Printmaker's Art Featured in Pacific Rim Whale Festival

Allison Tremain and her Spyhopping reduction cut linocut were selected as the featured art & artist for the 2012 Pacific Rim Whale Festival, March 17-25, 2012.  Her work is featured at Uclulet's Mark Penney Gallery.  Gotta get me one of those posters!

Little Print Book Project Flies Home

Last year, my printmaker buddy Sherrie York sent to me a little book in the mail: Jill Bergman's Little Print Book Project. Well, I was right in the throes of new mommy-hood, and was completely hopeless with pretty much anything at that point. I eventually managed to coordinate with other printmakers around here (Cowichan Valley, Victoria, and Richmond, BC, and Bellevue, WA) to contribute, then finally I managed to send the book off to AnniePod in Philadelphia, PA, who also sent it to Tuckamore Design in Buffalo, NY. You can see the final book at Jill's blog Art on the Page.

Thanks to everyone who contributed; it was a treat to see all your pieces, and what a fun way to connect with other printmakers.  Thanks, Sherrie for thinking to include me, and thanks Jill for getting the ball rolling in the first place!  I hope your other books come back full of lovely prints and more contacts.
.
PS - Jill is still looking for contributors - if you're interested, visit her blog for contact info.

Printmaking How To - Monotype

This month, Horsley Printmakers' Carol Nunan of Carol's Original Prints has requested that printmakers post a "how to" on their blog about monotypes in May. So I thought I'd take her up on her suggestion (a little early, whatever!). If you're a printmaker and want to do the same, make sure to link back to Carol's blog and send her a comment on her post so that she knows to add your link to her list.

Here's a clip from my website talking about monotypes:

These terms [monotype and monoprint] are often used interchangably; however, I like to think of them as completely different techniques. Both printmaking techniques result in a "one-off" image; you can never repeat that image. Some people have difficulty understanding how this can be a print if only one is produced, but it is the method of production that makes it a print. Probably the best description of the differentiation between these two techniques can be found in Monotype - Mediums and Methods for Painterly Printmaking by Julia Ayres:

"...the term monotype is used for work developed on top of an unaltered plate, utilizing its flat surface, while monoprint refers to monotype work that also includes elements of another printmaking process such as etching, woodcut, lithography, silk screen, and so on."

(Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1991, page 8)

I use either watercolour or acrylic paints to produce monotypes. I paint onto frosted Mylar, and while the paint is still wet, I make the transfer by laying a registered sheet of paper over the Mylar and pressing gently by hand on the back of that paper. I repeat the process until I've completed the image. There is another method whereby you prepare the surface of the plate so that you can paint the image in its entirety, leave the paint to dry, then use a moistened sheet of paper to lift the image. I find this method more restrictive, but many artists prefer it because there is an added level of control to how the printed image will turn out.

Embrace, acrylic monotype

OK, so that's a basic outline of how I do it. The above print Embrace was created by painting acrylic onto frosted Mylar and transferring to the registered paper while the acrylic was still wet (i.e. really fast!).

I have my original sketch taped down to a surface, then I tape the Mylar (frosted-side up to paint on) on top of the sketch. I hinge the paper I'd like to print on usually along the longest side. This print was printed on a really heavy hot-pressed watercolour paper (I think Fabriano), and I quite like that surface & weight for doing the acrylic monotypes. I started with the lightest colours first (e.g. light yellow, light green), and work quickly, painting the acrylic on the Mylar then transfer the paint to the paper by flipping the hinged paper down on top of the Mylar and burnishing the back of the paper with my hand. I keep doing that repeatedly until I've got the final image I'd like. This sometimes requires that I let some layers dry a little first, but with acrylics, that doesn't take long at all.

Here are some other images that I've done that way:

Promise of Spring, acrylic monotype

Coming Storm, acrylic monotype

Bamfield Dory, acrylic monotype

As you can see, the results of monotypes can be extremely painterly. I remember my mother, upon being introduced to monotypes, thinking to herself "If I'm going to paint it, why on earth would I go to the trouble of the double work of painting then printing?!?" Then she tried it and discovered the textures that you can achieve only through the transference of paint from the plate to the paper support. You can't get those textures any other way: the surface tension breaking between the plate & paper makes for some wonderful textures that wouldn't occur right off your paint brush.

