Politics and Printmaking

I'm glad to see such an outpouring of support for the teachers who are currently protesting in Wisconsin. It is essential to the institution of public education and state workers everywhere that our state governments respect our union representation and take us seriously. Today I gathered with over 200 like minded people in Carson City, Nevada to rally in support of the teachers and state workers from Wisconsin and to raise awareness about potential budget cuts and educational funding for our state.

Here's some simple info:
Nevada is 50th in the nation for educational funding (that means per pupil, per teacher, per county, resources, etc.)
Nevada has some of the lowest graduation rates for both high school and post-secondary school, and some of the highest drop-out rates for secondary school in the nation.
Our state has a fiscal problem, but the solution to this problem is not to destroy the people and services that keep our state functioning. Compromises are always necessary, but giving up rights to collective bargaining is not compromise  it is surrender.

I know, I know... this isn't a political blog. But politics have always played a big part in my life and my art. Now is a great time for people to find out about our Propaganda in Print Exchange at Oxbow Press. Submissions don't have to be political, but those ideas are a strong source of inspiration for many people.

You must understand several things about me to see my point of view - I grew up in the back yard of Washington D.C., my father worked for the government in the Library of Congress and Foreign Affairs reporting for many years. Both my parents are now public school teachers (as are seven other members of my local family) who are union leaders in their local chapters. My aunt Joni Kaiser is a huge proponent for women and children's rights here in Nevada and the founder of the Committee to Aid Abused Women as well as a lobbyist and former City of Sparks legislator.
Even if you take my family's input on my political views out of the equation you are still talking to a poor, educated female who relies on public services.

Art allows me to explore how the complicated emotions of politics can be focused in the visual crucible of my work. Many great artists were inspired extensively by the politics of their day, the Russian artists during the Soviet Union (both supporting and in protest) are magical in their simplicity, the same can be said of World War II American propaganda art. These are not just images to be admired, they take hold of strong ideas and values and force the viewer to take a stand on a popular issue. One of the most famous examples of propaganda contributed to widespread change throughout American culture in a way the artist and government never intended - Rosie the Riveter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:We_Can_Do_It!.jpg

This image was originally intended to get women to support the government's efforts in World War II by filling in for their soldiering husbands as engineers, assistants and laborers far outside the customary positions that women were accepted in at the time. This image liberated women in a new way by empowering them to take physically demanding jobs, jobs with expectations of power and responsibility.

Today I held a sign at the rally which read "Education is essential to economic recovery." I hope this is a sentiment that can be agreed upon by everyone regardless of personal political leanings. If you educate people they improve their own quality of life by getting better paying, safer jobs. Better paychecks allow people to better care for their children, and also allow them to give back to their government and community. It is not just in my best interests to protect the rights and dollars invested in state employees like public school teachers - it is in your best interests too. The better the schools are, the better equipped the students are, the better the teachers are, the better the education your children receive, the better services can be rendered, the better quality of life can be achieved - by everyone!
Most important to recognize is that if you give local students good educational opportunities they will STAY HERE! Without those opportunities most of the best candidates for jobs that will influence you and your children (through teaching, government or legal work, etc.) there will be fewer people who are less qualified for those needed positions. If the government encourages better and more extended education our workforce will be more employable and better at their jobs!

Think about it.

Also, Rocky Mountain Print Alliance info will be coming soon. I am gathering info on the Symposium to be held in April. And whatever your opinions are, I hope you are at least open minded enough to listen.

The Meat on My Bones

The Bird and Cats Opening was nice, we had a good number of supporters come out and a super group of newcomers asking questions and visiting Oxbow Press for the first time. We sold a beautiful reduction-cut relief print by one of our members.

Today I was very lucky, a number of artists from the press and myself all listened to Melanie Yazzie give a lecture at UNR. Her talk didn't have an incredibly focused theme but I think a structured list of topics to cover wouldn't have felt natural. Professor Yazzie talked extensively about her travels throughout the world teaching printmaking and how she relates to people of other cultures as a member of an indigenous nation. Professor Yazzie's Navajo heritage plays a large role in her art as do the themes of primitivism vs. acculturation, earth as character and not thing, interacting with one's environment actively instead of passively and bridging the gaps between cultures and perspectives through sharing art, history and education. I admit I was very inspired by Professor Yazzie's travels, art and perspective on the world.

