A Different Kind of Courthouse Artist
A Different Kind of Courthouse Artist

Dr. Siffert, 90, a former chairman of the orthopedic surgery department at Mount Sinai Medical Center, is a self-taught artist and printmaker. He carves the woodcuts and, to make the prints, uses watercolor pigments rather than oil-based paints or inks. Some of his prints dance a tango of fiery colors; others are subdued.

“People ask me how come I’m doing woodcuts,” Dr. Siffert said. “I played around with drawings. I did linoleum. I didn’t like the medium. It’s too soft. It didn’t give me any sense of playback. The other thing is, as an orthopedic surgeon, the medium I work in is bone, and wood and bone are really very good for getting the results I want.”

Via Utrecht Twitter feed.

Good morning, friends. I know I've been saying I'm going out to paint any minute now, but truly, it's stifling out there. Also in here, but at least I have a couple of fans blowing on me at all times. In penance, will try to get a few more of the broken links on the side fixed.
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Labels: art, printmaking

- posted by Cynthia @ 10:00 AM | | | Link |

 
Art Reminders
A whole bunch of them for this weekend (sorry to be so tardy about it all):

Spudnik Press benefit ("Silent Auction, Loud Event") on June 6th at Happy Dog Gallery. Yes, you will have the opportunity to bid on 3 of my robot prints.

Spudnik Press Fundraiser Party!
Celebrate & Support 2 years of printmaking
Saturday, June 6, 2009
6 pm - 1 am

6 - 10 pm: Silent Auction
10 - 1 am: Party (with DJ)
Door: Free!

Happy Dog Gallery
1542 N Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622
------------------------------------------------------------

Simply Chicago (oddly enough, not in Chicago, tho close) has work from the Evanston Art Center Print Shop -- a lot of it, a lot of really good stuff. I saw some of it when I dropped off my pieces, and if you come by, you will be shocked at how good it is.

A lot of framed and unframed work, plus jewelry, cards, etc. Sorry to be so very late with this (the opening starts in 45 minutes, but it's up for a month).

Simply Chicago Art
1318 Oakton
Evanston IL 60202

1:00-5:00 Artist reception

Julian Cox
Mark Hudson
Diane Kast
Ausrine Kerr
Cynthia King
Grace Kroll
Jessica Q Lucas
Beth McKenna
Margaret Roche
Yvi Russell
Ann C Schmidt
Tery Veras
Joe Taylor

---------------------------------------
Finally, the Evanston Art Center Noyes Print Shop has its Spring Print show in the basement at the shop (I just found out about this, oddly enough, even though I'm apparently in it). It's this Sunday afternoon (I think) -- will update with actual hours. The show will be up for at least a month. Since I'm there every Friday morning, you can always drop by then to see the work. All unframed, pinned to the wall. I'll try to get more info to you soon.

Now I suppose I must get dressed.

Labels: art, printmaking

- posted by Cynthia @ 12:09 PM | | | Link |

 
The Ultimate Woodcut


HT to Becca Case.

Am trying to find all you printmakers out there, but still fumbling around. Have posted a link to Inkteraction on the side**, and it's always worth doing a search on "printmaking" in Twitter. Am sure everyone is gathering somewhere I'm not, like Facebook or something. Maybe they're just doing actual work.

**Because of too much spam and weird stuff, Inkteraction is now by invitation only. If you don't know a printmaker who's a member, I don't know how you can join. Chicken/egg stuff.

Labels: art, printmaking

- posted by Cynthia @ 2:47 PM | | | Link |

 
Invasive Species -- Spring


Click on it for a bigger image. This is my submission for the PrintZero exchange. It's stone litho, intaglio, and stencil all on a relief background. If I'd had time, I might have thrown in silkscreen for the full monte. The background is really a little more yellowy-greenish than it may appear -- is done on cream BFK.

Am dying to see the submissions. The Iowa exchange postcards I got back were really great this time around, tho only one or two actually stuck to the theme -- feel ashamed of my hideous aquatint, so ashamed I may end up redoing it.

So, folks. When/where is the next exchange? I may be forced to work on Darkdevil County or paint if I can't find one.

Or go outside and groove on the amazing weather.

Labels: art, printmaking

- posted by Cynthia @ 10:47 AM | | | Link |

 
PrintZero Studios Print Exchange Deadline Extended
... a little bit to May 23. So you may still have time.