I do the same process with watercolours; however, I find the acrylics are easier to build bolder, brighter colours with. Here's a monoprint that started with a watercolour monotype to get the colours, then a block print on top for the black part:

Fraser Foreshore Morning, monoprint

This "working wet" technique, of course, is not the only way to make monotypes; it's just the way that I have discovered that I prefer. Here are a (very!) few other printmakers who use monotypes to create their work:

Bruce Waldman
Lori Dean-Dyment
Heather Aston

Thanks Carol, what a great idea. I look forward to seeing what other printmakers send you!

Treasured! "Once Around The Block"

Thanks to kellyjcallahan for featuring me and a heap of other Printsy members on their treasury:


Also featured are:

meganaker
crscheffe
studioAK
YonderPrints
starkeyart
drenculture
GinaD
wingedlion
BirdNerd
RioSalidaArt
hawaiialoha

What's on Amie's Reader

Art Stuff

Tracey's branching out into the abstract and getting ready for her solo show at Place des Arts in Coquitlam over at A State of Art Portraits.

Heather gets a boost with a suggestion to work in series at Art and Life.

etsasketch is back to school shopping and looking for the perfect pencil case, while Marcy at There is Only Make is getting over her 8th-grade induced sewing-machine inhibitions and creating her first pencil case! Maybe you two should get together...

Spider Ink Studio's Elana has added another post to her Etching Techniques series. I have found it fascinating so far, and this post is no disappointment - yet another use for litho crayons that doesn't involve lithography!

Meanwhile, Katka has taken the leap and set up her Etsy shop - check out Blue Chisel Prints on Etsy.

Jeanette has an incredible series of mixed media works based on gyotaku (fish printing) a rainbow trout on her Illustrated Life. Scroll through to find her other entries starting with a capelin print last week (also featured on Watermarks).

Pica's added some beautiful sketches of a not especially beautiful bird, but how lovely her interpretations on The Magpie Nest. While having the face only a mother could love, I'm especially partial to these graceful scavengers, and have a version from my Bestiary.

Science Stuff

Dr A on The Phytophactor gives us an excellent reason to concern ourselves with global warming: chocolate (not just melting, but changing ecology altering habitat for the plant from which it comes).

Further on global warming on the EEB and Flow, another one of my favourite critters is even more at risk possibly than frogs: check out why salamanders might be global warming canaries in a coal mine.

And how clever is this! Enrichment for octopus! OK, just too darned cute (yes, another favourite critter - my Bestiary is well represented this week!!). Thanks to The Other 95% and Zoologix for the link, but definitely go to the whole series of photos at the New England Aquarium's site.

Another cephalopod feature from The Other 95% - what great footage of a hunting cuttlefish. The colours! And the stealthy behaviour.

The Echinoblog could have pulled this picture directly from the Whale Lab's touch pool at Bamfield to illustrate the fact that this species of urchin (largest on the west coast of North America) can live to a ripe old age of a century or more.

Finally, are you one of the 50% of the population that has the chemical receptor to detect the scent of asparagus pee? And take the time to read all about lichens and mosses on Watching the World Wake Up (go on, he went to a lot of effort and has some very nifty graphics, as per usual. Not only that, you might learn something; I certainly did!!).

Bruce Waldman

Thanks to Elana Goren over at Spider Ink Studio, I have been introduced to another incredible printmaker (they're just everywhere! only academia would dare breathe that printmaking is dead! pbtht!). Bruce Waldman's monotypes (well, he calls them monoprints, but since they don't appear to involve a plate or block that's been etched, carved or altered in anyway, I would maintain they're monotypes) are apparently made with the edges of brayers.

