Delighted and Chagrined
The highlight of this number of the World
Printmakers Newsletter is the artist's book, and though
I'm delighted I'm also frankly chagrined that we've waited so
long to deal with this rich and fascinating subject. Perhaps it's
because the concept of "artists' books" is a slippery
one, not easy to get a grip on. My favorite definition is the
one Maureen cites by Antonio Damián in her interview: "It's
anything you want it to be…" (For a more academic attempt
to define "artists' books," you might have a look at:
http://www.library.yale.edu/aob/term.html.)
Entredós,
Maureen Booth's First Artist's Book
So the World Printmakers cover
story this month is a first-person account by Maureen Booth of
her experience in creating her first artist's book. Maureen, the
British-born, Spanish-nationalized painter, printmaker and art
activist who is also co-founder of this website, discusses the
process in the context of Granada, her adopted home for the past
35 years, but we are convinced that it is an experience which
can be repeated virtually anywhere in the world. Her main ingredients
seem to be printmaking experience, curiosity, initiative and a
network of helpful friends. See Maureen's
interview here.
Carol
Wax's Mezzotint Lore
If you've always wondered about or been fascinated by mezzotint
prints, you'll enjoy our interview with Carol Wax, the American
printmaker who wrote the book on this seemingly magical printmaking
technique. In the interview this accomplished mezzotint artist
and authoritative writer on the subject sets the interviewer straight
in no uncertain terms as to his "…common misconceptions
about the medium…" (He deserves it; he's impertinent.)
Read all about it in Carol Wax on
Mezzotint.
Jane
Danko's Workshop Experience with Basque artist Agustin Ibarrola
We admit we are charmed by Jane Danko's personal and artistic
evolution from east Texas to a small town in Spain's northwest
region of Galicia, a region so convoluted and magical that their
most famous saying is: "No creo en las meigas, pero haberlas,
háylas…" ("I don't believe in witches but
I have to confess they exist…") Another favorite is:
"If you meet a Galician on a stairway, you can never tell
if he's going up or coming down."
This
latest chapter in Jane's adventures is her near-mystical experience
in a workshop run by the Basque artist, Augustín Ibarrola.
We'll let her tell it in her own words in Jane
Danko Rediscovers Creativity…
Impact
4
The IMPACT International Printmaking Conference is the essential
international forum for print artists, curators, critics, collectors
and suppliers of art printing materials and presses. The 2005
edition was held in dual sites: Berlin, Germany and Poznan, Poland.
American printmaker, educator and IMPACT committee member, Beauvais
Lyons was there and was kind enough to send
us this report.
Coming
soon:
John Philips's Thesis
From humble beginnings in Paddington, London in 1974 John Philips
has traced what is perhaps a unique trajectory in the business
of creating and running public-sector print workshops, the latest
being the London Print Studio which inaugurated a new multi-million-pound
building in the year 2000. John has turned this vast experience
into a doctoral thesis, which he has kindly shared with World
Printmakers. It makes fascinating reading. Coming soon.
Andy
Mac Dougal's new screenprint book
Our favorite Canadian northwest big Beemer biker and intellectualoid
rock 'n roll screen printer has just published Screen Printing
Today, The Basics, the essential book for printmakers
who want to get started doing their own screenprinting, or as
Andy says, "Pick up a squeegee!" Book review coming
soon along with an interview with the author.
Meanwhile,
have a very merry Winter Solstice and a Happy New Year!
