the same time I was, so I checked out his new blog to see how it was going for him. He was smart enough to buy three skins to begin with, but even then he wasn't able to successfully wrap his baren. I felt better about myself (sorry Rick) after reading his account. Rick, by the way, makes beautiful grayscale reduction print portraits of petty criminals from old mug shots -- check them out. Anyhow, Rick finally got his baren covered and, this morning, so did I. It was nice to have online company getting through this first hurdle. So lesson #2 is, get as much help and moral support as you can.

Here are some great resources for help in re-covering your baren:
+ David Bull's online step-by-step
+ David Bull's e-book "Your First Print"
+ Ryusei Okamoto's step-by-step photo tutorial

All three are excellent. Dave Bull's e-book is especially great because it has a video of the entire process (plus there are chapters on every aspect of the craft). And the very awesome thing about Ryusei Okamoto's photos is that at the end he has a very clear demonstration of how to tie the finishing knot. Only after seeing his photos could I could figure that out.

However. What I'm about to show you is a very poor imitation of a proper baren re-covering project. I know that you might tease me, but I show you these photos in the spirit of showing my whole process, warts and all.

The lovely baren wrap by Matt Brown.

The ugly baren wrap by the blog author.

You can see here that in addition to having extra material along the baren edges, I also have fewer tight little tucks AND I obviously neglected to fold the raw edges under as I tucked. These edges will no doubt be annoying as I use the baren. The other glaring error is that I twisted one side of the "handle" clockwise and the opposite side counterclockwise. This means the two sides of the handle are fighting each other and so they don't sit up straight

However, I can say four positive things about the job I did.
1. I did it.
2. I learned what it feels like, what's hard, what's easy.
3. I'll never again have to do it for the first time.
4. Because my new cover is too loose and too uneven, I'll have the opportunity to try it again very soon!

Anyway, I show you the following photo in the spirit of cheering myself up:

Forced forsythia in my living room.

The Space Between

2011-04-08T11:30:00.000-04:00

I don't often write on my blog when I'm in "the space between," which is what I call the time between finishing one print and starting the next. Truth is, I always have a backlog of ideas for work, but choosing which idea is next or allowing a brand new fresh idea to push in front of the others is never easy for me. These woodblock prints take so long to do that I feel like I have to choose carefully. Do I have enough enthusiasm and curiosity about the idea to get me through the long process? Am I emotionally connected to the idea? Does the time feel right, or is the idea still half-baked? All these questions arise during the space between.

And as you can see in the way I phrased those questions, my prints germinate in the form of ideas, not images. Often there are images in my mind along with the ideas, but my work is heavily idea-driven.

The group show I'm in right now at August Savage Gallery, University of Massachusetts in Amherst, touches on this topic. Called "Six of One, Half Dozen of the Other," the show explores the serial nature of printmaking through the work of 12 printmakers. Although not about technique, the show includes some drawings and plates as well as series or groupings of prints that illuminate how printmakers develop ideas and images. Because I don't often repeat imagery or re-work plates, I was at a loss at first about what prints to submit. But then I realized that there are a number of Pilgrim prints that include an image of the Mayflower, so I submitted those prints plus the Mayflower blocks I worked with as well as a few test proofs. I was happy with the story that those prints and plates told.

The opening was this past Tuesday and I really enjoyed being inspired by other work as I dwell in my "space between." Here are some photos from the opening. (Apologies for the unprofessional photos -- the lighting was not great and I was using a cell phone camera.) The show is up through April 26.

Woodcuts by Julie Lapping Rivera

Monoprints by Joyce Silverstone

Etchings by Anita Hunt

Linocuts by Neil Brigham

This Land Is Your Land

2011-04-03T19:23:00.000-04:00

THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND
Japanese woodblock (moku hanga) and calligraphy
Image size: 18.5" x 25" (47 x 63.5 cm)
1 shina plywood block
6 hand-rubbed color layers
Paper: Etchu Pure Kozo
Edition: 7

Even when indigenous languages are considered "extinct," meaning there are no living speakers, many Native peoples feel that the language is still alive within the landscape and tribal imagination, but dormant like a winter seed.

Philip M. Klasky, the Cultural Conservancy

All over the United States, wherever you go, you will find Native American place names. The nation is rife with towns, rivers, lakes, mountains, regions, and even states that sport Indian names borrowed by, and often mispronounced by, European colonial settlers as they moved west. Massachusetts, Manhattan, Spokane, Tallahassee, Alabama, Wichita, Tulsa — the litany is long. Hand written on this print are over 200 U.S. state, city and town names that have their origins in Native American languages. I made sure to included several from every state. I pored over an atlas, looked for names that I thought were probably Native American, and then double-checked those names in a book called Native American Place Names by William Bright.

If you're curious about what some of these names mean, National Geographic has an interactive online map with some of those names and their meanings.

Here's a closeup of the title. I included some hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades in the lettering.

A Litany of Native Place Names

2011-03-31T20:22:00.000-04:00

Of course there's text on this print. I seem to be constitutionally incapable of making a print with no writing on it. I briefly considered carving all these words, but my shoulder and arm are hurting from working on the computer during last month's big commercial job fest, so I decided I couldn't face carving another block of text. I decided to hand letter instead, which is only slightly less taxing on my hand, but less taxing nonetheless. I bought a couple of brown chisel-tipped archival Prismacolor markers and set about doing it.

These are native American place names that are still in use today. I made sure to include names from every state in the U.S. There are over 200 names and I'm lettering them by hand on every print (I expect an edition of 7).

You can really see the funky blotchy edges that are created by printing moku hanga with stencils in these closeup photos. I don't mind them, though. It's good for me, a perfectionist, to allow some roughness into my work. And I think that the roughness works with this topic.

One more printed layer to come...

Like a Pendleton Blanket

2011-03-27T20:06:00.000-04:00

So I decided I wanted the background of this American rivers print to look western, maybe vaguely like a Pendleton blanket. I chose some almost-garish earth tones (Pendleton uses some pretty wild colors) and used a series of masks and stencils that I cut from acetate. Here's a closeup of the first mask held in place with some artist's tape.

In this case, I pulled back the acetate, inked the block with orange, pulled the masks back onto the block, laid down the paper and printed.

I did this with two more colors, a green and then a light blue that created a darker green.

These photos were taken at night, so they aren't very good, but you get the idea. Printing a woodblock with stencils and masks gives you a funky edge -- blotchy if you ink and then mask, and feathery if you ink through a stencil. But it's one way to work from a single block without cutting into it.

Next I'll be carving some words.

Speaking at Sunderland Public Library

2011-03-24T20:08:00.001-04:00

The Sunderland Public Library in Sunderland MA has a program they call "On the Same Page," which is a community-wide book reading and discussion series that also includes some author talks from time to time. The book they've been reading lately is Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower, a book that I referenced a great deal in my background reading for We Are Pilgrims. I was delighted when the library invited me to come and speak about how the book influenced my series of prints. If you're in the area, please join me!

Details:
Wednesday, March 30
7:00pm
Sunderland Public Library
20 School Street
Sunderland, MA

Back to the Rivers

2011-03-23T21:54:00.000-04:00

After about a month of work, I've finished the large commercial projects I had on my desk and have spent the past couple of days getting back into the new print I had started in February. First I printed the "rivers" block in a light blue.

Remember the knots that were in the board? Happily, I didn't have any problems printing because of them. But it turns out that McClain's found so many knots in their last batch of shina that they've run out of large boards and won't have a new shipment until next month. So I guess my decision to make this print using just one board was the only choice I really had!

Next, since I'm using just one block, I needed to get rid of the rivers so I carved them away.

Then I printed a yellowish brown tone on the background.

More to come...

It's a Kite!

2011-03-22T10:29:00.000-04:00

The Drachen Foundation sent this photo of the "Blessings Kite" print I sent them for their moku hanga kite competition, now beautifully sparred by kite artist Scott Skinner (check out his great web site, including his collaboration with artist Leslie Dill). All the kites are now on their way to Kyoto, Japan, where they will be shown at the 6th KIWA Exhibition March 29 - April 3 and then at the Mokuhanga Conference, June 7 - 12.

It feels so good to be able to send my blessings to Japan in the form of a kite right now. Ganbare Japan!

Of Course I'm Going to Japan

2011-03-18T10:04:00.002-04:00

David Bull's Scroll Print, 2006

So many people have been asking me if I've canceled my trip to Japan in June for the Mokuhanga Conference. No! Absolutely not. I am SO going to Japan in June. First of all, the conference is in Kyoto, which is roughly 500 miles from the epicenter of the earthquake and maybe 450 miles from the Fukushima nuclear plant. Everything is fine in Kyoto.

And yes, I'm going to go to Tokyo first to meet my friend Mariko, who I will then be traveling to Kyoto with. And yes, Tokyo is much closer to all the earthquake and nuke plant action. But although that's the case, everything is OK in Tokyo, too. I'll be keeping track of the situation, of course, but I'm going to Japan.