For those non-printmaking folks out there, here's what a brayer looks like, via Wikipedia:


Bruce has very kindly provided me with a description of his process to share with you. It's fascinating:

I work on a large piece of Plexiglas and tape a white piece of paper to the back so that I can clearly see my image while I am working it up. I use only oil based printing inks; mostly etching, but sometimes combined with litho. I use the inks straight out of the container, and do not add oil or any kind of thining substances or solvents to thin the ink. I draw and apply the ink to the Plexiglas directly with small rubber rollers of varying widths, using the flat part of the roller for larger areas, and drawing with the edge of the roller for line work. It is hard to control drawing with the rollers, so it forces me to draw and paint on the Plexiglas in a spontaneous manner, not trying to tightly control my lines and marks while I am making them.


If I don't like parts of the image, I just wipe them away and redraw them. I work both dark on light, and also pull lights out of dark areas with a cloth or paper towel, and then press inked textures and materials on to the image. Sometimes they don't completely work when I print them, so I pin them up on the wall and work directly back into them with printing inks, rollers, pressed textures, and brushes. I only use one plate, and only run it through the press once.

This is a very direct and raw way to work. It is really for people who are not that interested in complex techniques, and who love to draw and paint directly and spontaneously. I usually create many bad prints before I get a few that I am really happy with. I love working this way because it allows me to attack the plate with a reckless abandon, which gives the images a feeling of wild motion. I developed these techniques over many years of experimentation as a reaction to creating hundreds of small, intricate, and technically complex ethcings; which I also tremendously enjoy making.

Thanks, Bruce, for the great summary of your process, and for generously letting me show a few of your prints. I have a very tiny selection here, so go check out more of Bruce's prints.

What's on Amie's Reader

Quick one this week.

Some printmakers reflect: Vermont Printmaker's Michelle Turbide on what really matters, and Boundstaffpress' Justin Miller on connections and regrets, inspirations for a new work.

There Is Only Make's Marcy shares with us her creative process.

New blogger (but definitely not new online) Brian Holden's My Printmaking Journey follows the development of a linocut study.

More gorgeous sketches by Derek Jones.

Always full of valuable art business information, Making a Mark's Katherine Tyrrell wants us to think about what we're saying about ourselves as artists, not just about our art.

Check out these flamingo-like katydids on Zooillogix, and learn more about global weirding on HowPlantsWork.

Not on the Reader but via Wet Canvas Printmaking Forum - Huff Post on the fair use argument for Shepard Fairey's work.

And via Clint Watson on Twitter, check out the firestorm (it's all over the place!) that Facebook stirred up this week with their changes to the Terms of Service (which they've now rescinded). As one of my FB friends quipped, "maybe they forgot how their network works" - did they not think this would meet with some resistance and stir up a lot of traffic? Maybe they did...

What's on Amie's Reader

When I first started blogging, and learning about other people's blogs, I had no great way to keep track of what I wanted to read. I started my Squidoo lens on printmaking artists, with the intention of showcasing printmaking bloggers. Well, that sort of went off course a bit, and now there are all sorts of cool printmakers on there. I have kind of run low on steam for keeping that one up to date, because I keep discovering more and more amazing printmaking artists with websites. I will still keep working on it, but I have other projects that seem to be taking precedence lately.

As I was working on the lens, I was trying to add Etsy shops to those artists who are printmakers with Etsy stores. Then Prinsy was forged first as a Flickr group, then as a full-fledged Etsy Team. Our blog got started, and I seemed to be luckily in on the ground floor with that one. I've been blogging two (mostly) regular posts: Printsy member interviews, should be self-explanitory, and "Who's Printsy This Week", a selection of ten items listed by our Printsy members who have used the tag "Printsy" on the item listed. So I've been busy trying to bring people to the Printsy fold, and then trying to get them to give us a little information about themselves on the blog interviews, which have so far showcased some absolutely incredible art by a range of skilled, creative, and talented printmakers. Keep an eye on the Printsy blog for more great stuff.

So back to trying to keep track of those printmaking artists who blog. I like reading people's thoughts on their process and development of their images, on their marketing efforts, on their inspirations, and often on their daily lives. Cue stage right: Google Reader. If you are keen on keeping track of news feeds and blogs, Google Reader lets you do so all in one spot. For those of us with Blogger accounts, it's a no-brainer. For anyone who doesn't yet have a Google account, it's a pretty easy step to set one up. Yes, Google is taking over the world, and I am doing my fair share to see that it happens. Sigh. Well, if they stop having so many great applications to use (I'm also a Google Docs addict), maybe I wouldn't be so enabling .

