Categories
Books, Comics, Music MoPrint 2016 Workshops

Lipstick Librarians on Top, Down There at the Bottom

I’m busy tying up loose ends as I return to a normal routine. So this post is a grab bag of abstract musings from both my winter couch diversions, and my spring projects.

I am on the committee for MoPrint 2016, a city-wide printmaking festival which is entering its second scheduled biennial and had its first meeting this week.  I’m on the Publicity Committee for MoPrint in my now-accustomed social media role, so I’m sure you’ll be getting news from that front as well. I’ve also joined an ongoing Faculty Advisory Committee at the League.

I’m trying to make larger work in the studio, both for inventory- I need to sell larger work, and to do that, I need a large selection of bigger work, and to enter a juried show in March. I’m making a series of monotypes in which I’ll visually express personal musings on love, sex and dreams, as well as teaching myself new methods in the printmaking craft. I’ll be posting soon, and two-three times subsequently about the new prints, which will of course feature poppies and thistles- what else? I’ve already started in the form of small studies. I just need to flatten the work and take photos before I post.

I’m busy putting up flyers and trying to fill my upcoming workshop. For me it provides, besides needed cash, a real social opportunity to get out and converse about art and making with peers (mostly middle-aged folks, a large percentage of them women, take my Tuesday morning class). I’m completing a series of quick-study cheat sheets about planned class sessions that I hope will help those who take the class absorb the welter of information, but will also help to promote the class in a more detailed way to those who are considering it. I’m going to find a .pdf downloader plug-in widget-thingie to make them available here.

I also need to install the long-promised web-store plug-in. I enjoy teaching myself to do these things, but it goes slow. Rather than pay someone to teach me- quickly- how to do it, I fiddle around endlessly, as if it’s a series of monotypes in which I’m projecting personal thoughts to the world at the same time I’m learning a craft. I recognize that this is less business-like than simply eccentric. I now feel that eccentricity is instead of a vaguely amusing, stylistic feature of old age, rather, its essence.

And, as during most winters, I’m entertaining myself with a stack of books and DVDs before the soccer/art show season starts.

So I’m going to post about books today, as I have a backlog of thoughts from the Holidays. Many of them will be comics and graphics-related, which I intend to continue with periodically, as it’s something which still doesn’t get a lot of attention. So I feel like it’s my niche as I’ve been reading them all my life and have a certain perspective as they lately enter a sort of renaissance in both publishing and TV/Film.

I’m reading Gold Pollen and Other Stories, by Seiichi Hayashi. I’m probably long overdue for an examination of Manga. Besides garden-variety xenophobia owing to its right-to-left pagination, strange art styles and often bizarre subjects, there’s another reason I’ve sidestepped it. It’s just so big, and a linchpin of managing my reading/collecting jones has been to limit the areas I spend time and money on. But Ryan Holmberg, who edited this series on Masters of Alternative Manga for publishers Picture Box, who also put out The Ganzfeld and several issues of Kramer’s Ergot, makes an irresistible appeal to my attention by including introductory essays which place the artists he covers in context. Lately I’ve been fascinated by the context in which comics are created. Just as the American comics were indelibly influenced by 50’s censorship, 60’s drug culture and the punk/DIY movement of the 80’s; so post war Japanese artists were early influenced by American Disney and newspaper comics that came with occupation, and the inherent irony of American superheroes fighting for “freedom” during the Vietnam war. Hayashi navigates these social touchstones creatively incorporating comics iconography, Edo-period woodcuts and his own war-torn life to come up with innovative pop graphics.

The Mystery of the Underground Men, by Osamu Tesuka. This earlier ( late 40’s) manga shows the influence of turn-of-the-century Victorian science fantasy, Mickey Mouse, Milt Gross, Popeye and other American comics in a very compelling sort of steam punk tale of a tunnel through the center of the earth.  Also includes a loving essay by Holmberg concisely tracing Tesuka’s influences.

