Interleaf • Summer 2014 - Los Angeles Printmaking Society
Transcription
Interleaf • Summer 2014 - Los Angeles Printmaking Society
Supplement to Newsprint From the President LA Print Space A fter a terrific two-year run, the LA PRINT SPACE at the Pacific Design Center is closing. On behalf of the LAPS community I would like to extend acknowledgements and thanks to those who worked to bring together the exhibits and programming. Cathy Weiss tirelessly led the space as Director, ensuring smooth operations. Cathy organized the first exhibition, Sea of Exchange, along with the Irish Film Festival Director, Lisa McLaughlin. Lisa assisted with funding the opening of the space. Ariell Brown efficiently managed the space for the first year and a half, from packing and unpacking work, managing the Facebook page, and installing/deinstalling exhibits. The last few months the space was open, Joni Allen took over for Ariell as gallery manager. Gallery interns Andrew Phillips and Joseph Alford assisted with exhibit installation and deinstallation, marketing efforts, and the day-to-day operations. Robert Brown volunteered on installing all but two of the exhibits, including organizing the preparator materials, prepping the gallery walls, hanging art and signage, and exhibit lighting. The LAPS Exhibition Committee assisted with organizing and installing various exhibitions. Miriam Dema worked on the first New Members Show. Sarah Pavsner organized the Man, Machine and Nature exhibit. Poli Marichal and Cathy Weiss coordinated the Heart of East L.A.: Self Help Graphics and Art show. The California Society of Printmakers exchange show, CA, L.A. and Beyond, was put together by Sheila Newmark. Ruth Weisberg and Cathy Weiss organized the Layers of Identity Jerusalem Print Workshop exhibition. Vinita Voogd worked on the Student Invitational, along with Juan Rosillo and Holly Jerger. Mary Sherwood coordinated The Press is My Paintbrush along with the LAPS 2013 New continued on page 6 The Last Hurrah! Summer 2014 The LAPS 2014 Juried Membership Show By Diane McLeod View of “The Last Hurrah at the Blue Whale” at LA Print Space at the Pacific Design Center (a.k.a. the Blue Whale) in West Hollywood, CA. M imi Williams’ linocut Stolen Moments could be likened to an Impressionist painting, a colorful, casual snapshot moment of a familiar interior setting. The dishes are piled high in the sink and any number of things could be happening out of frame, but the young bespectacled woman, hair piled high, arm and leg akimbo, is grabbing a few moments read from a book she is holding. By contrast, a woman facing the same direction as Mimi’s reader in Patricia Post’s Vigil holds only herself. Her hair is piled high, too, but its style and her dress are prim, older. Fixedly, she stares absorbed in something beyond the frame. This etching was dark and intriguing, particularly for the questions it raised. On the wall facing the entrance to the LAPS Print Space at the PDC there was no question what the Monty Python - like quartet of BP men, backsides to us, was up to; Pissing in the Deep Blue Sea in the Spring Time. Dirk Hagner’s letterpress and woodcut print was based on the traditional broadside printing format combining haiku, “not classically texted,” with typography of early continued on page 2 selected from 240 entries by traveling along the left-hand wall into a small gallery space, come back out, cross the front wall, go into the back gallery and come up the other side. Vice versa or by ambling anywhere you wished. Like a locomotive moving smoothly and rhythmically, the works of art were placed closely, equidistant down the lengths of the walls, the only unadorned space a back small gallery that for this final show in the PDC space was brim full of packing boxes, many very large. Janet Ballweg from Ohio was represented with a 4-color polymer plate intaglio, Little Daggers. From an on-going series of prints, this was a deceptively still and homey scene of two coffee cups on a kitchen table, patterned wall paper in the background as well as the shadow of a pull shade cord, somehow sinister. It ac- continued from page 1 American printed announcements. Classic haikus and pissing? “Dissonant visual elements are embedded to add some acidity to the perceived romantic notion haikus have acquired,” said Dirk in his statement. With similar brazenness and discordant content on the opposite end of the wall was the frontal image of a man in a cramped