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6.22.2010

Printmaking Camp

Day 5 
Day 6
Coda: The Pull exhibition in Atlanta
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This week I’m at Connecticut College in New London working on a print project developed by Marcia Wood and Tim McDowell. Marcia owns the Atlanta gallery that bears her name, and Tim, one of her artists, is head of the printmaking department here. There are six of us making the prints, all of us represented by the Marcia Wood Gallery: Kim Anno, San Francisco; Kate Javens, New York City; Don Pollack, Chicago; Katherine Taylor, Atlanta; plus Tim, who lives in Noank near the college; and me..



A view of the printmaking studio at Connecticut College, with Clara Euam, printmaking studio assistant, in the foreground. Background from left: Lucas McDowell, Ellen Barnard and Brown Sanders
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We’ve gathered to produce a portfolio of six prints in an edition of 30. I’m excited about the project because I’ve never done anything like this (and neither have most of my colleagues, painters all). Fortunately we have two master printmakers, Tim and his father-in-law, Brown Sanders) and Tim’s studio assistant, Clara Euam. Filmmaker Ellen Barnard is producing a documentary of the project for Tomorrow Films, her Atlanta-based company, with her cameraman, Lucas McDowell. I’ll have links and info as the project progresses.
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The ‘Print Project”—still unnamed but dubbed "Printmaking Camp" by my buddy Nancy Baker in a Facebook conversation--
had its inception a couple of years ago when Tim suggested to Marcia that his print room was available in the summer. "I thought it would be a great opportunity to bring six strong artists together to do their signature work in a new medium and process," says Marcia. So after about a year of planning, we’ve flown, driven, trained and bused our way here.
Day 1Everyone’s working on their plate, or the drawing or transparency for their plate. There's a lot of consulting with Tim and with one another. We're making color swatches and proofing the plates. Take a look:

 Kate Javens with drawings.

Don Pollack with transparencies he made from paintings and photographs. He's the only one of us who arrived with the requisite images; the rest of us scrambled to produce our images when we arrived.

Kim Anno working her transparency over the light table. Her print will be the first to be editioned tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Katherine Taylor worked on this transparency drawing all day, but she was the first to have completed proof, which you'll see tomorow (I'm writing a bit after the fact because I needed to work on my own transparency and plate.).


I made transparencies from a unique digital print, which is an ink-and-paper variation of an image from my series of Silk Road paintings. All of us had to get over the hump of thinking like painters. "You're making prints," said Tim McDowell. I'm still learning how to do that.


Tim and Clara made Tim's edition of 30 before we arrived, because he's spending all of his time this week helping each of us

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Tim consulting with Kate.


Tim consulting with Katherine.


Don and Katherine talking color and image

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Kate and her ram.

Above, Don's color; below, mine
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Those tins of ink are so dense with pigment (milled with a tiny bit of linseed oil) that each weights about four pounds.

Above, Clara preparing paper for Don's proof
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Below, Tim about to place the plate, as Julia Pollack and Brown Sanders look on
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Our culinary schedule for the week--and Tim's advice on how painters should approach printmaking
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You talkina me?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

ooooooooh so cool. I'd love to see what you all produce. thanks for sharing!

Hylla Evans said...

Love the colors you've made and I wish I were there to be a paint slave and play with the inks all week.

patty a. said...

This is very interesting to me. I don't know much about printmaking and the processes. Thank you for posting and I look forward to learning more. P.S. I am a quiltmaker, but I am a lover of all types of art.

peggy said...

As a printmaker, I know what wonders await you and your colleagues during 'camp'. Don't be surprised if you're bit by the bug of the medium; getting a little ink in your veins is good for the creative soul :) I enjoy and appreciate your words images of the process so far and look forward to seeing the results of your collective imaginations and talents.

Kate Beck said...

Joanne, your transparencies are beautiful... and btw, you look great!

Jacqui Dodds said...

Oh this is so exciting I can hardly wait to see what you do next! How wonderful to be working at this printmaking department.
I like Tim McDowell's work as well as yours so must be good to be working with him as well.
What is the process you are all using is it like photopolymer etching?

Peggradyart said...

What a fabulous week awaits you all...so jealous, just like when I was 13 and my friends got to go to sleep-away camp.

Claudia said...

How cool! I am attending a printmaking workshop this summer and am so looking forward to it.
Claudia

Angeline said...

Oooo! I'm looking forward to more! Always wanted to do this! Wondered how to do this! Thanks!

Cynthia said...

This looks like an inspirational experience! Thank you for sharing it, and I can't wait to see the results!

Pamela Farrell said...

I so miss etching ink!!! What a great project. Can't wait to see the prints.

nancy baker said...

OOOOOOooooooo.
Looks like great fun. I love printmaking camp. I did it for many summers at Luis Camnizer's Valdottavo camp In Italy. Miss it.
It looks like you have great support over there with the masters. Fa un capo lavoro bella!

ESZ said...

Hi Joanne,
What a great project. Will Marcia be having a show exhibiting these in the near future here in Atlanta?

Joanne Mattera said...

Jacqui wants to know the process. It's intaglio, via solar plate. I'll talk a bit more about it in an upcoming post.

Es wants to know if the Marcia Wood Gallery will have a show of these prints. Yes, indeed. It will be in the fall, and I'll let you know as soon as I know.

Working on Posts 3, 4 and 5 now