Guardians of the Galaxy. Marvel ressurected several c-list characters, mostly from the 70’s and 80’s ( e.g. Gamora from Starlin’s sci-fi groundbreaker “Warlock”), in this effects-drenched buddy movie that does not take itself too seriously. Its a refreshing change from the bombastic superhero movies, while still offering lots of opportunity for spectacular CGI.

Agent Carter This prequel to TV’s Agents of SHIELD features a kick-ass heroine, a genius scientist/weapons developer, Captain America’s DNA, American post war sexism, and hadn’t even begun to stop manufacturing plot twists when I missed the last two episodes owing to meetings and workshops. Is it a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, wrapped in an enigma; or just comic book-y plot holes you could drive a Packard through, wrapped in unresolved loose ends? Who cares? It’s fun to watch. The fan-boys writing on my favorite comics blog love it, though it fails to generate half of the suspense and dramatic tension of SHIELD, which the fan boys revile.

The Spanish American War and President McKinley, Lewis L. Gould. Those who wonder why I would read something on this tawdry little exercise in colonialistic jingoism, engineered by one of America’s ignored presidents, obviously are unaware that I’ve already read a biography of McKinley’s predecessor, the even more obscure Grover Cleveland. And that I’m about to start on a major new study of his successor, Roosevelt, and his adventures with fin-de siecle journalism ( The same sensationalistic press that launched the comics). So it fits a twisted logic. And- a ginned-up war in a marginalized third world country, in aid of overly empowered American corporate interests. Sound familiar?

Petty Theft, Pascal Girard.  A graphic novelist in the midst of a bad break up witnesses a woman shoplifting his own book from a small book store in this very odd mash up of cringeworthy Seinfeld-ian self-involvement and cartoonists behaving neurotically, all told in jittery Jules Feiffer-like drawings. That pushes all my buttons. Like this:

"Nympho Librarian" by Les Tucker (Jake  Moskovitz) New York: Bee-Line Press, [1970] Cover by Paul Rader: I think this is the stereotypical bookworm's fantasy; don't forget the glasses! It's a BOOK about a bookworm's fantasy- levels upon levels of metaphor- on the floor!
“Nympho Librarian” by Les Tucker (Jake Moskovitz) New York: Bee-Line Press, [1970] Cover by Paul Rader: I think this is the stereotypical bookworm’s fantasy; don’t forget the glasses! It’s a BOOK about a bookworm’s fantasy- levels upon levels of metaphor- on the floor!
Categories
Art Shows Art Students League Workshops

Team of Rivals

I’m posting this pic of a collaboration I did with ceramic artist Donna Schnitzer for a show at Republic Plaza called Interplay. It was designed to hightlight the professional artist/ mentor-to- student relationships the Art Students League of Denver wants to encourage.

In this case, Donna is a long time, very experienced professional ceramic artist herself who just happened to want to branch out into printmaking and so my role originally was to suggest techniques that might facilitate her natural creative vision. Then when we went to collaborate, we adopted a call/response sort of procedure where one would start a print, then pass it off to the other after chatting about ways to approach it, and so on. There were several false starts, but ultimately we came up with 6-7 pieces we both liked, and 2 were chosen by curator Andra Archer for the show, one of which sold immediately. Some of the ideas we tried will be seen in future works of mine.

The show is up and open to the public in the Republic Plaza lobby through Nov. 20. Let me know if you’d like me to meet you there.  Apologies for the picture quality, but we were on a very tight schedule and never had a chance to get it shot nicely. It’s printed in 4-5 layers on tan 22×30″ Rives paper. I’ve forgotten the title, and will update the post when I get it. Many thanks to my delightfully feisty collaborative partner Donna for a very productive and thought provoking summer project!

2014-08-19 21.52.52

 

Categories
Art Shows Uncategorized

Waiting For the Sun

"Ursula in the Trees with Maenad and Angel" 2013, Monotype, 30x42". This is a large piece that can be seen in the "Open Press 25th Anniversary Show" at McNichols Building.
“Ursula in the Trees with Maenad and Angel” 2013, Monotype, 30×42″. This is a large piece that can be seen in the “Open Press 25th Anniversary Show” at McNichols Building.