space on the throne, pants around his ankles, computer on his bare lap, eating a sandwich. McShitter, a linocut in exquisite detail by Carlos Barberana also brought contemporary images into old time Master Pieces of Art, explained Carlos, themes using their titles and compositions to i Pa- address difficult contemporary issues such as environmental pollution… You could view the LAPS 2014 Juried Membership Exhibition of 67 prints / Interleaf • Summer 2014 Left to right: Judy Chan, Diane McLeod and Annie Stromquist. The LAPS Board members decided to celebrate the gallery’s closing by opening up the final LAPS exhibition at the Pacific Design Center to the membership competition, a show that ran from May 23 - July 3, 2014. Judy Chan juried this show of diverse prints with multileveled imagery and techniques. She said that what didn’t make it in could easily comprise another excellent exhibition. As coordinator, I had the opportunity to “live” with these prints for a time and I’ll continue to share some insights into some favorites that came from this inspiring immersion experience. Half of the prints came from CA, the remainder from across the nation and Canada. Reflecting a sense of place were the diminutive woodblocks of Grant McGean from Canada, minimal and intriguing, one being the 7.5 x 7.5 inches Station House. They were inspired by his life in a Northern New Brunswick village. Also reflective of the place she lives, Idaho, was Armament, a woodcut by Deanna Glad. A strong and complex weaving image of stacked antlers, creating this image made Deanna “better appreciate the beauty and strength of the animals that dropped them.” complished her intent to evoke a “sense of waiting and wanting and a mixture of hope and despair.” Also dealing with relationship tensions, the big, bad wolf is front and center in Florence Alfano McEwin’s prints and Red Riding Hood is fighting back. In bold black, red and white, Let’s go Jack and Your Mother’s Coming tonight? are photo inta- glios with chine colle and collage. Powerful, rollicking, psychologically and media laden, they dealt with “a playful twist of angst and feminine empowerment,” You decide your favorite from the three 3-D entries. Michelle Murillos’ DNA Map in the Letters: Europe, screen print on glass, was interactive and done with an innovative revisionist works of the childhood tale. Of the many fine intaglios, two stood out for me, Katharine Gross’ 10 x 8 inches etching and drypoint Seduction and Eric Goldberg’s 6 x 18 inches Studioscape, his intent “to produce a quickening movement between observation and imagination.” Mary Tarango’s angular Atmosphere 4 was a pastel puzzle technique; a screen printing method with powdered glass sifted through a screen onto a glass plate. Tiny glass squares on the glass surface could be moved around. A wood engraving/artist book, ch’anel by Donna Westerman stood 4 inches high, 12 inches long and .5 deep. The fold-out revealed close observation and an enjoyment of what she viewed, completed with masterful execution. My Angels and Demons, Demons and Angels – the same one, stood 9 inches high, 32 inches wide and 40 an etching/aquatint. The print of Katharine, who is a master etcher, was dense with somewhat real and imagined creatures. The “Beauty and the Beast” which she says is the theme of her work, are metamorphosing, growing exaggerated sexual, sensual parts, delectably fascinating and naughty. This was an exquisitely detailed and time consuming drawing, realized meticulously on a copper plate — spellbinding. Eric, another etcher, “draws on plates of copper with a needle of steel.” With minimal color, like Katharine’s work, they also begin from carefully detailed drawings. His aren’t fantastic but rather realistic depictions of people on the street and a view from three windows of outside buildings. Their beauty was remarkable. Among the abstractions were Miles Lewis’ Angel, a cyanotype, screenprint and collograph strongly but minimally colored. It’s dynamic quality reflected of geometric pieces. A monoprint, it originated from the interesting perspective of “studying the history of both Eastern and Western landscape genres.” Judy Dekel’s monotype, There is a Season, completed with chine colle, was a colorful image of subtle beauty with meloncholoy overtones. inches long. It was a 3-sectioned intaglio repetition of a demon, frightened cat, an angel and a confused woman in the center. Printed with varying colors and