More at the PrintZero Studios site.

Good afternoon, friends. Is 80 degrees, perfect, green, dry. Supposed to be 90 tomorrow. I may actually go and paint outdoors, tho would be gilding the lily. Is so perfectly beautiful -- tulips still crisp, lilacs bouncy, light still pouring through the canopy of trees near my house -- and uncut lawns everywhere. Think the grass suddenly grew so fast (and it was in the 40s over the weekend) that no one has cut yet. Or maybe they're conserving cash -- do I detect fewer lawn service trucks around?

If so, bad news for the lawn guys. Never a silver lining for some of us.

Labels: art, printmaking

- posted by Cynthia @ 5:45 PM | | | Link |

 
Art Reminders
Trying to get back into stuff after being away is tough. Am glad I pushed and got the PrintZero stuff out the door before I left -- so unusual for me to get stuff done ahead of time.

So. Wilmette Public Library (I have a print in it) Friends of the Library juried show opens tomorrow, Friday, May 15 with a reception from 6 to 8 (I think). Directions are here. It runs through June 26. Don't know who the jurors were this year -- show depends on having good ones, obviously.

Evanston Art Center benefit is this Saturday, May 16. The center needs your help -- and you can buy one of the few left in my first edition of the Gnomish Hills print. All of the artwork from the show is online. Don't know if you can put in phone bids or not, but I imagine you can. Things generally move briskly at the live event, however. Mine has always sold for well above the minimum.

Finally, advance warning for the Spudnik Press benefit ("Silent Auction, Loud Event") on June 6th at Happy Dog Gallery. I will likely contribute a robot unless Angee tells me not to. Will post more as the info becomes available. It is going to be a huge, funnest event.

Spudnik Press Fundraiser Party!
Celebrate & Support 2 years of printmaking
Saturday, June 6, 2009
6 pm - 1 am

6 - 10 pm: Silent Auction
10 - 1 am: Party (with DJ)
Door: Free!

Happy Dog Gallery
1542 N Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622

Labels: art, printmaking

- posted by Cynthia @ 4:33 PM | | | Link |

 
Drained
Working on the edition of 15 for the PrintZero exchange -- doing a fairly complex print -- relief background with stencil overprinted with stone litho and a little plastic drypoint plate.

Knew, of course, I should have printed more backgrounds while I had the color already mixed. On the whole, the litho printing went well -- only one upside down image, one odd one where I must have stopped the press before the entire image was printed, two with odd smudges of the wrong color, and one with clumpy ink filled with fibers so that the ink stuck to the paper and then pulled the paper away.

Realize now I probably should have done the intaglio first, but I knew the litho would be faster, and I hoped I could get all done with it today.

Wrong.

Would still be in the print studio except on Sundays they kick you out early.

So will drink some wine, and start again tomorrow.

Tear paper. Match ink. Make background. Let it dry. Open stone. Print stone. Ink plate. Print plate.

Rinse and repeat...

God, hope not.

Labels: art, printmaking

- posted by Cynthia @ 5:52 PM | | | Link |

 
Poor Planning
... has left me with one pair of oversized plaid pants and a t-shirt with "Paradise Island -- Nassau" and someone saying "oh shit" on it in tiny white letters as a shark gobbles him up. All else is in dryer, queued for washer, or in washer, so am sitting here sockless as well in ratty robe staring out at the lovely, non-snowing weather, biding my time.

All in the neighborhood have chosen today, Earth Day, to mow and chew and saw outdoors, so is deafening, even with windows still hermetically sealed against the winter winds (you can never be too careful in April).

Am anxious to sit outside and draw or paint, however. Possibly cows. Went last week to the Wagner Farm, first time in ever so long, and found the sights and smells calming.

The henhouse seemed so very familiar from visits to my great-aunt's farm in Massachusetts, where it was the duty of children to gather their own breakfast else go without. They didn't have running hot and cold water either, or a bathroom, just a kitchen pump and a gas stove with a "boiler". I remember being small enough to sit in the sink as the old woman scrubbed at me with a washcloth.

When visiting I slept in a bedroom with tiny pink roses on the wallpaper that always smelled like tiny pink roses that had died a long time ago, but never of the chamberpot that lived under the dressing table, since it was my duty to bring it downstairs every morning. In a drawer in this dressing table was an old diary that I remember trying to interpret, but never could. Too local, too adult, too cryptic, too much underlining, too many secret abbreviations.