Lately my own art has taken an introspective bent. Themes I consider dead and buried beneath my dirty floor are beginning to work their bony fingers between the boards. Zombified ideas aside, Professor Yazzie's talk communicated many things to me not the least of which was that it's ok for an artist's personal perspective to dictate everything from process to end result of an artwork's creation.

As I re-evaluate how things stand in the world around me and how I relate to it I return more and more to art in order to communicate. Communication is a big deal to me from my long term relationship to what I try to create at my studio to how I interact with co-workers and friends. Think about what you create, whether they are reports, musical scores, or visual art. How do your creations communicate - are you vocal, aural, textual? Why do you think you communicate this way? Do you feel that you communicate effectively?


Important Events Coming Soon!
February RCO Concerts this Saturday 8pm and Sunday 2pm featuring Joan Kwuon
March RCO Concerts on Saturday 19th, and Sunday 20th featuring Orion Weiss and regional premier of new work by Osvaldo Golijov
More information about RCO Concerts, STUDENT TICKETS $5
Rocky Mountain Print Alliance Symposium - April 27, 28, 29
Propaganda in Print Exchange and Exhibit - April 20

Spring Classes:
Oxbow Press - Intro to Etching, Beginning Book Arts, Propaganda in Print Screen Printing, Summer T-Shirts
Find out more about my oxbow classes.
Nevada Museum of Art - Teen Knitting Class February 26th, Carve a Cartouche June 25th
Find out more about the NMA

NEXT POST - What is the Rocky Mountain Print Alliance and why should I think that it's cool?

Birds, Cats and Buildings

A huge THANK YOU to visiting artist Jenny Robinson from the San Francisco area for joining us here in Reno for awhile. Jenny's massive trace monotype and drypoint prints have been displayed at Oxbow Press for a few weeks now and will be traveling home with her tomorrow. Through a partnership with the University of Nevada, Reno's Printmaking Department and Eunkang Koh the Oxbow Press has been able to bring Jenny to Reno for a lecture, held today, and a demonstration, to be given on Saturday.

Billboard by Jenny Robinson

Trace Monotype focuses on the beauty of the drawn line combined with the spontaneity and painterly approach of the multiple drop monotype. Prints will be made on Japanese paper and chine colle’d onto BFK Rives to produce the finished print. This workshop is suitable for all artists as well as seasoned Printmakers. Chine colle can be incorporated onto many work surfaces, including canvas, mixed media works on paper, sculpture, collage etc.

Join us at Oxbow Press this Friday, February 4th at 6:30pm to meet Jenny and admire her beautiful handiwork. Did I mention free food and wine?

Vote Kitty! screenprint by Rachel Kaiser

Also, the show I've been curating (Birds and Cats: Eternal Nemeses) will be hung next week!  The reception will be held next Saturday, February 12th at 5pm. This will be a really fun show - the theme is cats, birds and the relationship between them - and a great place to pick up a unique gift for Valentine's day. No seriously! The work I've received is all very beautiful and unique in it's own way, and much of it is very reasonably priced - we have a range from $10-$115

the postcard Candace Nicol put together for the show - thanks again Candace!

A Teacher Tour and More

Last Wednesday the Oxbow Press played host to many art teachers from all over the Washoe County School District. Vicki LoSasso, one of Oxbow's resident artists and board members, and I gave them an informative tour of the print shop and our new classroom space! The teachers asked some great questions, were excited to hear about our newly acquired lithography studio, and created a community print monotype. We were able to pull a great bold print and three ghosts from their monoprint (although one of them was a bit too light to see) and raffled off the prints to the visiting teachers to take back to their schools.

our second ghost, still looks pretty good!

teachers contribute to the community plate by removing ink

 With my two jobs and trying to maintain a life (ha ha, that's the real joke) I hadn't done any actual art in the shop since the T-Shirt printing class in December. My awesome brother had a commission for me back then, but the materials didn't show up until last week. This wasn't so great for my brother's Xmas gifting plans but it did give me something neutral to work on which was nice. To explain, by neutral I mean I wasn't creating anything but adhering to the preferences of someone else which doesn't take as much energy. This beautiful duet of photo album and journal were finished a few days ago and will be shipped out on Monday.

The larger book beneath is an acid-free photo album (plastic free!) and the journal is on top, they were
made with Italian cotton book cloth and florentine patterned paper. January became ridiculously mild after last week, it's been in the 50's and 60's all week with clear skies and beautiful views of the mountains that surround Reno. Maybe I'll do some landscape inspired work. For now I'm going to admire the view and enjoy the weather while it's still around.

the railroad behind Oxbow

New Year! New Goals - New thing to learn!

