I've been swamped with illustration work lately so I haven't been doing any printmaking, or blogging for that matter. But this weekend Lynn and I will be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary and I wanted to show you this year's installment of the print series I call Sometimes I'm Married. I worked on this print during the moku hanga workshop I taught last month.
As I explained last year, I think of these prints as a gradual reduction series examining the state of my marriage. I plan to revisit this print every year around our wedding anniversary until all the states are one color.
A reduction print is a print created by cutting a block, printing it, then cutting some more and printing again. In this series the gold block stays the same, but the overprinted blue block will be gradually reduced.
At least that was the plan, but then came California. Because I had carved away California in 2008 (since at that point we were legally married there), the passage of Proposition 8 making gay marriage once again illegal in California ruined my plan. I had to put California back. Which meant I had to re-carve the blue block.
California is a conundrum. I read somewhere that same-gender couples who are married in other states might be married in California too as long as they were married before Proposition 8 was passed. But nobody seems sure about that. I'm optimistic, so I made California striped to signify that we might be married there. Despite the California seesaw, the Northeast is positively glowing with gay marriage (no wonder I love it here) and, well, Iowa was an awfully nice surprise. Yay Iowa!
Here's the series so far.
19 comments:
I'm sorry you had to re-carve the blue block because of CA, I think if voters had known they might have thought twice........Congrats on your 5 years and golden NE.
congratulations Annie & Lynn! I look forward to more gold states each year (not red, not blue... but golden for all of us).
Congratulations Annie on your 5th. My husband and I are celebrating our anniversary as well. 38 years tomorrow! Great idea to do a print in honor of your day. I may do something for next years or maybe a book honoring our 40th.
Best wishes, Melody
Annie & Lynn, congratulations! Annie, I love this print, I mean series of prints. They are absolutely wonderful and speak volumes about the gay marriage issue in such a simple manner. My husband and I will be two YES votes if the question ever comes to Washington State (which it might very soon).
Congrats! I love the prints.
congrats Annie and Lyn with the anniverary....and i find the printing series so wonderful and very needed.....I do not think people normally think about those issues and are probably not aware of it if it is´n´t something that is a problem they know about....good idea to make it visible with the prints....and a bit crazy that California had to be replaced as not golden....
Happy Wedding Anniversary, Annie and Lynn! :-)) Here's to a golden future! (And no more of that dratted blue!)
your blog is wonderful !
I loved the new open image with the horseman...
kisses
Annie, what a great way to record progress, or the lack of it! Happy anniversary! - I'm a proud neighbor of Iowa.
A very happy anniversary anyway - I will send a link to this post to a couple of Australians who will really appreciate it.
I fear you are are stuck in a long term carving project!
instead of recarving the whole thing, you might just slap on a thin layer of that stickyback linoleum, or as many layers as it takes. it would look kinda patchy and mismatched and maybe a little sloppy but then so is the situation. i can't find a word for how silly this issue is. it should be a non-issue. it hurts no one and it helps everyone. if 'they' assume marriage is so grand because it stablizes relationships, shouldn't stable relationships be good for everyone? i can't understand why there is objection. i can't wrap my head around how it makes sense.
Wonderful idea and print, Annie, and happy anniversary to you both. Hubby and I will be two more yes votes in WA State, when we get a chance. As goprairie said, I can't get my mind around why this isn't a good idea, either. What is good for some should be good for all, and how does one segment getting married alter the state of the other segment? Really, I think my marriage is as good as it ever was when gay marriage was approved in other places, (we did not see a threat). We will celebrate our 53rd next month.
Happy Anniversary! Its sad that California, whose nickname is "The Golden State" is tarnished when it comes to civil rights of ALL...anyway, news is that same sex marriage advocates are going to wait for the 2012 election when there will be a surge of younger 1st time voters. Surveys have shown that population demographic favors marriage for ALL!
Say you may want to cut up a plate into a puzzle plate of states, that way as each state progresses you can simply pop it back in...
This is such a beautiful idea - though a little sad that there isn't more gold visible yet, but it'll be great to see the progression of the series :)
Thank you all SO much for your good will and good wishes!
To help us celebrate, our dog Ty got hot spots - yucky sores that erupt in the hot and humid weather of summer. So we're chilling with Ty this weekend.
Hope you all are having a great weekend too.
xo Annie
What a clever idea and a great project. I can forsee having to recarve a number of blocks tho, as the issue works its way across the nation. Still it makes a fantastic record of the whole event.
Good luck!
hi this is gita's niece erica, i love your map! i wanted to suggest that you make it so that each state is more clearly defined so that non-Americans who see this can see the states, as now it looks like New England is one place/state if you dont know better. also, could you do an actual global map as the same distinctions exist outside? i know thats a lot of work but maybe it sounds interesting? anyway good luck and i will keep an eye on your map and hope it turns all mustard color! :)
Hi Erica! Thanks for taking a look at my map. You make some good points about the state lines. I guess for me, the whole issue is that right now the state lines are very very powerful for me and Lynn. Sometimes when we cross a state line, it means we aren't married any more. But when a bunch of states, like the New England states, embrace marriage equality, then for us the lines disappear. So that's what I want to communicate with this series of maps, which will always be displayed as a series. Once gay marriage is accepted nationwide, the state lines will cease to matter.
I love this print series!
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