"Cada loco su tema..." the Spanish say,
"Every lunatic has his favorite theme..."
For more than a few months I lurked around the Digital-Fineart online discussion group (http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/digital-fineart), fascinated by the earnestness of the participants in defense of digital art, their fetishlike concern with printers and papers, their hair-splitting meticulousness when it came to print quality, their sense of belonging to the group, which verged on brotherhood. Something very interesting was happening there, it seemed to me, and it came about thanks to the imagination and dedication of a single loco called Harald Johnson. If you follow that link you'll discover more about Harald's history and philosophy and the motives which moved him to create the Digital-Fineart group and to continue to devote a great deal of his time to moderating it. I must also add that Harald is not only a thoughtful and gentle artist and art activist, but that he's exceedingly quick to meet a challenge, however impertinent it may be.

I wrote him last month to comment that the Digital-Fineart artists talked a very good game, but I had never seen any of their prints. Had anybody? Then I threw down the gauntlet: "Are they prepared to put their prints where their mouths is?!" That is to say, would they submit themselves to the scrutiny of the World Printmakers highly-discerning readership in an online group show? Harald's e-mailed answer came back within the hour. "You're on!"

Harald put out a call to his list for a volunteer to curate the show and digital artist Art Avery rose to the occasion. Avery flew into his task like a whirling dervish and put together a digital group show so fast that some of the participants nearly fell off the back of the wagon!

So here you have it, the first World Printmakers' Digital-Fineart Challenge. Our thanks to both Harald Johnson and Art Avery for making it possible.