We haven’t had a winter like this in quite a while. It’s postponed a lot of printing days, though some have fallen victim to the Month of Printmaking event I’m working on, too. Our guide for that just went to press. I’m going to put up a downloads section on this site and put a .pdf copy of the MoPrint guide up for your access.

I’ve also been unable to put up a web store and hope to that soon, as workshops begin to start up again. I get less and less large blocks of time which I need to work through the task of figuring out the site construction. This basically boils down to searching for and installing widgets and plug-ins that are designed to be customized to your own needs and then do the work for you. My original complaint with WordPress was with its lack of creative options, but as far as ease of use is concerned, it works pretty well, despite some annoying glitches. It does take time to get everything loaded and ready to publish.

The Open Press 25th Anniversary Show is up at the McNichols Building in Denver’s Civic Center Park. I haven’t had a chance to see it, but it is open to the public Saturdays and Sundays, 10-3 PM. I’ll soon have some catalogs for the show available here when I get the web store launched. The opening for the show will also be the kick off party for Month of Printmaking Denver. The opening is also open to the public, and will be followed by a dinner with the Open Press artists from the show at Palettes Restaurant in the Denver Art Museum. Tickets for this event are available, and benefit MoPrint’s parent organization, The Invisible Museum.

I hope to see you at one of these events, or at many other MoPrint events. There will be panel discussions, shows, studio tours and demos, one of which I will be giving on March 15 at Meininger Art Supply. I will provide more details soon. And the weather should be friendlier then, too.

 

Categories
Art Shows

Living Large

 

"Grove With Black Sun", 15x22", 2013 This monotype was created by overlaying new imagery onto the ghost of another print.
“Grove With Black Sun”, 15×22″, 2013 This monotype was created by overlaying new imagery onto the ghost of another print.

Large work has been a priority for me last Fall, and didn’t happen quite as much as I’d like, so I extended “printing season” into December.  I went down to Open Press ( a somewhat legendary print studio in Denver ) and started on 2 30×42” monotypes, one of which was completed, and will be in a 25th Anniversary Open Press Show.  It’s easier to work on 2 pieces at once, with the second being a ghost of the 1st run-through (“drop”) of the first. This gives me more options or ways forward if one goes wrong, or needs extra attention, especially if I’m on a deadline. And it worked- I got a nice monotype on the 2nd variation, applying a new layer over the top, then leaving the 1st variation, which was meant to have 1 drop, but needed two, for a head start on January’s return to studio.

The need to keep a good inventory of small work ( for cash flow purposes) and attend to other, business-side issues  (such as this website) really make it hard to carve out the “large” blocks of time needed for work over 22×30″.  So I’ve decided I will keep going in at least once a month and working on large work, so I can have an inventory by November. This is how most things work for me. I even made a “schedule” of time blocks for such things as Social Media, Web and Framing. I don’t always stick to it, especially when picking up temp jobs for extra cash, but it does tend to keep vital tasks  from getting lost in the shuffle.

I’m also working on Month of Printmaking (#MoPrint 2014).  MoPrint is intended to showcase, on a biennial  basis, the large, diverse and exciting range of printmaking being produced in the Denver Metro region, and in Colorado at large.  It will be a great event to be a part of, so it’s good I was able to squeeze in the extra working time. I’m helping with a Studio Tour on March 29, as well as contributing to Social Media.

It will run from Feb 28, 2014, through March and even into April, and the Open Press 25th Anniversary show at McNichols building in the 3rd floor gallery will be the kick off party , though the show is available for viewing on Saturdays, 10-2 PM from January 11th on.  Thanks to a generous donor there will be a nice catalog, too.

 It will feature a multitude of gallery shows, studio demos and special events intended to allow those interested in this rich yet often ignored medium to learn first hand and up close what Denver printmakers and print studios have to offer. Here’s a link: http://moprint.org/ You can upload your own event there.