At some point the pantry was converted to a bathroom, central heating was put in, and the chickens departed, leaving coops behind that disappeared by the visit the following year, my last. The great-aunt (and uncle) were gone.

Labels: art, printmaking

- posted by Cynthia @ 11:39 AM | | | Link |

 
By Popular Demand

I give you Monster Imposter, the postcard. Click on it for a somewhat larger size. It's a jpg of an aquatint, so it's somewhat grainy, and the aquatint was shitty to start. This is not my best work, trust me. I may try the image again from scratch on a clean piece of zinc or copper. Even a drypoint on plastic would probably be better. And this is one of the proofs that didn't make it into the exchange edition (you'll note the bad wipe of the right hand edge).

Excuses, excuses...

Labels: art, printmaking

- posted by Cynthia @ 1:54 PM | | | Link |

 
Monster Imposter
Finished it, with 20 minutes to spare before they kicked me out of the building: The evidence:



A good thing I always have my handy camera with me.

Here they are:



Infreekingcredible, if I do say so myself, tho maybe my color choices weren't the best. May use same image for another small edition. Had printed it with a double drop and in 2 colors, with different text as a sample, and really liked it, but for this exchange, was too difficult to do consistently in time I had available.

Of course, if I'd started work on it earlier...

The alert reader may note that the body of the monster (or the imposter) seems to be that of Kyle, a character from my Darkdevil County game -- and they would be correct. The head is that of another character you haven't seen yet named Galahad, who is indeed a monster, if you call a clone of bits and pieces of animals and people (plus some pinot noir) thrown in a monster.

One more project (plus taxes) to do, then will get back to the game. I mean it this time.

Labels: art, clones, Darkdevil County, etching, printmaking

- posted by Cynthia @ 3:28 PM | | | Link |

 
Not the Best Printing Day Ever
Just saying...

Tried to rush thru a print for the Iowa State U. Postcard Print Exchange but it didn't work so hot TWICE.

First time, I put the ground on too thinly and it fell off halfway thru the line etch. This was bad, since I had polished the surface and cleaned it to a mirror shine. It was perfect. Did I mention that the line disappeared too? It did. Hideous. Not worth reworking.

Ok, so transferred the image again to the other side of the plate (we're talking copper) which had (I thought) a faint aquatint, nothing awful.

Wrong. Image ended up looking murky and ugly, but the line etch was ok (30 minutes -- should have gone longer, I think).

Ok, so now everyone in the shop said I should just burnish out stuff here and there. Once again, I rushed. Should have done the organized thing like I usually do (with the mockup, the timings marked on the mockup, etc. etc. -- all very anal).

Didn't, so burnished out the wrong parts. My monster's face looks more like a clown's face.

May have one more go at it tomorrow, see if I can do something to the background.

Or not. Don't have any images to post at the moment, but will fess up later.

Labels: art, etching, printmaking

- posted by Cynthia @ 6:39 PM | | | Link |

 
SGC Exchange Prints: Gnomish Hills

"Gnomish Hills," by Cynthia King

Finally getting around to documenting the edition of 12 plus about 5 proofs and a few paper tests. One of the proofs is going to the Evanston Art Center benefit, so if you want one and didn't get it in your pack, that's the first place to look. (I'll do a second series of this plate at some point, as long as the aquatint holds up -- it's a zinc plate after all).

Here's the original mockup:



I reversed and rescaled the original drawing, printed it out, and worked out the tones with charcoal (yes, actual dirty-finger charcoal, not the computer stuff). For you non-printmakers, I had to reverse it, since you have to work with a reversed image on the etching plate itself.

It went in and out of the acid bath probably 6 times, stopping out at intervals from about 5 seconds to the final one (the doorways) about 4 minutes total.

For comparison, here's the original drawing as sucked into my Darkdevil County demo. (I'll probably go back into it with color at some point):



And here's the line etch. For some reason I added an extra mountain:



I copied the drawing at Kinkos and transfered it to the plate using a gum transfer, supplemented with graphite where the image was too light. All this manipulation skewed the image this way and that way a bit. Luckily, I'm not being graded on it.

Here it is at the show, top right on the 2nd display wall from the left (click to enlarge):



Here's the whole edition:



And what I looked like after finishing it. Oops, forgot the apron.

