DAVID MORRISON VISITING ARTIST

The Indiana University Southeast Printmaking Department and Rolling Knob Press are excited to be hosting a four day visit by David Morrison to our shop, April 12 - 16. David will be creating an edition for Rolling Knob Press, a multi-plate/stone lithograph, and meeting with drawing and printmaking students to discuss their work. Below are two of David's prints that were exhibited in the Passion and Process: Impressions from America's Master Printmakers at Louisville's Water Tower in 2006.

Iconic Bracelet No. 1

Iconic Bracelet No. 2

David is currently Professor of Art at the Herron School of Art, Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis. His work has shown in numerous international, national, and solo exhibitions in which he has received over seventy awards. His work is included in numerous public and private collections and he has been a visiting lecturer and guest artist at a number of universities. David graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1985 with Master of Fine Arts and from the University of South Dakota with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1981.

GROUP PORTFOLIO PROJECT

This semester's group portfolio project is based on the theme of Wonderland. The paper size will be 8.5" x 11", and the image size will be any scale that successfully addresses that idea through the selected process, including bleed. The edition size will be 11 so that everyone will receive a complete portfolio with ten randomly selected prints with one complete set going to the print shop collection.

Wonderland offers the potential for many different interpretations as long as the obvious isn't settled on as the best alternative to the problem. Try to generate as many solutions as possible before you decide on the direction of your print. Also give consideration to the medium/media you select as it will have a big effect on your edition. The final trial proof will come in on April 5, with final editions due on April 28. We need to also think about the actual portfolio container and the design and medium of the colophon page.

Reworked Intaglio

The S240 group began the semester by picking out an abandoned plate from a previous semester, pulling a proof of the plate, and then selecting a 4" x 6" section of the image to transform into another image but also utilizing part of the original image. After they found the area to work with, they cut the plate, cropping down to the 4 by 6 section. Learning how to utilize their scraper and burnishing tools, they removed the part of the metal plate they wanted to transform, and then added additional imagery by etching in line work, aquatint, soft ground. By pulling working proofs of their plates in progress, they also learned how to ink and wipe intaglio plates, and print on the etching presses. The below selections were particularly successful in transforming the original zinc plates into new matrixes that yielded some pretty interesting impressions. You can click on the images for greater detail.

This is Troy's reworked intaglio plate, with the original impression on the right and the new version on the left. He did a lot of scraping, sugar lift, aquatint, and line etch, transforming the image from the crouched figure to an "A-Bomb." If you look closely at the background, you'll see the mountain range he included in his image.

Tatum pulled some existing shapes out of the heavily etched plate, the original impression is on the bottom, she did some scraping and burnishing and then some open-bite to create an abstract pattern of positives and negatives.

Pako found in his original impression, the bottom image, a car buried in lots of dark texture. He pulled that out with scraping, burnishing, and sanding, and then added some text and additional imagery.

Daphne selected a deeply etched plate of shapes suggesting fingers, the bottom impression. There was a lot of open-bite, so she continued with that approach by adding imagery of a "polaroid" shape and some vine, and added a subtle aquatint into the image area of the polaroid.

Danny found a skull buried in this deeply etched plate, bottom impression, and used his scraper and burnisher to bring out that feature. Then he got rid of all the other information by scraping, burnishing, and sanding. After getting the plate back to a nearly clean surface, he added another scull and other shapes set off by a lightly etched aquatint.

Connie found a plate that reminded her of her camping experiences, the right impression. She pulled out features that suggested to her a camp-fire by sanding, scraping, burnishing, and etching. She then added some hand coloring with water colors.

ROB IN THE SPACELAB

Rob standing in the Spacelab after his opening. The beard and the wall compliment each other.

A drawing created directly on the wall of the Spacelab.

One of Rob's newest pieces that combines mixed media and silkscreen.

Another example of new work combining both a painter's and printmaker's sensibility.

The Fuel Injectors from a previous installation Rob had in the hallway have now incorparated the space into the work.