Which brings me to David Bull, an extraordinary ex-pat Canadian ukiyo-e printmaker who lives in the greater Tokyo area. That's his work at the top of this page, one of my favorite pieces. Dave has written a beautiful and thoughtful piece about the situation in Japan from his perspective that I was really happy to read this morning. Thanks for posting your thoughts, Dave.

I can't wait to go to Japan. I can't wait to meet my moku hanga colleagues from all over the world, to share our love of the art, to meet papermakers and tool makers and to convert my American dollars into yen and spend them with wild abandon. I can't wait to see my Japanese friends and let them know, just by peering into their faces, that I love them and that I wish their beautiful country well with all my heart. I'm so lucky to be able to make this trip and wild horses couldn't drag me away! Please don't worry.

Praying for Japan

2011-03-13T14:12:00.001-04:00

Image from Pray For Japan

American Red Cross
International Medical Corps
global giving
AmeriCares

Ever since I woke up on Friday morning to the news of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan I've been glued to the internet, especially my Twitter account where the phrase #PrayForJapan has become ubiquitous. I can't stop thinking about the situation there and my heart breaks to see the images of the devastation in Tohoku, the northern part of Japan.

Lynn and I visited Tohoku in 2004, and I thought it would be fitting to share some photographs of beautiful rural northern Japan with you. Enjoy, and please take a moment with me to send your good will to the people of Japan. I've posted some links above if you'd like to send some financial aid as well.

Dear Japan, ganbatte kudasai. I love you. xo Annie

Shiogama Jinja, a Shinto shrine for fishermen on a coastal cliff about 8 miles north of Sendai.

Lynn and a papier mache effigy of the great haiku poet Basho in the harbor at Matsushima Bay, about 18 miles from Sendai.

Boats in Taro, a fishing village which is part of the devastated town of Miyako. Taro had previously suffered tsunami in 1611, 1896, and 1933. When we were there we saw huge seawalls that had been built to protect the area. I doubt that Taro's seawalls were able to hold back this tsunami. You can see a YouTube video of the tsunami climbing the sea walls and overtaking Miyako here.

The beautiful rugged coast of the Taro Village area.

Gay Pilgrims Go to Philadelphia

2011-03-08T09:08:00.000-05:00

I'm happy to report that this print, God Blesses John Alexander and Thomas Roberts 1637, has been selected for inclusion in The Print Center's 85th Annual International Competition: Printmaking, which opens Saturday, June 4, at the Print Center in Philadelphia. Curated by Emi Eu, Director of Singapore Tyler Print Institute, and Sarah Suzuki, Assistant Curator of Prints and Illustrated Books at Museum of Modern Art in NY, the show will hang at the Print Center from June 4 – July 30, 2011, and then move on to Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts & Sciences (LBIF) in Loveladies, NJ, for September 9 – November 1, 2011.

I'm not so happy to report that I won't be able to attend the opening because I'll be in Japan for the 1st International Mokuhanga Conference. It's an embarrassment of riches, I know, but I would love to see the Print Center and meet the curators and some of the other artists in the show. Many thanks to The Print Center and the two jurors for selecting my work.

A New Printmaking Blog

2011-03-03T08:26:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog Readers,

I'm on a tear in my studio, but it's not woodblock. Got two massive commercial jobs going on, so my "river carving" is sitting in the corner taunting me.

But here's a little something you might be interested in -- a new printmaking blog called The Wandering Printmaker. Blog author John Pyper, who is also a contributor on the Printeresting blog, reviews print shows, posts calls for entry and generally geeks out on prints. Check him out.

yours in print-geekiness,

Annie

10 Days Later

2011-02-17T17:31:00.000-05:00

Although I consider the Pilgrim series complete, I can't seem to shake the native American side of the story. The human rights abuses, the broken treaties, the injustices done to North America's indigenous peoples weaves through the entire history of the United States and, in my opinion, taints it. So here I am, back on the topic.

I've begun this print by carving a river map of the United States. Before there were highways, before there were state lines, there were rivers and lakes. Rivers were the highways and the reference points. This is reflected in many native American words, such as the Indian name for my town of Northampton, Norwattuck, which means "in the midst of the river."

This is a large block of shina, 20 x 30 inches, which I purchased nearly 2 years ago for the Vast Unpeopled Lands print. I'm going to attempt to make this print on just one block, so I'll be printing by reduction and by using stencils and masks. Working this way appeals to both my lazy streak and my desire to conserve materials.

You'll notice in the photo above that there are several knots and voids in the underlayer of the plywood. This is an issue that my supplier (McClain's) is aware of and I think they've fixed the problem by now, but if you ever come across knots like this be very careful. The knots are extremely hard and can crack even a high quality chisel. Your tools can also go skittering across the knot before you even know it's there, messing up your intended cutting path.

Luckily for me not too many of my rivers landed on the knotty areas. But below you can see that the Great Salt Lake is squarely situated on a void! I'll have to be careful when printing that.

I just got a couple of large commercial projects, so this print may be on hold for a week or so, but I'll update you when there's more.

Caleb Goes Back to Harvard

2011-02-07T18:09:00.002-05:00

My writer friend Debra Simes sent me an urgent message this afternoon letting me know that she was listening an interview on a local PBS show about a new portrait of Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck that was just commissioned for Harvard. She remembered that Caleb was pictured in my Caleb and Joel Went to Harvard print (below).

I missed the broadcast, but about an hour later it turned up online, an interview on the Callie Crossley Show with Dr. S. Allen Counter, who as director of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations has been commissioning portraits of distinguished minorities to hang on Harvard's walls.

A portrait of Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard, is unveiled in Annenberg Hall. Tia Ray '12 (from left), Tiffany Smalley '11, Tommy Miller '11, and Allen Counter unveil the portrait before the gathered crowd. Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer

On December 16, 2010, the Foundation unveiled a new portrait, shown above, of Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. You can read the story here. I can't locate a better shot of the portrait, painted by Stephen Coit, but you can see that although the tone is a bit different than the tone of my print we've both pictured Caleb in the same outfit.

I'm glad Caleb is finally getting some love.

Borders #3: Israel/Palestine Separation Barrier

2011-01-30T19:30:00.001-05:00

BORDERS #3: ISRAEL/PALESTINE

Japanese woodblock (moku hanga)
Image size: 14" x 22" (35.5 x 56 cm)
5 shina plywood blocks
20 hand-rubbed layers
Paper: Echizen Kozo
Edition: 12
Based on a satellite view of the West Bank at Qalqiliya.

To learn more about other elements in the print:
The Star-Bellied Sneetches
The Christ Figure
David and Goliath
Abraham Expels Ishmael and His Mother
The American Indian

Jacob Wrestling the Angel after Gustave Doré

The last element I've added to this print is a woodcut reproduction of Gustav Doré's engraving of Jacob wrestling the angel. The story is told in Genesis 32:22-30. Jacob is alone in the desert at night when a stranger begins to wrestle him. They struggle all night and then the story continues:

The man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

Jacob is Abraham's grandson, son of Isaac, and in this passage Jacob becomes Israel. "Israel" literally means one who has wrestled with God.

The carving on shina plywood.

I love this image for so many reasons. First, I love the idea of wrestling with God. My own personal relationship with God has involved a whole lot of wrestling, so I'm happy to know that I'm following a tradition. And I love what Jacob says to the angel. "I will not let you go until you bless me." Amazing chutzpah, to demand a blessing from God. I like that. And I love the sense that the angel is hardly struggling, that the angel is letting Jacob win like a parent allows a child to win sometimes. All of the struggling is really being done by the man, not the angel.

In any peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, one of Israel's main conditions is the demand that Israel's right to exist be recognized. Which is kind of a demand to be blessed, so I like this image for that. But there's another side to any demand for a blessing. When we struggle with our hardships, with our challenges, if we stay in the struggle long enough and refuse to let go, it is possible to discover the blessing that lies within the hardship. So I see this image as calling for a struggle with our higher natures. Which I guess is what I want to hope for. I want to believe that at some point one of the parties will have enough sense or incentive to step out of the stranglehold they have each other in and see that nobody can win.

Salman Rushdie wrote, "There comes a point in the unfurling of communal violence in which it becomes irrelevant to ask, 'Who started it?' The lethal conjugations of death part company with any possibility of justification, let alone justice... Both their houses are damned by their deeds; both sides sacrifice the right to any shred of virtue; they are each other's plagues."

They are each other's plagues. Their fates are completely intertwined. Whether Israel and Palestine become two states or one state, they can't escape each other. They are one people with one problem. Maybe they can become each other's angels. Maybe they can squeeze a blessing out of their struggle. That's what I hope for Israel and Palestine.