I’ll post an image of the larger works when I receive a file from the photographer. In the mean time, above is a smaller one as a preview of sorts.

Categories
Art Shows Uncategorized

Zip Do Done

Some shots of my Zip 37 show with fellow Monotype artist Randy Hughes. It was a fun opening with quite a few visitors since then.
I’ve been writing a post about color, as it has seemed to pop up in my work lately, but as always, it has bogged down a bit it the first draft state. Soon!

20130825-141628.jpg

20130825-141719.jpg

20130825-141748.jpg

Categories
Art Shows Uncategorized

Judgement Day

Core New Art Space is at 900 Santa Fe Dr, in the Santa Fe Art District.
Core New Art Space is at 900 Santa Fe Dr, in the Santa Fe Art District.

I was recently asked to jury a show at Core New Art Space, a co-op gallery I used to be a member of in the 80’s. The show’s theme was “Horizontal Line”. Here are some thoughts from a Juror’s Statement I wrote for the entrants and show-goers.

Jurying a show (my first time solo) is fun and tough. Fun, in that there was a lot of great work, and I’m sure I’ll be meeting new artists at Friday night’s opening at Core New Art Space.

Tough, as I had to leave out a lot of work I did like to create a tight and focussed show, which was a priority. Above is a teaser photo. This was taken just after jurying finished, so any work glimpsed here is in the show.

One can never explicate a set of hard and fast rules for such a time-specific and ad-hoc process as jurying a show. It is common to say that jurying is subjective, and not so common to explain how that affects a given set of choices, so I’ll address that here. My objective was to give a good accounting of work that engaged the theme “Horizontal Line” in the context of a professionally presented art show. If work engaged the theme in an original and professionally adept way, I wanted it in the show. If it failed on some level, I wanted it out. A complementary concern was to find a show that fit the space well, and that created some very tough decisions.

In addition to work that thematically or technically excelled and which I juried in immediately; or alternatively, work juried out quickly as it fell short of the mark; There was a t least 50% of the work that required a real decision on my part. I’ll give you some of my intentions, and beliefs and define some terms here to illuminate that process.

As to theme, I confess to a bias in favor of metaphor and visual complexity, as I tried to outline on my own and Core’s Facebook pages: “‘Horizontal Line’ is a very simple theme but carries complex implications, including landscape, narrative and time. I’ll be looking for entries that have thematic energy…”. So some entries were well presented and fit the theme in a basic way, but were left out in favor of more complex works that presented narrative or visual metaphor. This is defined as complex colors that communicated tension or ambiguity, surprising or subversive forms within the theme, or hidden narratives. However, I’ll admit to inconsistency here, in that there were a couple of pieces that were somewhat tangential to the theme, whose strength in conception and execution made them impossible to leave out, no matter how many times I tried.

Technical concerns: Core New Art Space has been around for 30-plus years, and has presented a lot of young artists early in their careers, including me. Though work with marginal presentation or technical skills is always welcome if it is thematically strong, I recommend self-jurying your own work before entering.  Then devote more time and resources to conception, presentation, and materials and enter fewer, stronger works. It’s good to try a number of shows, yes, but three pieces that are marginally presented and tangential to the theme aren’t better than one that engages the theme and is attractively presented.

Also,  I believe larger work, though it’s often hard to sell in this city often provides the best route to developing and finishing an idea. This can be seen in my choices for “Best of Show” ( not a hard choice; its sense of narrative from an idealized, abstract, distant horizon to an all too real foreground fenceline ), and “Honorable Mention”  another large piece with a real sense of depth and conceptual resolution. Many smaller pieces in the show might’ve made honorable mention, but I decided on only one.

Thanks to all that entered, even those who were not included. I could well have made a second, smaller, non-thematic show that is just as attractive. Thanks to Core members who left me alone to make my own decisions and mistakes. I’ll discuss and advocate for work in the show at a Gallery talk at 3 Pm, Sunday July 28. It will be hard for me to comment on work not in front of me, but I’ll be happy to dialog about the show and theme in general.