Labels: art, Darkdevil County, etching, printmaking, SGC, writing

- posted by Cynthia @ 10:39 AM | | | Link |

 
SGC Exhaustion
Conference done, am trying to sort stuff out and get back to "normal".

So many images, so many people talked to. Volunteering was great, but meant I didn't actually see a lot of the conference, if by conference you mean panels and keynotes and demos, since I spent much of time checking in everyone's exchange portfolios and acting as bouncer outside the rooms where demos were being held.

And drinking a lot of reception wine. Thank god for reception wine. And food, of course.

Still unloading the swag bag (good and useful itself). Don't want to see my official volunteer red sweatshirt (and by sweat, I really mean it -- P.U.) again for a long long time.

I should have taken a picture when I had the chance (speaking of reception wine), but congrats to our very own Tom Warchol for having a piece selected by Warrington Colescott himself for the Southern Graphics Council 2009 Traveling Exhibit. I will try to provide links at some point.

One of the high points for me was seeing the "History of Printmaking" tableau vivant, performed by a group of Columbia College alums. It was less a tableau, and not at all stills from Colescott's History of Printmaking series (on view at Perimeter Gallery, BTW, along with his more recent work) than the personal history of Colescott himself, with images, actions, and fabulous music.

It was a complete theater experience, close to the short playlets presented by the "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind" group. Will see if I can get better credits for this work. I spoke to the director who said the group is a fan of silent theater and miming and all those things and collaborates from time to time on theater pieces. I was the volunteer for the first showing of this event, and Colescott himself was in the audience. I can't imagine what it might be like to see your life laid out like that.

UPDATE: Printeresting had been blogging from the conference and has a really good rundown on the panels and keynotes, and other stuff, plus lots of pix. I'll get mine up Real Soon.

Labels: art, printmaking, SGC

- posted by Cynthia @ 10:14 AM | | | Link |

 
Print Zero Studios (Seattle) Print Exchange
An email from Brian Lane this morning urges me to tell you about the Print Zero exchange that usually gets upwards of 300 entries:

Print Zero Studios in Seattle is pleased to announce PRINTEXCHANGE #6.
>
> Participants must create an edition of 15 prints, on 5 x 7 inch paper, using
> any printmaking technique (no strictly digital prints). Deadline for receiving
> editions is May 15, 2009
>
> In turn participants will receive 13 prints from other artists and the exchange
> will be exhibited in Seattle, as well as a few other venues which are in the
> works... stay tuned.
>
> Our last exchange had 291 participants from 17 countries and was exhibited
> at 7 venues across the United States and Denmark!
>
> Please visit www.PrintZeroStudios.com to download the exchange prospectus
> for complete details, see past print exchanges as well as what we have been
> up to. (New studio space in Seattle, a catalog, etc)
>
> Please forward this to your fellow printmakers, print studios, students,
> online art groups etc.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Brian Lane - printzero2@gmail.com
> Jeremy Cody - printzero@gmail.com
>
> visit the site: www.PrintZeroStudios.com

Sounds good. I love these things. Will post the info about my SGC print soon, I promise.

Labels: art, printmaking

- posted by Cynthia @ 7:42 AM | | | Link |

 
Southern Graphics Council Meeting Set to Begin
As a prelim, download the Bad at Sports preview and interview with various people here.

Have been basically offline this past week as a volunteer for the SGC or preparing the exchange portfolio for it (DONE DONE DONE!!! Signed and freshly glassined this afternoon).

Will be spending a hefty amount of time at this thing, so if you see me (real name is Cynthia King, if you hadn't figured it out by now), say hi.

Will try to twitter a bit from the conference, but am sure that with 1,500 people registered, others will do a better job on their 3G iPhones etc. Yes, City of Chicago -- this is the pre-registration count -- art packs them in. Venues run from Evanston (where we have a big show called "Handmade" covering 2 floors at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center -- 30 something artists, 60 something prints -- show is up and is gorgeous) all the way to Pilsen and out to DeKalb, plus everywhere in the middle.

Am so excited to see all this stuff -- almost all of the exhibits are free to outsiders, and many are up now and will be for at least a few weeks more.

If you don't know what contemporary printmaking is all about, you must must must check out some of these shows.

Good place to start is at the Columbia College/Southern Graphics Council website.