Indigeneity

2011-01-29T19:55:00.003-05:00

While I was working on some of my prints about the Pilgrims last year I came across an article (which I can't find now) about a delegation of native Americans visiting Gaza who found deep parallels between Palestinian life and life on a reservation in the U.S. Although I was unable to locate that article today, I found a different blog site about a delegation of young native Americans who visited Israel and Palestine in 2009. Apparently there have been a number of cultural visits by indigenous Americans to Palestine. From the Indigenous Youth Delegation web site:

For now, we have noted the similarities between the Palestinian indigenous experience and ours in the United States and Mexico – the massive agricultural destruction; settler tactics; the burning of lands, wreckage and deaths that precede occupation; land disputes; court entanglement; settlements; people having to work in settlements because roads/walls have cut through their lands and intentionally destroyed communities, families, infrastructure, agriculture, businesses…

I can understand the comparison of life in Gaza or the occupied West Bank and life in modern day Native America. But Jews also make valid claims of indigneity to Israel. There is an enormous body of archaeological and historical evidence demonstrating a long connection that the Jewish people have to the land.

Nevertheless, the population of Israel has never been monolithic. The area has been continuously settled for tens of thousands of years and a short list of the various peoples who have lived there would include Neanderthals, Hittites, Philistines, Hebrews, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Romans, Arabs, Turks, British and French. Claims of indigeneity could authentically be made by a lot of different people.

I agree with the native American youth, however, that the plight of the Palestinians resembles the plight of America's native peoples.

100 Artists of New England

2011-01-28T10:24:00.000-05:00

Lots of news this month! Last year I was selected, along with 99 other area artists, for inclusion in a new book from Schiffer Publishing Ltd. called 100 Artists of New England and I just got word from author E. Ashley Rooney that the book will be available next month. This coffee table-style book includes artists working in a wide range of media and it's part of a series from Schiffer that looks at working artists from various parts of the United States. Each artist is profiled in a full-color spread that includes a photo of the artist, a number of examples of their work, and their artist's statement.

The book can be pre-ordered online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I can't wait to see it myself!

Dorothy Bradford Goes to Japan

2011-01-25T18:47:00.000-05:00

I was happy to learn a couple of days ago that one of my prints, Dorothy Bradford Comes to America, will be included in the exhibition "Mokuhanga: Dialogue and Dialect" which will be part of the 1st International Moku Hanga Conference in Kyoto in June. I'll be attending the conference along with Dorothy, and I can hardly wait to be in Japan again. I'm also very excited to meet many moku hanga artists who I've only known virtually for so many years.

The show will be up June 8 -12, 2011 at Kyoto International Community House, 2F.

Listings of other woodblock shows in Kyoto during the conference are available here on the conference web site.

Abraham and the Family Feud

2011-01-23T11:59:00.000-05:00

After The Expulsion of Ishmael and His Mother by Gustave Doré

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. Genesis 21:14

The story of Abraham and his sons is one of those long and winding soap-opera kinds of Bible stories. Abraham, who we might call the first monotheist, was married to Sarah who was barren. Sarah, knowing that 86-year-old Abraham longed for a son, offered her servant Hagar to Abraham as a surrogate and Hagar gave birth to Abraham's first son, Ishmael.

Thirteen years later, Sarah became pregnant and gave birth to Abraham's second son, Isaac. After the birth, Sarah became angry and jealous of Hagar and Ishmael and she said to Abraham, "Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac." Abraham reluctantly did so after God promised him that both of his sons would be made into great nations.

Thus began what Bruce Feiler, author of Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths calls "the greatest family feud in the history of the world and the defining feud of our time." Isaac would become the father of Jacob, who would become Israel, while Muslims would revere Ishmael as their original ancestor and their line of direct descent from Abraham. Christians too have claimed Abraham as their spiritual ancestor and so, as Feiler says, "One man is at the heart of the religions that suddenly seem to be at war: Abraham. Abraham. Abraham."

I also added a contemporary image of a woman and her children being detained at an Israeli checkpoint to this section of the print.

Asymmetric Warfare

2011-01-19T14:26:00.001-05:00

Asymmetric warfare is conflict between parties whose relative military power differs significantly. Some examples are The American Revolutionary War, the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, and of course the battle between Israel and various Palestinian organizations such as Hamas.

I chose to illustrate this with the Bible story of David and Goliath, told in 1 Samuel Chapter 17, in which a teenaged David brings down the giant warrior Goliath with a stone fired from a slingshot.

One of the many problems with asymmetric warfare is that the stronger party can easily end up looking like a bully. Photographs of Palestinians throwing rocks at armed Israeli soldiers, like the one below, make for very difficult public relations for the Israelis.

Photo from the web site A Mideast Change of Course

Armageddon Allies

2011-01-18T16:29:00.001-05:00

The next figure on the "stage" of this print is Jesus. I was raised in a mainstream Protestant church-going family and as such I was taught that the Jews of the Old Testament had a special relationship with God. Since Jews and Christians share the same scriptures in the Old Testament, I figured that the God of the Jews and the God of Christians is the same God. I was taught that Jews who rejected Jesus as the messiah lost that special relationship, but in my mind as a child I figured that since we Christians had come from Judaism, the Jews and I were some kind of cousins.

Although the church of my childhood didn't emphasize the Biblical prophecies of Armageddon or the Second Coming of Christ, I knew about these beliefs. Books like The Late Great Planet Earth in the 1970s, and the more contemporary Left Behind series in the 1990s did much to popularize them. So I wasn't surprised to learn that in a 2004 Time/CNN poll, over one-third of those Americans who support Israel reported that they do so because they believe the Bible teaches that the Jews must possess their own country in the Holy Land before Jesus can return. As evangelical spokesman Pat Robertson said in a 2009 speech on the subject:

Mere political rhetoric does not account for the profound devotion to Israel that exists in the hearts of tens of millions of evangelical Christians. You must realize that the God who spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai is our God. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are our spiritual Patriarchs. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel are our prophets. King David, a man after God's own heart, is our hero. The Holy City of Jerusalem is our spiritual capital. And the continuation of Jewish sovereignty over the Holy Land is a further bulwark to us that the God of the Bible exists and that His Word is true.

Many Christian conservatives do not support peace initiatives in the region. Peace is not prophesied for the Middle East until Jesus comes and brings it himself, and Jesus is not prophesied to come until the Jews are returned to the land promised by God to their ancestors. Thus a Palestinian state in land that is Biblically considered "Israel" is not a possibility in this scenario.

Given that he is evangelical, I'm surprised that George W. Bush offered his "Roadmap to Peace" during his presidency. I respect him for that, actually.

Star-Bellied Sneetches

2011-01-17T10:38:00.005-05:00

The last block for this print holds all of the characters and stories that I'll be overprinting on the map of Israel and the West Bank. Many will be Bible stories, but the first story I've included is one by Dr. Seuss. I first heard this story via Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron in a dharma talk audio I found on the internet. Here's Pema's version of the story:

Dr. Seuss tells another story about the Sneetches. The superior race, the ones that everybody aspires to be like and also the ones that everybody hates, are the Star-Belly Sneetches; they have stars on their bellies, and everybody else doesn't. One very clever fellow knew how predictable these Sneetches were, so he came in with a big machine that would put a star on your belly. All the Sneetches Without a star on their belly rushed in and came out with a star on their belly, but of course the original Star-Belly Sneetches still knew who and how superior they were. They weren't thrown by this at all. But to facilitate this very predictable situation, the same clever fellow came along with a new machine by which you could go in and get the star taken off your belly. So all the Star-Belly Sneetches went into this machine and came out without stars on their belly; the superior ones were now without stars.

The clever fellow kept these two machines going. Sneetches were running in and out, and the money was piling up, but after awhile all the Sneeches experienced shunyata. They didn't know who was who or what was what or who was a Star-Belly Sneetch and who was a non-Star-Belly Sneetch, so after awhile they just had to look at each other without labels or opinions.

From Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living

Among other possible meanings, this story seemed to me an apt metaphor for the American-led peace talks that have been attempted over and over again with little success. I think it's difficult for Americans to understand that our particular secular melting-pot style of democracy is not always (ever?) translatable to other cultures and contexts. We tend to approach the middle east with a kind of "why-can't-you-just-get-along" or "why-can't-you-just-be-like-us" attitude that ignores the very real differences between the parties. America's insistence on a separation between religion and state makes us downplay the very real and powerful role that religion plays in nations such as Israel and other Arab states, which define themselves by their religious identities.

At one level, we are all the same. We are all human and what we want as human beings is universal: love, family, a feeling that we are safe, a feeling that we have some freedom to choose the kind of life we want to lead. But our very real differences have to be accounted for and heard and treated with respect. This is difficult enough to do on a personal level -- how in the world can it be done at a state level? I'm not saying that I know the answer. I'm just saying that American interventions in the peace process seem kind of sad and naive and ineffective to me.