stages of dissolution, it stood on a mylar base ladled with text from the title in various sizes and formats. Check out the LAPS printmakers website for more. Many thanks to all the volunteers, including exhibiting artists, who gave of their time and energies to make this exhibition possible. Special kudos to our gallery manager, Joni Allen, who many of you met through her thoughtful e-mails, phone calls and at the reception and to Ariell Brown as well. Joni’s multi-tasked involvement greatly helped to make possible our successful final show at the PDC. n Interleaf • Summer 2014 / 3 By Cathy Weiss, Director LA Print Space I t’s time to say goodbye to LA PRINT SPACE at the Pacific Design Center. We closed our doors on July 3rd after 2 years of amazing exhibitions. We are proud to say we had the only contemporary artist made prints and community space in Los Angeles! Part of our mission statement was to include the LA community, to go beyond our membership and be inclusive. We also extended ourselves to exchange shows bringing in the highest level of work from the Jerusalem Print Workshop. We were able to offer our membership and beyond the opportunity to participate in shows where thousands of people came to see art at the Pacific Design Center’s program Design Lab. Because of this we were able to continue our mission to educate by bringing printmaking to the LA community. We hope to find a new space to continue our journey in the near future. Until then please continue checking our website for all exhibitions and opportunities! n Here’s a recap of the shows we presented: • Ireland/LA Sea of Exchange • 2013 New Members Show • Man Machine Nature • Heart of East LA Self Help Graphics • Exchange Show With California Society of Printmakers • Layers of Identity: Prints from the Jerusalem Print Workshop • Student Invitational • The Press is My Paintbrush • 2014 New Members Show • Give and Take Exchange • Last Hurrah, Members Show / Interleaf • Summer 2014 Interleaf • Spummer 2014 / 5 Member News Leslie Brown, 7th Biennial 2014, Ontario Museum of History and Art, Apr. - May, 2014,Ontario, CA. Dirk Hagner, Made in California May. -Jun., 2014, Gallery of the city of Brea, CA; Society of American Graphic Artists 2014 Membership Exhibition, Aug. xx - Sept. xx., 2014, New York City, NY; Push and Pull, Los Angeles Printmaking Society and the City of Brea Art Gallery, Jul. 26 - Sept. 12, 2014, Brea, CA; Last Hurrah at the Blue Whale, LA Print Space, Los Angeles Printmaking Society member exhibition, Jul. 2014, West Hollywood, CA; Purchase of his artist’s book (W)here by the University of Utah for their Special Collection, Salt Lake City, UT. of the April 2014 issue of the Journal of the Print World titled “16 Remarkable Women in the Print World”; Noir City Magazine published by the Film Noir Foundation in CA, also featured IN MEMORIAM Martha Brundage, artist, LAPS member, and Pasadena City College professor has died. Born in 1938 in Whittier, CA and graduated from Art Center College of Design in the 1950s. Two decades later she earned a MFA at CSU Fullerton, focusing on printmaking. Her work, which specialized in lithography, was shown widely throughout southern California as well as nationally. an article about Ann and her work with the organization. Ann Chernow was featured with her picture in the front page article Regular Members -Changes Jon Goebel 200 W Kawili St Hilo, HI 96720 Cell: 808-895-6819 jerseypresyahoo.com Vanessa Hall-Patch [email protected] Raluca Iancu University of Tennessee School of Art 1715 Volunteer Blvd Knoxville, TN 379962410 Diane McLeod [email protected] Sarah Pavsner 2938 1/2 Triunfo Canyon Road Agoura, CA 91301 Michelle Winkler Masha Schweitzer, A Fine Affair, 310-598-9301 Matthew “Carson” Day 6110 Cahuenga Blvd. apt #10 North Hollywood, CA 91606 812-322-4798 [email protected] www.mcarsonday.com Traci A. Durfee 537 E, 3rd. Street Long Beach, CA 90802 978-361-6289 [email protected] www.tracidurfee.com Rebecca Harvey Pollack 2827 Putnam St. Los Angeles, CA 90039 323-333-5010 cell continued on page 1 Members show, assisted with many show installations, and kept the exhibition information up to date on the LAPS website and LAPS Facebook page. Give & Take was organized by Cathy Weiss, Holly Jerger, Sarah Pavsner and myself. Finally, Diane McLeod coordinated Last Hurrah at the Blue Whale, an appropriately titled membership exhibition. A special thank you goes out to the Board members and LAPS members not mentioned by name that volunteered time at the gallery, and to those members / Interleaf • Summer 2014 Sheila Newmark, Momentum, solo exhibition, Gallery 417, Jul. 10 - Aug. 13, 2014, 417 S. Hill St. downtown Los Angeles, CA. Dave Lefner, American Flashback, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Apr. - May, 2014, Laguna Beach, CA. Mary Sherwood Brock, Kay Brown, Poli Marichal, Marianne Sadowski, Noriho Uriu and Cathy Weiss, Washi: Printmaking with papers from Fuku, Muckenthaler Cultural Center, Jul. - Sept.28.. 