Another Printsy member recently posted to her blog about her Google Reads, and I thought what a great idea! So I'll try to do a fairly regular feature about what's on my reader, to share some of the wonderful stuff that I already get to read about, but that you might be interested in, too. It's almost entirely art and natural-history dominated, which probably won't surprise anyone here, but I am open to other topics.

So, here's the first installment of What's on Amie's Reader. This is not an exhaustive list by any stretch of the imagination. I might do some kind of theme, or just pick a few that pop out as particularly interesting.

Printmaking

My longest-read printmaking blog would have to be Annie Bissett's Woodblock Dreams. Follow Annie's development of her intricately detailed woodcuts and symbologically deep imagery in her moku hanga work. Her recently completed "Honey, I'm Worried About the Kids" links past with present, tradition with innovation, and the connecting thread of doing what's right for our children with the Pilgrim's migration to the New World.

I think my two favourite printmaking bloggers would have to be Sherrie York on Brush and Baren and Jen Z on Jen and the Greyhounds. Both artists share enthusiasm for their subject matter and frustrations with interruptions to creativity, which really strike a spark of recognition in this reader's heart, and their sense of humour at the world sure helps keep the posts entertaining.

Sherrie's luciously executed linocuts are exquisite to behold, and I'm delighted, always, to follow their progress. She's just started up a new work in progress based on her recent "underfoot" theme.

Jen's blog focuses a lot on her greyhound mates, and her lovely photography of these animals bounding about really captures their spirit. Jen's been taking advantage of her beautiful surroundings lately, taking the dogs off cross-country skiing through upstate New York.

Natural History

One of my favourite aspects of natural history is the "gee whiz" factor: there is just so much out there that escapes our attention almost 100% of the time, that I really appreciate having my attention focused on things that are, truly, remarkable. From behaviour to biochemistry, life and death of the organisms that surround us is source of incredible wonder, and these bloggers share that with us.

Probably the nature-related blog I've longest held on my Reader is A Snail's Eye View, thanks to Sherrie's Brush and Baren link list. Right now, Snail is in the middle of the record-breaking searing Australian weather that is making the bushfires raging across south eastern Australia's state of Victoria so incredibly deadly. I've enjoyed Snail's intimate portrayal of the critters that find their way to Snail's back yard, and the knowledge imparted about these organisms is interesting in a very approachable manner.

Snail then introduced me to The Other 95%. While some of his posts are quite technical, there's just some great stuff that blogger Kevin Zelnio shares with his readers. Check out his recent post on cepahlopod camoflauge behaviour. Kevin also recently hosted the latest Circus of the Spineless, a showcase of bloggers who have posts about invertebrates.

Finally, Watching the World Wake Up is an entertaining combination of mountain biking, hiking and botany through the deserts of the western US. Learn what the three types of photosynthesis are, how photosynthesis is like mountain bikes, and why Mormons are like singlespeeders.

Enjoy the reads, and feel free to share anything of interest that you bump across. You never know, maybe it'll end up on my Reader!

Lessedra Update

For anyone out there who is curious about Lessedra, an annual international miniature print exhibition, I have some answers.

When I first heard about Lessedra, I thought I'd do some investigation. I found that a number of printmakers that I know of and whose work I respect had entered in the past, so I thought that it might be a good opportunity. One of the reasons I had some concern was the method of payment for non-US international participants is with Western Union, and that is typically a red flag over the internet. After discovering how many artists had participated, and done so over multiple years, I figured that for the US$50 (at the time) how much of a scam could that be? Really, there aren't that many printmakers in the world :) You'd have to work awfully hard for a pretty small return, so I decided to enter (Yes, I'm skeptical by nature, but especially after being touched by scammers a few times - see my scam roll on the right side-bar).