Christmas Gift from Jerusalem

2011-01-13T11:46:00.002-05:00

On Christmas day my mother, whose home I was visiting, slipped into her office and came back with these objects in her hand. She set them down on the table in front of me and said, "Why don't you take these home with you? Your father and I brought them back with us from Jerusalem. Maybe they can help you with your woodblock print."

She then went on to tell me that she and my dad had picked up the stones and the bullet shell at the wailing wall in Jerusalem during a church trip in 1994. While they were on that trip, an American-born doctor, Baruch Goldstein, opened fire at a mosque in Hebron during Ramadan and killed 30+ Palestinians. From the window of their hotel in Jerusalem, where they were confined for a couple of days for their safety, my parents watched Palestinians throw rocks and fire rubber bullets on Jews who were praying at the wall. Afterward, my father picked up these rocks and the bullet casing.

The little cup is made from olive wood. It's a communion cup, a typical gift offered to Christian tourists.

I was really touched when my mother gave me these items. They now sit on the work table in my studio next to my carving bench, a stark reminder of the strife I'm trying to capture in this print.

Blessings Kite - Finished

2011-01-10T12:31:00.000-05:00

BLESSINGS KITE

Japanese woodblock (moku hanga)
Image size: 16.5" x 11.5" (42 x 29 cm)
1 shina plywood block
6 hand-rubbed impressions
Paper: Japanese washi provided by Drachen Foundation
Edition: 8

This print is my entry into the Drachen Foundation's Moku Hanga Kite Contest. The print will be sparred (dowels and string added) by the folks at Drachen.

After this weekend's tragic shootings in Tucson, Arizona, this image of peace and blessings feels even more resonant to me than it did when I started working on it.

The kites from this contest will be shown at the 6th Annual Kyoto International (KIWA) Exhibition in Kyoto in late March, at the 1st International Moku Hanga Conference in Kyoto in June, and later at Cullom Gallery and Mighty Tieton Arts, both in Washington state.

Blessings to all...

Kite Almost Done

2011-01-09T16:56:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to show the progress I made over the weekend on the Blessings Kite.

The next step was to carve away the areas of the sleeve that would stay lighter in tone.

I then printed a darker orange color to give the sleeve some more definition.

I carved away all the hand areas next so I could start printing the background. Notice that I did leave some of the linework at the center of the hand. That part will remain un-inked when I print but will support the paper to keep it from sagging into the carved out area.

I printed a gray halo around the hand to darken the next layer of color.

Then I printed a blue-to-yellow circular bokashi over the entire background.

This afternoon I've been carving the cloud patterns. This is the last of the carving. One more layer of color will finish the print.

Kite Progress

2011-01-06T13:18:00.001-05:00

Here's the progress I've made so far on the Blessings Kite.

Since I'm going to make the print with just one block, I began by making an acetate stencil to isolate the hand from the background.

Then I painted some gray onto the board.

I put the stencil down and took the impression. This gray color may end up being too subtle. I'm just getting used to the paper that Drachen supplied, which is very thin and may or may not be sized. No time to experiment beforehand, as this print is due in Seattle next week!

Next I carved away some of the hand, leaving the linework.

I inked the hand in an orange/gold color and used the stencil again to take the next impression.

I'll be adding a little bit of detail to the sleeve next, and then on to the background.

First Project of 2011: A Kite!

2011-01-05T16:46:00.001-05:00

Happy new year everyone! I hope your holiday was wonderful and that you've entered this first week of the new year well rested and with renewed energy. I've been back in the studio since Monday and have put the Israel/Palestine print on hold so that I can work on an entry for the Drachen Foundation's moku hanga kite project.

Based in Seattle, Drachen Foundation is a non-profit organization devoted to disseminating information about any and all sorts of kites from around the world. The Kite Project invites international artists to produce Japanese woodblock prints on thin washi no larger than 18 x 13 inches. The prints will then be expertly sparred into functioning kites by the folks at Drachen. The kites will be shown at the 6th Annual Kyoto International (KIWA) Exhibition in Kyoto in late March, at the 1st International Moku Hanga Conference in Kyoto in June, and later at Cullom Gallery and Mighty Tieton Arts, both in Washington state.

Since I've been contemplating peace recently, I wanted to design a kite around that theme. I wanted it to be bold and graphic so that it would be easy to see even when the kite is in the air. In a previous print, I had included a Buddha with his hand raised in the abhaya mudra (see image at left) which signifies protection, peace, and the dispelling of fear. I thought that it would be really lovely to fly a kite that offered protection, peace and freedom from fear to everyone below, so I decided to show the hand of Buddha in my kite. I've been calling it "Blessing Kite."

Since the kite is due in Seattle in 10 days, I also decided that I would attempt to make the print using just one block. Here's the design I developed, drawn onto the block:

Peaceful Holidays

2010-12-24T10:36:00.000-05:00

I recently heard a pundit say that there's more violence in America's living rooms than on America's streets. That may or may not be true, but what I do know is that it can be easier to talk about peace in the Middle East than it is to address making peace in our own families. I'm fortunate that I come from a loving and intact family, yet we still have our differences. Like many families in the 21st century, mine spans several different religions and a wide range of political views. Plus, we have plain old individual quirks that can drive each other nuts from time to time. There's nothing like the holidays to bring all of that into the forefront.

It wasn't until I was in my 30s that I discovered a powerful weapon for keeping the family peace: Intention. Rather than approaching the kitchen table with trepidation, just waiting for the first jab or disagreement, I realized that I could approach my family with the intention of bringing peace. I could stop focusing on who loved and accepted me and who didn't. I could resolve to simply love and accept every person at the table just for their quirky beautiful selves. I could stop waiting for love and resolve to be the Lover.

That lesson was solidified for me when my father was sick with cancer and was driving us nuts recounting the same stories over and over again. I realized that even though it was irritating to hear the same words again and again, a time was fast approaching when I wouldn't be able to hear his voice at all. So I learned to say, "Yes, daddy, I love that story. Please tell it again." And then I would listen to that voice I had known since childhood, its tone and timbre, and try to memorize its song. I still miss his voice at Christmas these 10 years later.

I go now to the family table, bringing food and a few small gifts and especially bringing my intention to love. May we be happy. May we feel joy. May we be at peace.

And may you, my online friends, be happy. May you feel joy. May you be at peace.

love, Annie

Adding The Separation Barrier

2010-12-22T21:48:00.002-05:00

Today I printed a new block in red, outlining the location of the West Bank Separation Barrier in the region of Qalqiliya.

In 2002 the State of Israel adopted the plan to build a security wall along and within the West Bank. Supporters of the wall maintain that the barrier is essential in preventing terrorists and suicide bombers from entering Israel. In fact, since the erection of the Separation Barrier, the number of attacks has declined by more than 90%. Thus, the fence seems to be doing its intended job.

Opponents of the barrier object that the route substantially deviates from the Green Line (see previous post) into the "occupied territories" captured by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967. They see the barrier as an attempt to annex Palestinian land under the guise of security.

Others object on humanitarian grounds, noting that the wall restricts Palestinians' ability to travel freely within the West Bank and to access work in Israel, isolating them in non-contiguous walled ghettos closely controlled by Israel. Qalqiliya, the area I've chosen to depict here, has been cut off on three sides by the wall. The single entrance to the town is an Israeli checkpoint which the 40,000 inhabitants must pass through whenever they come or go. In a 2004 advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice found that "the construction of the wall, and its associated régime, are contrary to international law."

There are other opponents, mostly Israeli settlers in the West Bank, who object to the wall because it appears to renounce the Jewish claim to the whole of the Land of Israel, including the entire West Bank.

In all the research I did for this print, I understood most from an interview with journalist Yossi Klein Halevi on a Speaking of Faith show that aired March 9, 2006. An Israeli Jew, Halevi poignantly described the struggle that many Israelis feel within themselves about their predicament. Speaking of Faith host Krista Tippett wrote the following about the interview:

Daily life, Halevi told me, felt like a crossroads between apocalypse on the one side and collective transcendence on the other. And he described a constant debate inside the mind and soul of most Israelis, not just between his country's "right" and "left." We struggle with our responsibility for the suffering of Palestinian society, he confessed. And at the same time, he insisted, we feel ourselves engaged in a life and death struggle to survive in a volatile Middle East that has declared war on us since before we were a state. In Jews, he said, whether secular or devout, this awakens a tension between competing biblical, ancestral commandments: to remember that your ancestors were slaves in Egypt and to care for the poor and the weak in your time; and on the other hand, to remember how the Amalekites attacked Israel after it crossed the Red Sea, when it finally felt safe, and never to let that happen again.

My next step in the print is to begin adding some "players" to this "stage."

The Green Line

2010-12-19T17:44:00.002-05:00

Last week I finished carving the Islamic pattern for the Palestinian territories and also the "Green Line." The Green Line, so called because green ink was used when it was first marked on a map, refers to the lines of demarcation that were agreed upon in the 1949 Armistice between Israel and its neighbors after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The Green Line is not a definitive and legal international border, but in practice it defines those areas which are administered by the State of Israel and those which are administered by the Israeli military or the Palestinian National Authority.