2014, Fullerton, CA. Fethi Meghelli, Fragments: Tragedy and Hope, Kehler Liddell Gallery, May – Jun., 2014, New Haven CT. Tallmadge Doyle, Purchase Award 2013/14 of 3 prints for the permanent collection of Umpqua Community College, Roseberg, OR. Jessica Dunne, B. Sakata Garo, Jun., 2014, Sacramento, CA. Diane McLeod, Last Hurrah at the Blue Whale, LA Print Space, Los Angeles Printmaking Society member exhibition, Jul. 2014, West Hollywood, CA.. Arthur Geisert, From Pencil to Printed Page: Arthur Geisert’s ’Thunderstorm ‘, Jun. -Sept.14, 2014, Figge Art Museum, Davenport, IA. n 323-663-5156 home [email protected] New Regular Members From the President The Platt Gallery, American Jewish University, Aug. 10 – 28, 2014 Los Angles, CA; Push and Pull, Los Angeles Printmaking Society and the City of Brea Art Gallery, Jul. 26 - Sept. 12, 2014, Brea, CA; Boston Printmakers: From Palette to Plate”, Newport Art Museum, Aug. 30, 2014 – Jan. 4, 2015, Newport, RI; Layers of Identity ll, Arena Gallery, Aug. 2 – 30, 2014, Santa Monica, CA, – this exhibition travels to the Jerusalem Print Workshop, Jerusalem, Israel, Dec.18, 2014 – Feb. 13, 2015. Julie Hunter Bagis 2731 Angus St. Los Angeles, CA 90039 323-666-3898 [email protected] www.JulsPottery.com Leon Loughridge 2377 S. Downing St. Denver, CO 80210 303-956-2994 [email protected] www.dcartpress.com Ethan A. Rice 1817 Euclid St apt #1 Santa Monica, CA 90404 802-578-2080 [email protected] www.ethanarice.com John Tallacksen 1431 Valencia St. Los Angeles, CA 90015 FOR SALE Ingento 36-inch paper cutter in good condition. Put on wheels with extra shelves. New cost is over $800. $250 o.b.o. (949) 500-1886, Southern California. who supported the LA Print Space by attending the exhibits and events and by encouraging others to attend. Thank you to the exhibition jurors, live printing demonstrators, and those who gave talks at the space. Lastly, thank you to the participating artists and presses whose work embodied the timeliness of printmaking in the context of today’s art world. Two years of excellent programming at the LA PRINT SPACE contributed to sharing contemporary printmaking with the Los Angeles community. Michelle Rozic n 2014 LAPS FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS RECIPIENTS Taylor Guerra – CSU Long Beach — $500 Erin Kennedy –Saddleback College — $500 Nora Ayala – CSU LongBeach — $300 CONGRATULATIONS! Grand canal in front of Venezia “Sta Lucia” train station. Five weeks residence at Scuola Internazionale di Grafica a Venezia Printmaking in Venice E ven if this is not your first time visiting Venice, as soon as the train reaches the narrow stretch of land that links Venice to the mainland, you have the sense that you are about to experience a city like no other. Stepping out of the train station you find yourself in front of the Grand Canal in a city that has for the past 400 years developed uniquely on a small cluster of islands, without cars, bicycles or skate boards. I took the vapporeto, which is the local water bus, to the Scuola apartments, which By Juan Rosillo were easy to find with a sign on the door waiting for me. I rang the bell and the school director Lorenzo de Castro, greeted me with my keys to the school and the apartment. Next day at the school I met the studio manager, printmaker Roberta Rupi Feoli, who studied printmaking in Venice and at a University of Granada in Spain. The Scuola is meticulously organized with everything in its’ proper place labeled in Italian and English so it is very easy to start working. The acid and aquatint box are set apart for safety and there are beautiful sets of Italian roulettes, mezzotint rockers and tools in perfect condition for artists to use. There are various etching presses available in the open studio and you have your own studio space with table and a view, so you are dreaming an amazing feeling of being in this special place. Going to have my coffee, just