 

 

Categories
Summer Art Market

Street Wise

 

Summer Art Market, 2013
Summer Art Market, 2013

I talked last time about organizational things that make the Art Students League Summer Art Market a favorite show of mine. Details like this make a show meaningful and worthwhile for both artist and public. But what makes it personal and fun- people. The SAM has retained, throughout its growth, the feel of a neighborhood block party. That makes it fun to do all the work.

 

I’m following up on this show in case anyone wondered how it went for me. It was great! I had a lot of help this year, so physically it was easier, though it’s always draining, especially when the heat hits. But just talking to all the people is really rewarding.

 

I get a lot of returning buyers at this show. They are very loyal, very enthusiastic about my work and the League and the SAM as well. One woman, Nicole, told me that her entire art collection comes from this one show!

 

The usual Saturday morning feeding frenzy didn’t really happen this year. Instead, it was steady traffic all weekend long. There are a lot of events in Denver every weekend now, but somehow people still made time for SAM. It’s become a destination for longtime and beginning collectors alike. I can’t recall this happening before, but this year, Sunday had more sales than Saturday. Overall, it was my 2nd or 3rd best show ever, so I was very happy.

 

Owen and Jennifer, my brother and his wife, always come down to help break down. We had beers toward the end of the show, and my friend Dee and her friend came by, we had a lot of laughs when we should have been packing up, but when we did, the traffic and loading was smooth and easy. Then Owen and Jen and I went for pizza and tasty craft beers in our neighborhood. The show pays bills yes, but also serves as a great social occasion. I meet new friends there, too, then have to be reminded of their names next year, though I try to remember.

 

It usually takes me a week or two to get back into a steady schedule after this show, but I don’t have that luxury this year. A workshop begins tomorrow, a large piece is being shipped to Connecticut, and this web site needs a bit of fleshing out. So I spent a couple of days watching soccer and now- back to work.

 

Related side note: I was really too busy preparing for the show and didn’t notice that several comments had come in on the new site. It turns out that though I criticized WP’s clunky, glitchy publishing software, their spam defense is great. Too great- among the many links for “Fake Oakley Sunglasses” etc, I found several comments from friends and comrades. I must have assumed I didn’t need to check the “approve” list- rookie mistake. I’ll learn, and I apologize for late replies.

 

I welcome comments and discussion of any topical matter, really, and in the next few weeks I’ll link to some of my favorite blogs and sites to get the discussion rolling.

Categories
Art Shows

Street People

The artist will see you now...
The artist will see you now…

 

Art shows of the street fair variety have become popular.They come in a wide range of styles and sizes, but what makes for a good one?

Many new show are popping up along with the many that already have long histories. Organizers of art festivals typically charge $4-500 for a booth spot for the opportunity to meet those new potential collectors. It’s a real benefit for artists, especially emerging ones.  At my favorite show, the Art Students League Summer Art Market, I see more new and returning collectors and would-be collectors than I see in all the year’s other shows combined. It’s a lot of work, but worth it. Other attractions are thrown in to create a crowd: food, music, merchandise sales. But the main attraction at a show should be the art, and there, not all shows are created equal.

Some shows, especially newer shows, don’t seem to put much thought into just who is showing. With the drive to sell all available booth space, there’s a temptation to welcome all comers. Democratic, yes, but often repetitious and limited for this reason: If not deliberately balanced by a jury or by category quotas, most shows are heavy on photography and crafts such as jewelry and stained glass. These are the people who have always found the art show circuit to be a good way to make money, and they apply in large numbers.

A new festival, such as ArtStir, which was held for the first time at Denver Pavilions downtown this last weekend, can be flooded with these sorts of exhibitors, leading to a large spread of artistic intention, and wacky pricing. Some booths seemed to feature unique personal visions. Many others showed fairly routine wildlife images, or tchotchke-like items for home decor.  Photography, though clearly one of the century’s great art forms, is also often used as hobby or craft by those who simply love wildlife and mountains.  Jewelry can be creative and fun, but low prices and stock-in-trade designs don’t attract the kind of crowd a show needs to sustain itself. An art show, even a street-level one, needs to be curated for diversity and creativity, or dedicated art buyers get bored and leave, leaving only lookers and strollers. Hey! Where’s the beer tent?