The area I've focused on in this print is a portion of the West Bank where Israeli settlement incursions have penetrated deeply into lands east of the Green Line. Because these settlements consume land where a Palestinian state could emerge, they have made it extremely difficult for a two-state peace solution between Israel and Palestine to be achieved. The settlements also antagonize Israel's Arab neighbors and erode some of the support Israel receives from United States. But perhaps most importantly, some argue that the settlements are a real threat to Israel's democracy because they set up an untenable situation where Jews who live east of the Green Line in the West Bank are voting citizens of Israel while Palestinians living in the same land are not. Human Rights Watch has just published a report examining these separate and unequal policies in the West Bank.

The photo above shows the print-in-progress as it stands now, with 11 layers of color. There are still about 5 more layers to come. Here's a shot of the Islamic pattern before I printed it:

I Won't Be Your Enemy-Part 2

2010-12-10T09:03:00.001-05:00

I love the powerful, fierce expression of refusal in this poem by Suheir Hammad, who appeared at the TED Women conference in Washington DC on December 8, 2010. Hamad is a Palestinian-American poet, author and political activist. She was born in Amman, Jordan to Palestinian refugee parents and immigrated with her family to Brooklyn, New York City when she was five years old.

What I Will
by Suheir Hammad

I will not
dance to your war
drum. I will
not lend my soul nor
my bones to your war
drum. I will
not dance to your
beating. I know that beat.
It is lifeless. I know
intimately that skin
you are hitting. It
was alive once
hunted stolen
stretched. I will
not dance to your drummed
up war. I will not pop
spin beak for you. I
will not hate for you or
even hate you. I will
not kill for you. Especially
I will not die
for you. I will not mourn
the dead with murder nor
suicide. I will not side
with you nor dance to bombs
because everyone else is
dancing. Everyone can be
wrong. Life is a right not
collateral or casual. I
will not forget where
I come from. I
will craft my own drum. Gather my beloved
near and our chanting
will be dancing. Our
humming will be drumming. I
will not be played. I
will not lend my name
nor my rhythm to your
beat. I will dance
and resist and dance and
persist and dance. This heartbeat is louder than
death. Your war drum ain’t
louder than this breath.

I Won't Be Your Enemy

2010-12-08T21:56:00.002-05:00

I'm carving again. This time I'm working on a pattern that will overlay the tan-colored areas of the print, the "Palestinian territories" on my map. I like using patterns to show cultural ties to land. I first did it on the Locusts In Babylon print and then I used patterns again on Vast Unpeopled Lands. I searched online for an Islamic pattern to use and this one stopped me in my tracks when I saw that it includes a 6-pointed star. The inclusion of the star speaks to the ancestral ties of the Jewish and Palestinian people (both tracing their lineage back to Abraham) and it can also represent the Bible-based claims some Jews make to West Bank land.

While I carve, I continue to contemplate peace. Thanks to everyone who joined the conversation in the last post about peace and not eating meat. I found a lot to think about there and I'll probably circle back around to that topic again.

Being an artist, and especially working with a method that could be called "slow art," I do have a lot of time to contemplate. And being a blogger, I receive input from other people that helps my contemplation develop. My blogger/printmaker friend Katka (her relief printing blog is The Blue Chisel) left a comment last month recommending an author named Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta. I Googled her and discovered that Kaufman-Lacusta is a peace activist who has written a book called Refusing to Be Enemies: Palestinian and Israeli Nonviolent Resistance to the Israeli Occupation. The book looks excellent, but it doesn't exist in audio form and I can't read while I carve and print, so I didn't buy it. But I've gotten a lot of mileage out of simply contemplating the title: Refusing to Be Enemies.

Thinking about it, I realized that I've been on the receiving end of someone's refusal to be enemies, and I can attest that it is an utterly disarming tactic. It happened almost 20 years ago when I first started dating my partner Lynn. Between us, Lynn has the sunnier disposition while I can be a little pessimistic and prone to outbursts. One day I was especially irritable and I was trying to pick a fight with her. I kept saying argumentative things and Lynn kept deflecting my comments, letting it all roll off her like water. Finally she simply said "I'm not going to fight with you." So there I was, all wound up with nobody but myself to fight with. The fire that I had been trying to ignite quickly sputtered out.

Not that it's easy to refuse to be enemies. When someone wrongs you, the easiest thing in the world is to become indignant. Righteous anger can be pretty exhilarating. If the confrontation is over more than a trivial matter it can take tremendous effort to restrain oneself. But it can be done. Maybe peace isn't the absence of conflict. Maybe peace is a decision to stop fighting. Or even a decision to stop struggling against fighting. Lynn could have fought with me about fighting, but she didn't even engage with me at that level. She just refused to allow me to turn her into my enemy. We have that power.

Peace On Earth, Good Will to Animals

2010-12-06T12:03:00.003-05:00

Walton Ford, "The Island" (Image via Paul Kasmin Gallery)

Anybody who blogs will be familiar with the phenomenon called "comment spam." Comment spam comes in several varieties. Some are anonymous comments full of links that blatantly advertise other web sites that have nothing at all to do with your blog. Other comment spam is actually relevant to the content of your blog, but advertises its own agenda. Usually this type of spam is done by using an alert program that hunts for relevant keywords and then places the spam into conversations about those words.

This morning I received the latter type of comment spam on my latest post, "Studying Peace." Rather than place it in the comments section I thought I'd elevate it and give it a post of its own, as it deals somewhat with the subject of "peace." Since it was an anonymous comment, I can't credit the writer, but because it falls into the category of spam I'm going to delete the portion of the comment that sends the reader to a vegan web site. (If you're interested in visiting a vegan web site, I'm sure you know how to find one.) Here's the comment:

A Holiday Thought...

Aren't humans amazing? They kill wildlife - birds, deer, all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhogs, mice and foxes by the million in order to protect their domestic animals and their feed. Then they kill domestic animals by the billion and eat them. This in turn kills people by the million, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative - and fatal - health conditions like heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and cancer. So then humans spend billions of dollars torturing and killing millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases. Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals. Meanwhile, few people recognize the absurdity of humans, who kill so easily and violently, and once a year send out cards praying for "Peace on Earth."

~Revised Preface to Old MacDonald's Factory Farm by C. David Coates~
_____________

First of all, let me state right up front that I'm repulsed by factory farming of animals. My own meat consumption has gone from daily when I was a child to about 2ce monthly just from contemplating the unpleasant notion of eating the carcass of a frightened cow. I also agree with the sentiment that humans are amazing. And I agree with the implied message that human logic is often ridiculous and flawed or simply absent.

What I don't like in this neatly packaged paragraph is the idea, also implied, that if we were all to stop eating meat there would somehow be peace on earth. To me this is a wishful oversimplification, not unlike "cut taxes and government spending" as the solution to all our economic problems or "just say no" as a method of stopping drug traffic. If things were that simple we'd be done with them.

As I discovered in my research for the Pilgrim series, the practice of keeping domestic animals is quite ancient and it came to North America with the colonial settlers. The practice of eating animals goes back forever as far as I can tell. So does the practice of making war. I don't know if it's possible for us to entirely stop doing either one.

The question we seem to be facing right now, in almost all areas of our living, is how/whether we can keep doing our human things at a global scale. How long can we continue to make war before our weapons wipe out the planet? How long can we keep privatizing goods and resources before we've sold our children's futures? How long can we keep consuming cheap goods before we run out of cheap labor and fuels and we have to pay what things are really worth? Our food cycle certainly falls into these categories too -- industrial farming of both plants and animals is unsafe and unsustainable.

Getting back to the topic of my current print, I'm pretty sure that adopting a vegan lifestyle will do little to solve the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. But what would peace there look like? I believe that both the Palestinians and the Israelis want peace, but they disagree about what a peaceful Israel/Palestine would look like.

What would peace on earth look like? Is it possible?

Thanks for the topic, mr. spammer!

Studying Peace

2010-12-05T19:26:00.000-05:00

Here's the Israel Separation Barrier print in progress, after 9 applications of color. The tan areas are Palestinian territories, the blue areas are Israeli territories/settlements, and the density of the color indicates population densities.

As I've been working on this print I've been thinking a lot about peace. Lynn and I had a 7-hour drive over the Thanksgiving holiday that gave us lots of time to talk, and when she asked me how the print was coming along I heard myself tell her "I think I'm a pacifist." Sort of a dorky thing to say, but I appreciated it when Lynn then asked me, "but what does that mean? What's a pacifist?"

Since then I've been trying to articulate to myself what I really believe about peace -- whether I think it's humanly possible for there to ever be peace on earth, whether I even believe it's possible to be truly peaceful in my individual dealings.

So while I continue to procrastinate on fixing my baren, I'm also reading about peace. It's a good season to study peace, I think.