a few steps away from the Scuola, where by the second day they know my name and my preferences, all this makes it hard not to fall in love with this city. The director and founder of the Interleaf • Summer 2014 / 7 Venezia “la Serenisima”. school is la signora Matilde de Castro, a veteran printmaker who has traveled extensively and visited numerous print studios around Europe. She is a true Venetian with all the grace. Everyone speaks English in the studio and there is another important person on the staff, Deirdre Kelly, originally from London, who has been living in Venice for more than 10 years. A talented artist herself, she is always ready to help and guide you during your residency. I established my working hours to accommodate time to see museums or walk through the city, which itself is a living museum. Venice gives one a unique feeling of being an antique city, but where people are going about their daily lives as Juan Rosillo and Matilde de Castro, Scuola studio director and professor. Lorenzo de Castro. Scuola internazionale di grafica a Venezia director. / Interleaf • Summer 2014 well. Visiting Venice when it is not full of tourists is always a plus. As one gets familiar with the city, which is only around 5 square miles, you can enjoy getting lost, favoring this place that has no parallel and thinking about the history of “La Serenissima”, home of some of the most important Renaissance and Baroque artists. A city without walls protected only by the water and by trade. Her history as always been as an open city and home to people from many different places, religions, and cultures; a city that since it’s founding in 421, has traded with all of the known world. This is where a book was printed in Hebrew in 1464, just 14 years after the Guthenberg Bible. By the late 1500’s there were more than 150 active print shops in Venice, among them Aldus Manutius, of Aldine Press, who was responsible for reviving and publishing all the Greek classics on “pocketbook” or octavo format, identified by the celebrated trademark of a dolphin wrapped around an anchor. When strolling this unique city at day or night you feel the resonance of the history of Venice and her people. A Venetian was the first woman to receive a doctorate from a university in 1678. The churches and museums are full of the works of Venetian painters, such as Bellini, Rosalba Carriera, Tiepolo, Tintoreto, and Titian. Venetian composers such as Monteverdi, Gabrieli, and Vialdi, are also celebrated and is the famous explorer Marco Polo. For the visitor, it is a wonderful place to explore with so many narrow pedestrian streets and scenic bridges over the canals. Trains and Water busses provide an easy way to visit nearby cities with inexpensive fares. I went to Padova and Vicenzamto Udine to visit the famous Print shop of Corrado Albicoco and his son Gianluca who are probably one of the most reputable printmakers in Italy and Europe. I found Venice an ideal destination to do printmaking and felt submerged and welcomed in the local culture. n First row, David Ferri, professor of printmaking, Cambridge University UK; local artist; back row, Pio Pioshi, Venetian sculptor, Roberta Rupi Feoli, studio manager, Juan Rosillo, artist in residence, Bill Root, printmaker instructor from Belgium. Below, left to right: Eva Svitek, artist in residence and Roberta Rupi Feoli, studio manager. Interleaf • Summer 2014 / 9 LESSEDRA A Printmaking Community in Sofia, Bulgaria This story was submitted by Ann Chernow and edited by Mary Sherwood and Dirk Hagner T he Lessedra Printmaking community was founded in l990 by Georgi Kolev who has remained its director to the present. Lessedra is a central focus of printmaking activity in Sofia providing an active studio and gallery space. Lessedra’s Miniprint Annual, in place for 11 years, attracts work globally. It is a prestigious event on the international printmaking calendar. In 2011 prints were accepted from artists in 57 countries. This year’s annual has grown to more than 1500 artists from over 80 participating countries. The submissions to Lessedra’s Miniprint Annual are selected by an international jury and a full catalog is produced. Selected artists are featured on Lessedra’s website. The international participation in Lessedra’s Miniprint Annual helps support the Lessedra programs. At one occasion a participating artist wrote on his blog about his acceptance experience, questioning Lessedra’s entry fee