Another difference in a quality show and a newer or less curated show? Reproductions. These mostly take the form of “art prints” or “Giclee prints” which are digital images printed onto canvas or good paper. It’s one of the nicest forms of reproduction one can find, but essentially, they are fancy posters.

Giclees and “art prints”  can really muddy the waters for traditional fine art printmakers such as me, since they are deliberately marketed as “fine art prints”, even though they are machine reproductions. Some shows control for this confusion by setting quantity limits on clearly marked reproductions that can be sold, but many, such as last weekend’s ArtStir, clearly do not. I saw one booth that was nearly ALL giclee-style reproductions with only a small legend, e.g. ‘canvas print’ to help customers distinguish. The organizers should know better.

By contrast, the Cherry Creek Festival places a target on number of exhibitors in each category and clear, strict limits on what can be displayed. Exhibitors juried in to the show tend to be polished in their work as well as their presentation, but this, along with high end booth fees naturally leads to a higher price scale.

The Art Students League Summer Art Market offers one of the more pure selections in town, as it controls by category and no reproductions whatsoever are allowed. By coincidence, this means no jewelry or photography since only things taught at the school are allowed ( this may change, as the school has formed an alliance with Colorado Photographic Arts Center to team up on photography classes).

At the same time, the League resisted charging market value booth fees for a long time, allowing novice artists to try their hand and learn the trade. Even now, fresh new faces and students can enter by demonstrating involvement at the League, and simply teaming up to defray costs.  Faculty and established professional artists make for a nice mix of work. Yet prices remain within a reasonable range, since many showing have talent, but no commercial track record.

The Summer Art Market features food and music, demos and kids’ activities. But the League makes few mistakes when it comes keeping the focus on the actual art and artists. The show is very interesting and walkable with wide lanes and a variety of styles. Many people make it a must-see each year and the dynamic, especially on Sunday morning, is relaxed and sociable. That makes it a favorite destination for people looking to add to or start their collections, and for artists like me, our favorite show of the year.

 

 

Categories
Monotypes Summer Art Market

House Keeper

I hope to write a proper post soon, as it’s been a while. I’ve been pretty busy, ironic since there’s actually plenty to talk about. But to keep things fresh, here’s a link to what I’ve been working on in the studio.


I like the house images, but obviously did not want get away from the interiors, either, and the best way I can explain that is, the most wide open spaces are always inside one’s head. I’ll try to explain more thoroughly soon.

For now, that’ll have to do. But at least you know that the Squish is staying out of trouble!
Categories
Summer Art Market Workshops

Blue Fox


Just to wrap up on my previous post on a series of sketches I’d been doing in the print studio. Here is the final version, at least for now, as I’m not sure how or whether to pursue the idea.


I’m already working on a different thread, and you can get a preview of small work-ups for that over on my Facebook page.

It’s nice to be busy in the studio in mid April (and I have been), because I find the rush of logistical and publicity details somewhat distracting as May winds down, with the first show approaching in June. That will be the Art Students League Summer Art Market, a fun but exhausting show in south Capitol Hill.

After that comes The Boulder Open Fest in July on the Mall, a gallery show at Zip 37 Gallery in North Denver in early August, and possibly, the Modernism show at the Stock Show Arena near Labor Day.

I guess I should also put in a plug for my 8-week workshop at the ASLD starting in late June. You can search my name for current workshops at any time. A Fall workshop will be announced soon, and you’ll notice a one-day Summer Sampler in August if you just can’t commit the time for the longer classes. I’ve grown quite attached to bright sunny mornings in the Art Students League print room, and I’ve made some great friends there!
RSS
Instagram