Author: Hggns
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Counting On The Arts
The most recent biennial Colorado Business Committee for the Arts Economic Activity Study has been released. It uses Scientific and Cultural Facilities District raw numbers in a statistical model developed by Deloitte Consulting using U.S. Department of Commerce multiplier data. In short, “quantifying the economic and social relevance of arts, cultural and scientific organizations in the metro area.”…
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Color in Monotypes
Most printmakers use a somewhat limited color palette. Editions of hand-pulled prints often require a separate plate for each color- which can lead to a fair amount of time and expense. This has lead to a tradition of very strategic and inventive color use in printing, and its growth as an advertising medium since the…
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Coming Out of the Refrigerators
From the 20’s through the 40s, both newspaper comics and comic books featured women creators and tough smart female characters. That changed with the 50’s move toward conformity and censorship in all media, but especially comics, deliberately infantilized during the Wertham witch hunt, though the medium had previously appealed to all ages. Women often appeared…
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Winter-Spring Update on Workshops and Shows
Winter-Spring Doings: I hope all of you had a wonderful autumn, and a great Holiday/Solstice season! I’ve got a lot going on this winter/spring, and I’ll be getting off to an earlier start in 2017. I hope to see you for one of these events. Workshops: The next session of Monotypes For Beginners begins January…
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America Goes Low: Art, Culture, and Political Healing
I’ve got some news about workshops and shows to post, but first, a little commentary on the current political regression: I don’t make a lot of political commentary on this page, as it’s a bit counter- productive to what I’m trying to do here. My art isn’t demonstratively political, I can at least provide a…
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How and Why to Do Black and White in Monotypes
“Say, it’s only a paper moon Sailing over a cardboard sea” -A Paper Moon, Billy Rose/ E.Y.Harburg/Harold Arlen Color is an integral component of all art. We regularly talk of “color” when describing sounds in music, for example. But in talking color in art, we often forget the two colors that are not considered colors…
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The World Is a Funny (Book) Place
I read some big, brainy, brick shaped books this summer. A respite was inevitable, and when my eyes want a rest, I very often pick up some comics. Comics, A Global History 1968 to the Present, Dan Mazur and Alexander Danner: The 50’s suppression of comics in America had echoes in Europe and Japan, but…
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Fall News
Fall Doings: I’ve got a lot going on this fall, after a quiet summer. I hope to see you for one of these events. Workshops: I’ve still got a couple coming up this fall. The next session of Monotypes For Advanced Beginners begins October 25 and runs until just before Thanksgiving. This is a follow-up…
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Book Porn
A computer crash and a temp job in a shorthanded college bookstore really cramped my writing though I do have plenty of raw first drafts, typed shakily into my phone or tablet on public transit. So I’m posting some summer reading commentary now as I try to catch up: I finished The Novel, A Biography.…
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A Brief Essay on How and Why to Make Monotypes
Monotypes, though simple, are very process-oriented and often defeat results-oriented art making. Change is built in to the creative process, and often, until change is addressed, satisfying prints don’t happen. We’ve let the word “print” become degraded and we often reflexively see them as a way of producing imitation paintings. The medium especially in recent…