When I was accepted for the 2007 exhibition, I was extremely excited: this is an international exhibition and I got in!! Late in 2007, my prints were returned and I received the fantastic catalogue for the exhibition. As I looked through the catalogue, I was astonished at the number of printmakers represented, and I started to become somewhat skeptical about the actualities of the exhibit. I felt that even though there were jurors, if there were that many successful participants, how could there really be any "selection"; did everyone who applied get in? Not that there's really a problem with that, but if that were the case, then the jurors' efforts would be more towards selecting winners, and being accepted would be less of a prestigious occasion.

I stand corrected.

Lessedra is a gallery in Sofia, Bulgaria. Their annual World Art Print Mini Print exhibition showcases contemporary printmakers from around the world. While the event started in 1991, it really began to take off after 2002, when Georgi Kolev, current owner and director of the gallery, started to work on the event to make it the huge success that it is today. By 2006, over 500 artists from more than 60 countries were represented in the event.

I had complained about the fee for entry, and still, I do think it's a bit expensive for my purposes. That said, the fee goes towards:

• a spectacular catalogue (really, if you've never entered, and you're considering it, the catalogue of incredible work alone is worth it)
• posting of successful artists' CVs on the Lessedra website (the list is maintained for the year until the next exhibition)
• return postage for successful prints that remain unsold during the exhibition
• administrative costs (including promotion, coordination of jurors, administration of prints and entries, etc.)
  

Unaccepted works are returned and the fee is refunded to any unsuccessful applicants. Lessedra does not take a commission on any sales of the prints from the exhibition. Again, that alone is a pretty good deal; most competitions/exhibitions that I know of take at least 25% commission on any sales, and often closer to 40%.

And, if you're work is of prize-winning calibre, the prizes are pretty darned good (even the special prize is equivalent to the entry fee):

First Prize (USD 500 = purchase of 3 works in edition of 2) and an invitation for a solo exhibition of the artist during the next annual exhibition.
Second Prize (USD 200 = purchase of 3 works),
Third Prize (USD 100 = purchase of 2 works).
5 Special Prizes, each one equal to USD 80 (purchase of 1 work) - a cheque covering the entry fee for participation in the next print annual.
Prize For Young Emerging Artist - USD 300 (in materials for print works) and an invitation for a solo exhibition of the artist during the next annual exhibition.
The Jury has the right to grant more than one Second and Third prizes and also more than one Prize for Young Artist.

from Lessedra Conditions for Entry

And I can attest to the fact that the catalogue itself is a potentially valuable asset to the participants: I sold a piece from the exhibit as a result of that catalogue to a purchaser in France. That sale actually managed to mostly cover the cost of my entry in 2007. So really, I shouldn't complain about the cost, but the chance of a sale from an exhibition is always iffy, so you can't bank on it when you're calculating your expenditures for the year. And I'm particularly adept at whinging about money.

I wish to thank Georgi Kolev for taking the time to contact me and to explain the success of the Lessedra exhibition, and the value of the event to international printmakers. I hope that other printmakers who are interested in participating will have a better understanding of this event when they're considering entering. If I've got enough cash rolling around spare by the time the entry nears, I'll definitely submit again.

Maria Arango - Prolific Printmaker Extraordinaire

Thanks to Maria for the link to her image "Moon Shadow".

I think that I found Maria Arango's work originally through a link on Wet Canvas to her 1000 Woodcuts page. I first "met" Maria online when I belonged to the Baren forum discussion group; I don't think she and I have ever exchanged words, but she was (and likely still is!) an incredible coordinator for the Baren printmaking exchanges.

Maria is a talented and incredibly prolific printmaking artist whose main focus is woodblock printing. She set herself a goal almost ten years ago to create 1000 woodcut prints. She's got over 250 posted on her page, and is still working away. You can even subscribe to her updates.

Maria keeps busy with not only printmaking for herself, but also with attending art festivals, teaching workshops, and of course, getting involved in complex, time consuming projects! One of her recent masterpieces of coordination was the Baren Cairn project (I have linked to the beginning of the project diary; scroll all the way down to the first post and read upwards to get the chronological story). Each of I believe 76 participants received a carefully and uniquely cut jigsaw piece from a huge sheet of plywood, and were instructed to be creative and contribute an image with the theme of "Cairn" on their minds. The resulting print was 64.5"x29.5" in dimension (if I got the calculation right!!); check out the participant key showing who did which block.