Rob opened in the Spacelab yesterday with a group of works that transformed the 'lab' into a gallery. He did everything (sans cookies) from creating a lighting system to heating the space (a welcomed comfort). It's an interesting group of works that he's testing in preparation for his thesis exhibition that will be opening in the Barr gallery on Thursday, April 8. Well done, Rob.

Exchange Portfolio: Reconciliation

This is the colophon page of the exchange portfolio created during the fall semester 2009. What will the spring 2010 colophon look like?

As in almost every previous semester, we will be undertaking a group portfolio exchange project this semester. Discussion of the project will be March 1 to decide on the theme, media, paper and image size, and edition number. Last semester there were 17 participants, each creating an edition of 11 impressions based on the theme “Reconciliation”, each print was on 9” x 12” paper with an image size of 5” x 7”. At the end of the semester, each participant received a portfolio of 10 randomly selected prints, while the shop received one complete portfolio of 17 impressions. The decision to not create editions of 18 was primarily cost related. 17 people printing editions of 18 impressions would require a lot of paper and a lot of ink.

The theme for the project is very open, but unlike the current 200 level intaglio project, this portfolio theme will be pursued by everyone rather than having several themes going at once. This allows for a collaborative strengthening of ideational fluency, taking an idea and interpreting it through each of the 17 unique sets of experiences, perceptions, and mediums. The media is also open and will ultimately be decided by each participant. At the moment, we have a few working in lithography, a few in silk screen, a lot of intaglio, and soon many more in relief. An exchange portfolio that explores all of these processes creates a more intriguing collection of prints than a portfolio that explores only one process.

So be thinking about a theme, and take a look at some of the past portfolio projects for inspiration.

Exhibit Opportunity

Anyone have some work they want to enter in a show in Jeffersonville? Go to:

www.springintoart.org

I'll be serving as the awards judge, don't know how it'll be juried, but it would be fun to see some work from IUS.

Monotypes, Phase I

Shawn created this image that is not particularly characteristic of the usual resulting palette of bold intense colors. I think he's still going to run another layer or two over this to push the atmospheric perspective even more.

Pako's confident drawing style that embraces illustrative rendering blended well with the separation process that resulted in a wide range of colors and values and a sense of animation.

Miranda explored an idea of image stereotypes that pushed the palette into interesting and expressive directions with bold colors and composition.

Mel looked at the abstraction of text, shape, and color to create the complexity of camouflaging pattern .

Greg looked at various travel images for inspiration and created this brightly colored sea/land scape.

Danny shows one of his influences in this pseudo-diabolical portrait that has an interesting contrast of colors carrying the content to other unexpected places.

Aberlyn's self-portrait has a strong sense of the dramatic created through her drawing/design skills and the resulting palette, belying the contemplative expression on the face.

These and many more prints represent a big batch of monotypes in my office that are fresh off the press. So fresh, in fact, the fragrance is filling the room with the sweet aroma of the printshop. Several of you have been down this path before, but there are about twelve who explored this method for the first time. I think the veterans showed obvious signs of growth from their last efforts with the three color separation process, and those exploring for the first time did some pretty competent things as well.

Learning a new process, or expanding on a process that clearly still possesses an element of surprise is always fun and challenging. Sometimes, though, the challenges can present themselves as barriers depending on how much or how little we tap into that side that is the creative part of who we are. Try not to let the those challenges of process become a barrier to your creative development, rather, embrace the challenge so you can express your visions, and be open to allowing the vision to take a different direction depending on the challenge. Printmaking, as you all know, and as we've discussed, is about deferred gratification. The thought process can be very convoluted at times, but the discoveries can be vastly rewarding.

I posted the images above because of their finished, resolved quality, and how they utilized the color separation process. Also how they resolved visual issues through that process without resorting to solutions outside of the process. Many of the pieces can be resolved by becoming mixed media, maybe even becoming stronger as such, but confronting creative problems that still have the potential for strong resolutions can be very satisfying, and edifying.