God's Walls

2010-12-01T15:47:00.002-05:00

My plan for this Israel/Palestine print is to describe the situation using Old Testament Bible stories. Since the print is about a wall (Israel's separation wall), the story of Joshua and the Wall of Jericho came to mind.

First reduction for Wall of Jericho

Joshua was the leader of the Israelites after the death of Moses, and he led the 12 tribes in their conquest of Canaan (Israel). Their first battle was at Jericho, one of the earliest known walled cities in the world. In the Bible account God destroys the wall and as the huge stones fall they kill everyone inside the city, except a woman who who had helped the Israelites. Here's the passage:

1 Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. 2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”

Joshua 6:1-5

I have to admit that I hope a loud shout and a blast on the trumpets will bring down Israel's separation wall someday.

Second reduction for Wall of Jericho

There's another wall of great importance in Israel which I won't be showing in this print but which I'll mention, namely the Western Wall, or Wailing Wall. Located in Jerusalem at the foot of the western side of the Temple Mount, this wall is a remnant of the wall that surrounded the ancient temple's courtyard. It's one of the most sacred sites in Judaism and also a source of strife between Muslims and Jews, as Muslims worry that the wall is being used to further Jewish nationalistic claims to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, which Muslims also claim.

Israel seems to have a long history of wall issues.

MY next issue is this:

For five years I've managed to wriggle out of this task by getting other people to do it for me, but it's finally time for me to learn to tie a baren cover. I won't be a real moku hanga-ka until I've done it, so wish me luck.

Printing Big In My New Studio

2010-11-21T19:56:00.000-05:00

This Israel/Palestine print I'm working on is the first large print I've done in my new house. The paper size is 19 x 26 inches (a half sheet of washi) and the studio in my new house is smaller than my last space, so I decided I needed some extra surface area to print these comfortably. Found the little 4-foot folding table above at Staples to do the job. I like it because I can set it up when I need it, but it's easy to fold and store behind the door.

Sometimes I carve all or most of the blocks at once and then do all of the printing at once, but sometimes I work back and forth more between carving and printing. In this case I'll be doing some reduction work on some of these blocks, so that means carving, printing, carving some more and printing some more, all on the same blocks. I began by carving two blocks that are basically opposites of each other, like jigsaw puzzle pieces.

These two blocks define the areas of Israel and Palestine that are divided by the Separation Barrier, areas which are in fact a lot like a jigsaw puzzle. I printed the Palestinian territories in a yellow/tan color:

and then I printed the Israeli territories in blue:

You can see clearly the white outlines of some of the "characters" I'll be adding to the print in the future. I'll tell you about them later, as they appear on the "stage."

On top of these two colors I added a layer of gray just to tone it down. I took a photo, but you can't really see the difference that the gray makes in my not-very-consistent photographs. Trust me, though, an overprinting of gray helps blend and tone down colors.

My next step is to carve each of these blocks a little more. Rather than land features, I'll be showing something more like population densities in each of these areas. But I doubt that I'll make much progress before the Thanksgiving holiday, so see you next week. Safe travels.

First the Land

2010-11-19T17:03:00.000-05:00

Israel and Palestine. Oh, where to begin.

As with all of the prints in this series about fences and walls, I begin with the land. I wanted to find a spot along the Separation Fence that would tell the story in a nutshell, so first I went to Google maps to see if the fence is visible in satellite photos. You bet it is!

A small portion of Israel's Separation Wall (Google maps)

On Google maps I virtually floated above the wall, tracking it northward from Jerusalem until I found an area that was particularly perplexing. It was the area around a Palestinian city called Qalqiliya where the newly built wall quite clearly creates "peninsulas" of Palestinian land that for all intents and purposes trap the people inside. Here's what I saw (the squiggly grey line that runs through the center of the image is the wall):

I wanted to confirm that this was really what was going on there, so I looked for maps of the wall online. I found a beautiful detailed PDF map from 2008 at B'Tselem.org. Here's the portion that roughly corresponds to the Google view I had captured, confirming the path of the wall there:

Here's what the Separation Wall looks like from the ground:

(Wikipedia)

Now that's a wall!

This week I carved a couple of blocks just to define these two areas that are separated by the wall and I started printing yesterday. I'll fill you in on that process next week.

Print Week NY 2010 - Lighthouse Fair

2010-11-17T10:25:00.000-05:00

Back to some reporting on my visit to NY Print Week. This year marked the first "Fine Print and Drawing Fair at Lighthouse International," an event that I had some trouble finding out about. I was first tipped off by a mention from a friend, but when I googled "Lighthouse print fair" the actual web site for the event didn't come up until page three. (The SEO problems seem to be partly because the event doesn't have its own URL and partly because the information is a jpeg of the announcement rather than html code that would allow search engines to pick up the words.) This fair is apparently a breakaway from the IFPDA group, as you can read here on the Annex Galleries web site.

Chatterboxing by Hibiki Miyazaki

At any rate, it's too bad that the publicity was less than stellar, because the fair had some fine exhibitors.

First was my all-time favorite exhibitor, Davidson Galleries of Seattle. It was nice to see an etching by Hibiki Miyazaki (right), whose work I know only from online.

I spent a long time at the Annex Galleries' booth poring over their huge collection of color woodcuts spanning many years and many artists. I was amazed to see (and have the opportunity to touch!) some very rare prints by Gustave Baumann. I also appreciated being introduced to the woodcuts of Sylvia Solochek Walters (below). Walters was chair of the art department at San Francisco State University for many years and now serves on the Board of the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley CA.

The Road Is Closed by Sylvia Solochek Walters

Unfortunately, by the time I finished perusing the Annex Galleries it was already way past lunch time and I still had the entire IFPDA Armory show to see so I gave short shrift to the rest of the Lighthouse Fair. Please leave a comment if you went to Print Week and let me know if you made it to Lighthouse. I'm curious to hear what others thought.

Print Fair North!

2010-11-11T14:14:00.002-05:00

The past two days of my studio time have been devoted to preparing for "Print Fair North," the annual open studio sale at Zea Mays Printmaking in Florence, Massachusetts (just outside of Northampton). There will be hundreds of prints by over 30 artists in all price ranges. I've prepared about 50 prints for the sale, most from editions but also some experimental one-of-a-kind prints and proofs. I'll also have copies of the We Are Pilgrims book for sale.

If you come to western Mass. for Print Fair North, be prepared to make a day of it. The building where Zea Mays is located, the Arts and Industry Building, houses over 100 artist's studios and small businesses and has a regional reputation as the workspace of some of the area's most creative people. Print Fair North coincides with the Arts and Industry Building's giant Open Studios event. It's a chance to visit dozens of artist's studios in the building as well as this fantastic print fair. Hope to see you there!

Nov 13-14, 2010
10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Zea Mays Printmaking
Arts and Industry Building
221 Pine Street, Studio 320
Florence MA

Print Week NY 2010 - EAB Fair

2010-11-08T12:46:00.006-05:00

I'm back from my whirlwind 14-hour trip to New York to see this year's Print Week offerings, or at least as many as I could cram into that short amount of time. This year there was a new fair, the "Lighthouse" Fine Print and Drawing Fair, in addition to the EAB (Editions/Artist's Books) Fair and the venerable (20 years!) IFPDA Print Fair at the Armory. Each of the fairs had its own personality and emphasis, which made for an interesting day. I'll look at each fair in its own post over the next few days.

My first stop was the EAB (Editions/Artist's Books) Fair in Chelsea. Of the three print fairs, this one is the broadest. It's kind of a hybrid event featuring artist's books, two-dimensional prints and works on paper, three-dimensional multiples, small installations, and even some video. It's definitely the most contemporary and hip of the three fairs and the most accessible with its free admission. Here are a few exhibitors that were highlights for me.

"Grass 2.2" moku hanga by Mike Lyon, 22.5 x 72 inches

I was happy to see Center for Contemporary Printmaking from Connecticut. CCP, the self-described "only nonprofit organization between New York City and Boston solely dedicated to the art of the print," is located fairly close to where I live, but shamefully I've not made it there yet for a visit. I was excited to see that CCP was showing Mike Lyon's moku hanga print "Grass 2.2" (shown above). Mike has been a virtual friend on various printmaking web sites for several years but I've never seen his work in real life so it was a treat. I was surprised when the CCP representative who I spoke with didn't know that Mike cuts his large blocks with a computer-controlled router. That fact, to me, is one of the most interesting aspects of Mike's work -- he designed, built and programmed the carving router and also designed and built a very large-bed press with a special system to deliver the large sheets dampened paper to the bed. This equipment is quite amazing in its own right.

"Untitled" by Jiha Moon

I've been interested in the artist Jiha Moon ever since I had the opportunity to watch her work with master printer Peter Pettingill at Smith College a couple of years ago, so when I saw a piece that looked like her work at the Landfall Press booth I had to stop and investigate. The recently completed print, shown at right, is more understated than some of Moon's other work and I really like it. The white pieces of paper you see at the top are fortune cookie fortunes. I'm not sure if this is an etching or a lithograph. Anyone know?