qualifications. His concerns abated upon learning what the fees were used for. The exhibit publishes an extensive catalog in which every accepted work is photographed and identified. Accepted artists’ CVs are posted on the Lessedra website for a year until the next exhibition starts. The fee also covers the return postage of all accepted prints that remain unsold during the exhibition, as well as administrative costs such as promotion and the coordination of jurors. Unaccepted works are 10 / Interleaf • Summer 2014 Christo Kardjilo, Buldaria and Beate Scheller from Germany fix a plate. Pulling a print. Susan Herrell Fieldes from New Zealand. returned and the entry fee is refunded to those applicants. Lessedra does not take a commission on sales of prints from the exhibition and awarded prize money can be substantial. Georgi Kolev does the vast majority of the work to run the gallery and the programs, along with volunteers, and his wife Valya. He keeps in touch with artists during the year via email providing information about Lessedra’s programs. For many years the couple has organized exhibitions worldwide promoting the work of Bulgarian printmakers, including shows in Portland, Oregon, the Netherlands, Japan and Canada. More plans are in the works. Another aspect of Georgi Kolev’s endeavor is his involvement with the Lessedra Art Village and Art Academy in Lessidren, about 80 miles from Sofia. Intended for residencies, it has accommodations such as studios, workshops and a gallery space. His goal is to bring artists from all over the globe to live and work together, and to contribute to exchanges between artists, critics, students and collectors. Lessedra encourages artists to participate in its programs. Starting in the late 1980s with local artists the Lessedra Collection now encompasses works of 150 artists from 50 countries. Information about Lessedra and how you can participate in Lessedra’s programs can be found on their website at www.lessedra. com n ATTENTION MEMBERS! Newsprint editor, Mary Sherwood requests that members interested in working on articles for the next Newsprint journal, which will have a theme focusing on “Printmaking Communities”, should contact her at: [email protected] Renew your Membership for 2014! Among services offered on the web is an online gallery, where each member in good standing may post up to six images, a curriculum vitae, and an artist statement on an individual page. You join the gallery when you join LAPS. LAPS operates on a calendar year basis. Membership fees are due ❍ Student Membership $15 (with proof of enrollment) Name:_________________________________________ Address:_______________________________________ _______________________________________________ Phone:_________________________________________ Email:__________________________________________ January 1 of each calendar year and become delinquent after March 10. The only exception are members who joined LAPS in November. They will be considered paid through the end of the following year. Mail your dues form and check to the treasurer: Kay Brown, LAPS Treasurer PO Box 1547 South Pasadena, CA 91031 Checks should be made payable to LAPS. ❍ Regular Membership $50 ❍ Associate Membership $40 $60 after March 10, 2014 LAPS is a volunteer organization that relies on its member participation. How can you help us? ❍ I would like to know more about Board of Director positions. ❍ I would like to know more about committees and what they do. ❍ I could occasionally help out with show take-downs, mailings, etc, but would not be available on a regular basis. Please send members activities or other items for Interleaf as a plain text file to: [email protected] LAPS members wanting to post your print images in the gallery section: Directions are posted on the Gallery section sidebar. You begin by contacting the website coordinator and requesting a member login account and password. We are constantly working on improving the site for our members. We encourage every member to take advantage of your membership page on the LAPS website. And if you have a page alreadythen keep it updated! Your art work will be getting a lot of attention in the coming months, so take time for your LAPS membership page! Please see LAPrintmakers.com. In this issue: • • • • • The Last Hurrah at the Blue Whale! A look back at the LA Print Space Members News Scuola Internazionale di Grafica a Venezia Lessedra S P R I N G S U M M E R 2 0 0 7 2 0 1 4