Not only does the final Cairn edition represent work by many talented contemporary printmaking artists, but it illustrates how printmakers are such keen and enthusiastic collaborators, willing to co-ordinate with other artists to come up with something that is so much greater than just the sum of its parts*.

Thanks for the inspiration in productivity and creativity, Maria! I always look forward to what you come up with next!

* A similar project that I'd linked to about a year ago was the Periodic Table of Elements project, coordinated by Jennifer Schmitt

Wet Canvas! Printmaking Holiday Exchange 2008

Well, I finally managed to get my collective together and have put together the slide show for the Wet Canvas! Printmaking holiday exchange.

Thanks to everyone who participated! It was a fantastic (as usual!) exchange.

Computer Stuff

Yesterday, I spent searching the internet for calls for printmaking exhibitions, and updated that thread on Wet Canvas.

Today, I worked for hours updating some of my Squidoo lenses on printmaking. The two I spent the most time on were:

Printmaking Resources - listing suppliers of general printmaking stuff, art papers, inks (for all different printmaking techniques, including litho, etching, relief, etc.), press manufacturers, printmaking equipment (e.g. brayers, levigators) and printing materials (e.g. Resingrave, solarplate)

and

Printmaking Workshops - an international listing of print studios, print arts groups, printmaking workshops, print ateliers and galleries specializing in print arts, as well as letterpress printmakers and some online printmaking references.

I also updated my Printmaking Artists lens, but didn't spend as much time on that.

These Squidoo lenses were originally created as a centralized resource for myself, but I've been finding them really useful to refer to for other people when they ask about suppliers or printmaking groups around the globe on the Wet Canvas printmaking forum.

Speaking of the forum, we just started up a new monthly challenge for 2009. Check that out here; it's just added, so you'll have to keep looking in to see how the progress is going over the month from all the members who participate.

I am back at editing the Printsy blog, too; check that out on Monday after I've posted the next interview. I'm too tired to do it tonight; there's actually a fair amount of work involved to post the interview, with getting the images set up properly (including the titles and correcting the hyperlinks). Sometimes I have to do a little editing on the interview itself, too, but usually not too much. It's fun, though, because I get to be the first one to read the interviews!

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to get my Etsy shop reopened after letting it lapse (by accident!) back in October - I didn't even notice it until December, which lets you know how successfully it was doing. That's what happens when you're not adding new work, Etsy stores kind of slide off the radar. This year, I'll start off slow, and try to consistently add stuff on a regular basis, rather than uploading everything at once (I understand that's a pretty common newbie mistake). I'll have to spend a little time on the Etsy forum to read up on successful business practices there.

I also need to work on my art inventory again. Being inactive and not creating anything for the last few months has meant that my bookkeeping has slid down hill, and I need to catch up on some recording. I am hoping to eventually develop a database for all my prints (it's only in spreadsheet format right now, and I need a little more depth to it than a spreadsheet can provide); that will take some more thinking time, though, before I get any further, so I'll have to devote at least another day later to that.

Oh, yeah, then I have to do work this week to make some money to pay for all these leisure time activities!

On a non-computer note, I am supposed to be doing a printmaking without a press demo tomorrow night for the South Delta Arists' Guild, but we are smack in the middle of another snow storm, and it's a real drive from here to there. I'll see what the roads are like tomorrow, but I probably will have to postpone to another meeting, unfortunately. What a bummer, because I left the studio behind specifically to get to it this week. Well, we'll see.

Printmakers from the Web

I was contacted this week by two printmakers via email, and I'd like to share their work with you.


Mila Radišić is a self-taught copper engraver from Croatia. Her work is imaginative, dynamic, iconic and, to my North American eyes, has a distinct European flavour. Many of her images are devleoped using a circular mark-making technique, much like pointillism. The result is rich in values yet subtle in contrasts. Mila's imagery reminds me somewhat of Mike Yazzolino's "A Collection of Thoughts and Pictures Based on the Alphabet" (a very esoteric Canadian publication that's now pretty hard to come by, and probably was when my family got it!).