Unlike some exhibitors at the other fairs, representatives at the EAB Fair seemed willing and in fact eager to talk with just about everyone who was passing through. I had a nice conversation with a man who was selling Esopus magazine. Esopus is an arts magazine published twice a year that features fresh work from a wide range of creatives, themed for each issue. A sampling of fiction, poetry, visual essays, interviews, etc. can be found in each issue, plus a themed CD of new music. I bought a subscription!

"Settlements" by Serena Perrone

I also enjoyed some time at the Cade Tompkins Editions booth. Cade Tompkins is an art dealer who also represents RISD Editions, the Rhode Island School of Design's visiting artist’s program in the Printmaking Department. At the booth I saw work by Daniel Heyman as well as Serena Perrone's wonderful etching plus moku hanga piece shown above, printed by Ningyo Editions.

"I Am Living…" by Graham Gillmore

I want to note one other work, a screenprint by Graham Gillmore. The Dorfman Projects booth displayed four or five different versions of this piece, each with a different hand-painted background, and there was something quite heart-wrenching about the sentiment expressed. If you're an artist, you can't read these words without irony, yet you also know that these same words are held deep in an artist's heart where they ring with complete earnestness. I found myself deeply touched by that dichotomy.

Next I'll blog about the new "Lighthouse" Fair.

The Fine Print about a New Print

2010-11-02T20:50:00.001-04:00

In 2008 I started a series of prints about fences and walls -- places, usually at international borders, where people have built structures designed to keep other people out. I started with the border fence being constructed at the U.S. / Mexico border and then I went on to complete a print about the Great Wall in China (both shown below).

The next print I had planned for the series was the separation barrier between Israel and Palestine, but I began to feel afraid of tackling such a huge and volatile topic. So I decided that I needed to stick closer to home, to work with material that I know in my bones and that I feel "qualified" to critique. I spent the next 2 years making the 15 Pilgrim prints.

Now I feel ready to tackle Israel/Palestine. But first some caveats. It may sound silly to say this, but I want to be clear that a single print can not no how no way even begin to encompass the complexity and the magnitude of the Arab/Israeli conflict. I am a non-Jew, a 21st century American gentile woman with only a passing understanding of the complex history of the Jewish people. There's a lot I don't know.

What I do know is this. I know the Bible from a childhood spent reading it. I know the history of World War II mostly through my father, who fought for 3 years in Europe. And I know my American Jewish friends, some of whom call themselves Zionist but most of whom do not. Most of all I know my own heart. So this print will reflect me and my heart's feelings about Israel's separation barrier. I am an artist, not a reporter and not a historian.

But this print can't be made without working with historical material. There is probably no area in the world with a deeper history than the area we now call Israel/Palestine. It has been settled continuously for tens of thousands of years, archeologists have found remains of very early human and Neanderthal creatures, and it is one of the oldest sites of agricultural activity in the world.

May my print honor both the sacredness of this land and the tragedy of this conflict.

IFPDA Print Fair NY, 2010

2010-10-27T13:35:00.000-04:00

The IFPDA Print Fair, which happens every November in NY City at the Park Avenue Armory, has become one of my favorite annual events. From Utamaro to Rembrandt to Chris Ofili, there are prints of all kinds on display from over 80 exhibitors. Lucky for me, Smith College Museum of Art sends a bus down every year so I don't even have to drive. The Armory Print Fair is a total printmakers' feast and could easily take up the entire day, but concurrently there's also the Editions/Artists' Books Fair at 548 W. 22nd St. in Chelsea. It's too much to see in one day, but I always try. Needless to say, I sleep on the bus ride home.

The Fair opens with a VIP preview on Wednesday, November 3rd from 6:30-9:00 and then continues through Sunday the 7th. I'll be there on Saturday and I hope I'll run into you! It's well worth the trip if you can make it. And I'll post some photos afterward.

More from Seattle

2010-10-25T17:22:00.002-04:00

Floor in the Seattle Public Library

Wanted to let you know that you can visit the Cullom Gallery blog to see some more photos from the "We Are Pilgrims" opening and the demo the next day.

It was great to meet some new people as well as some folks I've known for several years but only online. I got to meet Viza Arlington, who has been making some great white line woodcuts, and Brian Lane, the Seattle half of the famous Print Zero duo.

Thanks for coming out, everyone! The show is up through November 27 if you're heading to Seattle for the Thanksgiving holiday.

I love water.

A Few Seattle Pix

2010-10-19T22:07:00.001-04:00

Lynn and I were very remiss in our picture-taking while we were in Seattle for the "We Are Pilgrims" opening, but gallery director Beth Cullom took a lot of pictures (and she has a really nice camera) so I'll let you know once she's posted hers. Meanwhile, here are a few teasers.

This was the first time I ever had my name up on the wall in vinyl. A nice Helvetica-like font.

Lynn & I arrived early on opening night and I naturally gravitated toward Beth's awesome collection of books about Japanese woodblock prints. I could definitely spend several days just sitting here geeking out on those books. (And that's Eva Pietzcker's work behind me on the stand.)

The work looked great, well lit and dressed in simple wood frames. By the end of the night there were quite a few red dots!

Thanks, Beth, for a really nice opening.

Woodblock Printmaker David Bull on NHK

2010-10-11T15:11:00.000-04:00

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO ABOUT DAVID BULL

I first encountered moku hanga in 2005 through a three-day workshop with New Hampshire printmaker Matt Brown, a workshop that was life-changing for me. However, I actually owe an even larger amount of my knowledge about moku hanga to a woodblock printmaker I've never met, Japan-based Canadian printmaker David Bull. NHK, Japan's public television network, has just produced a 30-minute segment about the life and work of this accomplished printmaker, so I thought I would take advantage of the occasion to write about David on my blog. David's 30-year love affair with this artistic medium has literally been the scaffolding upon which my own learning has taken place.

How is that possible? First of all, the computer makes it possible. In 1997, David launched the Baren Forum listserv and accompanying web site. The Forum began as a way for isolated woodblock artists and craftsmen around the world to compare notes, learn from each other, and talk shop. In the 13 years since it began, the site has become the go-to place on the internet for English-speaking Japanese woodblock artists, an absolute treasure-trove of information for anyone who is interested in exploring the medium outside of Japan. Although David handed over the reins of the Baren Forum site to a team of volunteer administrators several years ago, the site would not exist and would not be so comprehensive without his influence and expertise. I've learned 90% of what I know about woodblock printing through trial-and-error combined with strategic searching and question-asking on the Baren Forum web site.

In addition to technology, the other ingredient that makes my relationship with this printmaker on the other side of the world possible is David's own infectious enthusiasm. Notice it when you watch the video above -- David Bull loves Japanese woodblock and he has a deep desire to preserve this ancient craft in the midst of a rapid decline in trained printers and carvers and the accompanying decline in suppliers of wood, washi and tools. I believe it's this enthusiasm that gives David the energy to reach out over and over again to other printmakers around the world to share what he knows. Whether by facilitating contact between western artists and Japanese suppliers via the Baren Mall, where one can buy supplies directly from Japan, or producing an e-book called Your First Print, a "highly practical and focussed guidebook that will take you - step by step - completely through the process of creating your first print," David conducts all these activities on top of the hours and hours he spends producing his own superb and finely crafted work.

In many ways David is a bridge between this exquisite but declining Japanese art form and artists in the West who are deeply interested in learning it. Congratulations to David on this wonderful NHK portrait of his life and work. Perhaps one day we'll meet in person.

Show in Seattle!

2010-10-04T18:29:00.000-04:00

The Pilgrims have made a long journey westward, and I'll soon follow them! I hope that all of you blog readers in the Pacific Northwest will join me at Cullom Gallery in Seattle on Friday, October 15, 6-8 pm, for the party celebrating the opening of my We Are Pilgrims exhibit. I'll also be doing a printing demo and talking about the making of the Pilgrim prints on Saturday, October 16 starting at 1:00 pm. I'm really excited to be returning to the wonderful city of Seattle and I can't wait to see Cullom Gallery's new digs. Hope to see you there!

Babylonian Out Loud

2010-10-01T13:42:00.004-04:00

Back in 2007 I made a print (Locusts In Babylon) about Iraq in which I alluded to the ancient Babylonian civilization that reigned in Mesopotamia 500 or so years before the birth of Christ. I used Cuneiform writing in the bottom portion of that print:

Today I found a web site that offers audio clips of scholars actually speaking some of the Babylonian and Assyrian texts from clay tablets that have survived over these many years. Babylonian and Assyrian belong to the Semitic family of languages, and are generally thought of as two dialects of a single language ('Akkadian') rather than as two separate languages. Check out some of the sound files here.

