| Safer
is Actually More Fun!
Nik Semenoff has been working at the University
of Saskatchewan since 1982 on innovative ways of making printmaking safer, and
we were fascinated to read his authoritative comments on the subject. For not
only has he devised safer, less-toxic processes, but his systems have actually
opened up new channels for creativity in printmaking. It would be a luxury to
attend Nik’s workshop in Saskatchewan in June; in the meantime, read all about
it on World Printmakers this month. New
Printmakers and a Defense of Live Artists
We have two smashing
new printmakers from opposite sides of the world. Audrey Feltham is a Canadian,
living and working in Newfoundland, and her eclectic monoprints and mixed-media
images comment on subjects ranging from the Northern European Renaissance to pop
art and the condition of women today. One of her prints is actually printed on
a kitchen apron. Her delightfully creative titles reflect her background in English
literature. From Newfoundland to the eastern Mediterranean is a brief trip by
Internet and there, in Turkey, resides our other new artist, Serkan Adin. Serkan’s
prints are fascinating, not only for their gentle eroticism and their striking
size (1 meter by 70), but for his unique combination of techniques: twenty-first
century digital-image manipulation and the ancient Oriental art of the woodcut.
We have
used Serkan’s prints to illustrate an essay I have been wanting to write for a
long time and finally got around to. It’s called “Your Problem is You’re Still
Alive!” It’s about how the art tradespeople, with the unwitting (witless?) collusion
of the media, concentrate their efforts on selling the work of highly-profitable-if-dead
art icons, in detriment to artists who are still alive and creating. The article
affirms that of all the demanding and dangerous professions, the hardest of all
is that of the working artist, “walking the knife edge of pure creation and trying
to make a living at the same time.” More
of Everything
I get special satisfaction seeing how World Printmakers
is fast becoming a site of reference where printmaking issues are concerned. A
quick scan around the Web finds us present on the Georgia Department of Education
Teacher Resource Center: http://www.glc.k12.ga.us/passwd/trc/cluster.asp?mode=browse&intPathID=2234
, and also on the Department of Visual Arts site at Weber State University. World
Printmakers also appears in the online New York Arts Magazine: http://www.nyartsmagazine.com/57/fraud.html
and on the Click 2 Newsites website: http://www.click2newsites.com/pressrelease2812-06.htm
. It’s also rewarding to see increased activity of all sorts these days in World
Printmakers and her sister sites, Spanish Printmakers and Fine Art Print Sales:
more visits (close to 50,000 altogether this month), more ads, more commissions,
more sales. It bodes well. Creeping
Commercialism
Dick Blick art supplies in the U.S. made us an offer
we couldn’t refuse, so we’ve placed their banner on our homepage. World Printmakers
gets a commission on purchases made by clients who enter via our banner. If you
buy art supplies on the Web, you might consider doing so from Dick Blick through
World Printmakers. They offer an extensive selection of materials for printmakers
at competitive prices, and we appreciate your support. Don't
Miss This, Didactic and Delightful
Before I go I’d like to call
your attention to a delightful little Flash animation I recently discovered on
the MOMA website called, “What is a Print.” In it the visitor is guided step by
step through the processes of creating a woodcut, an etching, a lithograph and
a screenprint. And each example is accompanied by a thumbnail gallery of corresponding
images by historic printmakers at the bottom of the screen. If you’re a printmaker
and people ask you what you do, you might well send them there. Take a look. You
might even learn something. Did you know that James Ensor made 134 etchings, for
example? The URL for this page on the MOMA site is: http://www.moma.org/whatisaprint/flash.html.
See you next month. ¡Viva el grabado! Regards,
Mike
& Maureen Booth
Editors & Publishers
World Printmakers
The Worldwide Showcase for Contemporary Fine-Art Printmakers
URL: http://www.worldprintmakers.com
Email: miguel@worldprintmakers.com
New site: http://www.fine-art-print-sales.com |
Illustrations
are by Canadian printmaker, Audrey Feltham.
Click on the thumbnail to see the whole image enlarged. 
|