Mila contacted me because she was interested in connecting with other printmakers. As she's self-taught, she'd like to learn more about her technique from others who practice it. Unfortunately, I do not use any method of intaglio printmaking, but I have forwarded some information to her in the hopes that she will be successful in connecting with someone who can help. Her online gallery is very cleverly set up with thumbnails of her works; the viewer's curiosity is immediately piqued by these intriguing windows to her incredible, detailed and creative works. Click on to discover more!


Wallace Koopmans is a painter, printmaker and photographer from Abbotsford, BC. One of Wallace's recent series is images of local historic landmarks. Wallace's use of his carving tools in mark-making is very distinctive and extremely effective at evoking a sense of place in his work. His interpretation of his subject matter is very graphic (check out "Detour") and deceptively simple; these are all monochromatic works, yet he achieves great depth and perspective using wonderfully dynamic textures and line work (see "Fraser Valley Buddhist Temple").

Two of my favourites are from his recent collection: have a look for "Lunch" and "Cricket" for a couple of very strong pieces. Wallace's work represents a consistent, distinctive style which demonstrates great skill and passion for his chosen printmaking medium (check out his photography, too - you'll see that his great sense of composition isn't just applied to printmaking).

Why Printmaking

An interesting discussion came up on Wet Canvas a few weeks ago, and as I had a few printmakers at my fingertips on Friday, I thought I'd ask them my question of all questions for printmakers: Why printmaking?

Karen Kunc was my first victim, er, subject. She thought it was a very interesting question (thanks Karen!), and said that she actually has a ready answer for it, as she's been thinking about that question specifically for a number of years. Of course, I should have written this down right away, because I have the attention span of a guppy unless I specifically write something down, I don't always remember correctly. I believe her answer was that she was attracted to printmaking because of the quality of line that she could achieve, and because it was something that was different. She found printmaking intriguing right from the start of her artistic career, and while she recognized that it was unlikely to bag her much cash or world wide acclaim, it suited her artistic goals and passions. Karen is very drawn to lines (no pun intended); she notices that when she evaluates imagery or looks at the world around her, that's what her mind is focusing on. Karen's work currently examines the relationship of nature & society, urban & rural environments, and the balance (or imbalance) between them.

Next was Jim Westergard. His answer was simple: he walked into the print studio for the first time, and took a deep breath full of the smells of the studio and was hooked. Of course, it was probably all of the organic compounds used in printmaking that really got him! Maybe that explains his quirky view of the world in his engravings?

Gene Leavitt's response was also fairly straightforward and pragmatic: printmakers get to make duplicates of their work so that they don't have to be so precious about the "original". Gene also works in many other media, including watercolour and pen-and-ink; you can see his illustrator's background in his work, which also exhibits his incredible imagination.

Periodic Table of the Elements

I discovered this project this summer after people had signed up and started to send in (I was too late to join, pooh), but was drawn back to it again by someone on Wet Canvas printmaking forum. Wow! What an incredible project! Such a neat idea, combining science & art (of course, a concept near & dear to my heart) in such a fabulous way. This is a snapshot of some of the work, please click on it to view the whole project and details thereof:

Titanium by Ellen Shipley, Vanadium by John H. May, Chromium by Kate Nydham

Zirconium by Kristen Chick, Niobium by Annette Hayes, Molybdenum by Terry Peart
Hafnium by Miriam Gilman, Tantalum by Jeffrey Heft, Tungsten by Viza Arlington

None of these are my images, please go to the project site for details about the artists and the pieces themselves.

Check out how many of these artists are or were scientists - how cool is that?! Personally, I figure that to be a good scientist, especially an experimental scientist, you do have to have a certain level of creativity, otherwise how could you possibly create intricate experiments and problem-solve from unique and different perspectives? I'm never surprised (but I am delighted) when I see an artist (especially a printmaker) who was once in the sciences.