Language is an amazing thing. It carries so much of a culture and a people. Hearing an extinct language like this spoken aloud is like seeing light from a star that exploded a gajillion years ago. It's magical.

Speaking of extinct languages, I heard yesterday that linguist Jessie Little Doe Baird of Mashpee, MA, founder of the Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project, received a MacArthur Genius Grant to continue her work. Here is my previous post about Baird and her project and John Eliot's Bible.

Kindred Artists: Ruth Cuthand

2010-09-27T11:07:00.000-04:00

Back in January of this year I completed a print called Ten Little Nine Little Indians that addressed the small pox plague that wiped out an estimated 90% of the native population of New England in the early 17th century. The print features a large red representation of the small pox virus in the center. A few weeks ago artist Andrea Pratt, who blogs at Coloring Outside the Lines, left a comment alerting me to the work of Canadian artist Ruth Cuthand. I did some Googling and sure enough I found another kindred artist working with some of the same material I've been mining.

A Plains Cree (the largest group of First Nations in Canada) and Scots/Irish artist, Cuthand initially studied printmaking, but due to chemical sensitivities she turned to painting and multimedia. The image shown here is from Cuthand's recent "Trading Series" in which the artist uses finely crafted bead work to render microscopic views of the viruses that were brought to North America by colonization.

In a review of "Trading Series" by Patricia Dawn Robertson, Cuthand is quoted as saying, “I did an Internet search for the viruses, and they were just gorgeous to look at." I resonated with this observation and it made me think about the delicate line I often find myself attempting to walk when depicting harsh and difficult topics. It's easy to bash a viewer between the eyes with violent or shocking images, but I think that work which does so ends up appealing only to those who agree with the point of view. I think it's much more profound and powerful to find the beauty even in the horrific, to draw a viewer in with beauty and care and thoughtfulness and invite a more subtle exchange between the work and the viewer to occur. This is a difficult thing to achieve, but Ruth Cuthand has done it with this series. The full quandry of colonization is expressed here so simply: European trade brought new items that revolutionized Aboriginal life (like glass beads), yet was the cause of the decimation of many native peoples .

You can click this link to read more about Cuthand and see videos of her speaking about her work.

Thanks for the tip, Andrea!

A New Web Site. Again.

2010-09-23T15:42:00.002-04:00

Last Friday, after about a week and a half of work, I put the finishing touches on a new web site. The whole process made me think about the history of my site and how much things have changed since I first launched anniebissett.com.

My first site was built in the late 1990s, and it looks very 1990s. Here's a screen shot of the opening page:

It had rollovers in each of the four corners that would take you to four different areas of the site, and images would appear in the center white area. I designed it, but since there was no drag-and-drop type web software at the time, I paid about $2,000 to have a local tech company called Gravity Switch code it for me. I used that site for a number of years.

Then in 2004 I decided to take the plunge and make my own site with Dreamweaver so that I could update it more easily. I learned just enough of the program to make a very simple site that looked like this:

Nothing fancy, but I could add sections as I needed them and image sizes were flexible. I used this site until sometime in 2008, when I noticed that a lot of fine artists were using template hosting sites like Foliosnap, ArtCat, and Other People's Pixels. The sites all looked good and professional, and the idea of not having to mess around with Dreamweaver was very attractive to me.

So I set up this site using Foliosnap:

It's pretty elegant and simple. I liked Foliosnap a lot. The interface is easy to use, you can customize it quite a bit, and it's non-flash. I would still be using it, but I ran into a limitation once I published the "We are Pilgrims" book. The Foliosnap template wouldn't allow me to put any HTML links in the image descriptions, so I couldn't have a page for the book that would link to the Blurb site to purchase it. That was a deal breaker for me, so I looked around for an alternative. I settled on Other People's Pixels (OPP), which is cheaper than Foliosnap and almost as easy to use. OPP also allows for more text on each page and, since I'm a little long-winded, that works great for me.

Here's the front page of the new site, and here's a link to it.

We'll see how long this one lasts!

Printmaking in a Cornfield

2010-09-19T17:23:00.001-04:00

This weekend I took a drive through the pumpkin patches and apple orchards of Hatfield and Whately to Sunderland MA to see Mike's Maze at Warner Farm. Designed and cut by artist William Sillin, these huge cornfield mazes have been an annual tradition at Warner Farm since 2000. I was excited to hear that this year's maze was an homage to Andy Warhol the printmaker!

Here's the view from inside the maze. Fortunately, you get a map to help you get around. In this maze, there are 16 "printing stations" which, if you find them all, allow you to make CMYK reproductions of four famous paintings.

Each station consists of a wooden platform with a lid that holds a rubber stamp and an ink pad, plus a sign indicating the correct orientation for your printing paper.

At the entrance you're given two sheets of paper plus a board to use at the stations. When you find a station, you place your paper and the board in the orientation indicated…

Then close the lid and push down to print.

As with all printmaking, it's a lot of fun to watch the art emerge. Here's how mine looked after an hour or so in the maze:

White Line Woodcuts in Cleveland - Mabel Hewit

2010-09-14T12:34:00.000-04:00

Printmaker Ruth Hogan talks about white-line color woodcut techniques as practiced by Cleveland artist Mabel Hewit in this video from Cleveland Museum of Art. The exhibit of Mabel Hewit's work is on view now through October 24, 2010.

Click here for an article about the show with more background about Hewit's life.

Call to Moku Hanga Artists

2010-09-13T14:08:00.000-04:00

Wow, I don't know yet if I'll be able to swing this financially, but there's going to be an international moku hanga conference in Japan next spring, June 7-12, 2011. This morning I got an email announcing some of the details. According to the web site,

The conference will gather professional print artists, art educators and scholars in the field of woodblock printmaking to exchange current research information and experiences with Japanese traditional craftsmen, printmakers and print related art suppliers and toolmakers.

The conference will move between two locations, Kyoto and Awaji island (where the “Nagasawa Art Park Japanese Printmaking Program” takes place). In Kyoto there will be workshops, demonstrations and moku hanga exhibitions. The second half of the conference in Awaji will focus on lectures, panel discussions, presentations and exchanges with colleagues.

An email I received this morning notes that from now until December 18 applications are being accepted for a juried woodblock print exhibition of prints made in the waterbased moku hanga tradition or with contemporary materials that reflect moku hanga principles. There are PDF entry guidelines here.

I really hope I can go to this conference!

Artists On the Mayflower

2010-09-10T12:57:00.002-04:00

Sarah Peters, Dorothy May Bradford

It's an interesting experience to complete a body of work and then discover that another artist has covered the same material. I've identified five stages of response (take that, Elizabeth Kubler Ross!). My first-stage reaction always includes a tinge of panic (did one of us copy the other?), followed by some Google investigation, then a stage of comparing (hers is so much better than mine), some deep thinking, and finally delight. I had an opportunity to observe these stages in action a couple of weeks ago when Ed Winkleman announced the Winkleman Gallery show of Sarah Peters' Appeal to Heaven, which includes a set of drawings called "The Mayflower Series."

Peters' work and my Pilgrim prints are not at all similar. Her drawings are intricate layered pen and ink crosshatchings, resembling etchings. Most of her Mayflower drawings are depictions of ocean/water. I like them very much and I appreciate the thinking that I can discern behind the drawings. Peters has titled these water drawings with dates -- September 6, 1620 (the day the Mayflower left England), October 5, 1620, etc. -- taking us along on the grueling 66-day voyage. The churning waters and the occasional emerging human faces in the waves convey the terror that must have consumed the passengers' lives during their 66 days at sea and from what I can see on the Winkleman web site, Peters' strong assertive mark making could make one a little seasick up close. It's an effective approach, and very different from mine.

But what struck me immediately is that we both gravitated toward the story of Dorothy May Bradford. At the top of the post you can see Peters' portrait of Dorothy (the only portrait in her series), and mine to the right. My deepest feeling about this co-incidence? I'm touched by the fact that both of us were touched by Dorothy's story. Dorothy's story is tragic, intriguing, mysterious, deeply sad, and I think highly resonant for a woman artist. I feel affirmed by seeing Peters' work. And delighted.

Sarah Peters, October 20, 1620, detail

Sociologist James William Gibson says
that when a culture is in crisis, the first response is often to go back to the creation myth to start over again. I don't know if Sarah Peters is a Mayflower descendant too (I assume that she is), but that act of reaching back to the American creation myth is the common thread I see in our work. We're each doing it in a different way, not just in terms of our medium of choice and our styles, but also in the audiences we each seem to be speaking to. But our questions appear to be the same. When I see that another artist is asking the same questions that I am, it makes me feel that rather than toiling away in my own little world I'm a participant in a larger dialog.

Sarah Peters' show at Winkleman Gallery looks fantastic, and if I lived in NY I would have spent the evening at the opening last night. The show is up through October 9, 2010. Leave me a comment here if you see it in person -- I'd love to hear your impressions.