Labels: art, printmaking, SGC

- posted by Cynthia @ 3:50 PM | | | Link |

 
Audrey Niffenegger Receives $5 Million Advance for Second Novel
GO AUDREY!!

BTW, it's still possible to buy one of her prints for under 500 bucks. I loved the Time Traveler's Wife. The last time I saw her she was calling the new book the "doppelganger" book -- I, for one, will be standing in line to get it. I may even fork over bucks and see the movie (which is apparently supposed to be out in February -- I can't imagine it'll be good, so maybe I won't).

I guess this may explain why she hasn't been teaching the Wednesday night printmaking class up at the North Shore Art League this past semester or so....

Labels: art, printmaking, writing

- posted by Cynthia @ 12:00 AM | | | Link |

 
9th Iowa State University Postcard Print Exchange
It's that time of year again:

Two of Five: 9th Annual University Print Society Postcard Print Exchange

The Iowa State University Print Society will host the 9th Annual Postcard Print Exchange in 2009. The theme for this year's exchange is "Two of Five," and artists are to select any two of the following five words as the basis for your 4x6 prints:

star
imposter
hallucinogenic
monster
fast

You may use any form of these words, such as monster, monstrous, monstrously, monstrosity, etc. You are encouraged to consider all possible variations and meanings of these words.

Requirements

Any editionable printmaking technique (woodcut, litho, intaglio, photography, silkscreen, digital printmaking, etc.) may be used. Please do not send monoprints/monotypes. Each of the prints sent must be identical to the others.

The prints must be 4"x6".

Thirteen identical prints should be sent individually as postcards to the address provided below. (Each card must be stamped and will bear the markings of travel and the postal service. Do not send the cards together in one envelope.)

Include the following information on the back of each card:

Your return address
April Katz's address (see below)
A list of the process(es) used
Optional: your e-mail address

Deadline
Entries are due Friday, April 10, 2009.

The Exchange

After receiving everyone's postcard prints, the University Print Society will randomly divide up the cards and you will be sent 12 new and different prints from other participants (hence the "exchange"). The University Print Society will keep one of the 13 for its collection.

Postage for returning the 12 new prints to each participating artist will be paid by the University Print Society; donations are requested to help cover the cost of return postage. Send cash or checks payable to the University Print Society. Suggested donations: $2 students, $3 others, $4 international. Send more if you can, less if you can't.

Send postcard prints and postage donations to:

April Katz
University Print Society
158 College of Design
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-3092

Please send questions and comments to the University Print Society president, Kris Engle, redninj4@gmail.com.

Labels: art, printmaking

- posted by Cynthia @ 12:53 PM | | | Link |

 
Go, Robots!
Thanks to all who bought prints of Security Robot #13 at various sales this winter (just picked up my check from sale at Chicago Printmakers Collaborative). And the card-buyers too.

Please come back here if you need more robots, cards, or anything else. Will perhaps set up a store at Etsy, or not.

Later.

Labels: art, printmaking, robots

- posted by Cynthia @ 4:52 PM | | | Link |

 
Aldo Crommelynck, Master Printer, 1931-2008
And how a master. His was the hand and guidance behind many of the iconic works on paper of the past 50 years:

Aldo Crommelynck, a Printmaker for Artists Including Picasso, Dies at 77

He was also game. For Chuck Close’s “Spitbite” etchings, Mr. Crommelynck, a chain smoker, contributed his own saliva to the acid mixture used to incise the image on the plate.

“I think it was all those Gauloise cigarettes Aldo smoked,” Mr. Close told the curator Terry Sultan in 1988. “My spit never seemed to work as well.”

The slideshow that goes with this obit is brief but gives you non-printmakers an idea of what a fabulous print looks like. And for the printmakers, one more reason to resign yourself to how talentless you are.

Labels: art, printmaking

- posted by Cynthia @ 12:26 AM | | | Link |

 
Ya Wimps
Where was everybody this morning? Dragged myself out in literally sub-zero weather to open the frigid print studio, sat there all by myself for hours, depressed, nothing to do but tear paper and weep from lonliness.

I guess many consider this a 4-day 5-day weekend -- snow day, MLK day on Monday, Inauguation Day on Tuesday. Ok. Fine. Be that way.

But since I did leave the house I could stop off at Walgreens for breakfast:



Thank goodness for cellphone cameras.

Labels: EAC, junk food, printmaking

- posted by Cynthia @ 12:32 PM | | | Link |