Yes, lots of exclamation points! If you've been reading any of the previous posts you must've noticed that I abuse my favorite punctuation mark. However, it is certainly warranted. Though I apologize for my absence you must know that I've been around, mucking about and getting involved in things!

News: Oxbow Press is home to a lithography press! Not only do we have the equipment, we also have stones, inks, a sink and more. One of my favorite artists, Alphonse Mucha, was a stone lithographer. This traditional type of printmaking is done with stones that have unique density and pore distribution. The stones used by lithographers are from a quarry in Belgium that has been mined out for the last hundred years or so. That's right, dear reader, the store where you buy these things is out of business, the materials are on eternal back-order, you can only find them rarely and usually from other printmakers who prize them as highly as I do or from inheritors who don't know what they are (besides strange paving stones). We are very lucky to have made the connection we did in order to secure such wonderful tools for Oxbow. Thanks go to Anne Hoff for convincing Candace to go forward with this opportunity.

more news (and photos) coming soon!

Merry Christmas!

The long awaited photos are here! Some of the books I made, students from my etching workshop, and Christmas photos.  I'd like to thank all the wonderful people who gave me gifts this year - not just the material kind. The support of my artistic community has been overwhelming since I began at Oxbow Press seven months ago and my family has been really stellar. Thanks also to my partner for allowing me to pursue my dreams, however strange to him they may seem.

yay for accordion folds

these books went to live with my new friends at the RCO

The Christmas Cards I made this year!

Alphonse and Ahab are watching it snow

Miles and Carol look at a print

John and Barbara pull a print off our press Harold

Mark's first etching - doesn't it look swell!

Look what I got in my stocking- Sparkly Santa Hat!

embroidered ornament for my mom

 Thanks to everyone who attended my workshops this fall! Etching students: I promise to make Member Etching Wednesdays a fact of life in 2011 and to never have more than 5 of you in one class at a time ever again! Thanks for your patience, support and confidence. Have a wonderful New Year!

Christmas Cheer

Having a nice December, everyone? You should be! In times of turmoil such as this the spirit of Christmas (aka: the brotherhood of man and charity) is essential to being forthright, virtuous and conscientious human beings. 2010 has been a blockbuster year for me for many reasons. I was among the lucky (or at least well-planning) folks this year; I volunteered with an ecological and humanitarian organization in New Zealand, went from being un-employed to being over-committed, became dedicated to two prominent non-profit organizations in Reno, taught my first class, bought a car (for which I did the negotiating, yay!), rescued a stray, started my Etsy store in earnest, and began a blog.

Many of these things were only possible because of the many great people who came into my life. Some of these things I achieved with the support of my family and close friends. None of this year would have happened if I weren't a spendthrift. As much as I hate money (and love barter) it's an unfortunate necessity. Every decision counts - get fast food or eat ramen noodles at home (save $17.25), get your nails done or buy polish at the drug store (save $35.00 including tip), buy a big screen TV for your sweety on Black Friday or have a conversation about Christmas before November hits and decide to save for something big - like a trip to Japan or a wedding ring (save dignity, relationship, $480.52)

This may come out of the blue compared to the rest of my posts, but I can only print if I have paper and ink and I only get ink and paper with money. Printmaking is an expensive art form (compared to drawing anyways) but I am not happy or complete without printmaking in my life. Since I was a child it has been my ambition to become an artist, but I never thought about how to finance such a life. The solution was messily pushed into my face this year as I started at Oxbow Press - do something I love and find a way. Much of my success was networking, luck and devotion of time and muscle (especially a lot of time) but I did need a few dollar signs to back it up. The theme of this post is finding a way to live happy - money isn't the answer but it helps. If you save as much as you can whenever you can you'll soon find yourself able to do the things you love with greater frequency and professionalism. Use your funds to pay for workshops, supplies or studio space, or be a miser like Rachel and hoard until something REALLY amazing asks you to become involved.

Don't let money get you down. People understand, especially when they've been in your shoes themselves. So even though Christmas was a holiday invented by capitalist pigs in Britain during the mid nineteenth century, don't think you have to celebrate that. Spend wisely, not frantically, and your reward will be sweet. Remember, a gift you make by hand can't be bought in stores - it's special and you can personalize it for those you love. Happy Holidays everybody :)