This is a first cut set of photographs from the past 2 years or so. I will be adding a few and cutting a few from this over the next months.
Blog Archives
My Printmaking
I have been experimenting with printmaking in various ways. First, I am using my photographs as well as pen and ink drawings, and transforming them into wood block print style works using digital techniques.
Then using a combination of CNC laser cutting and hand carving, the wood blocks are created using 1/2″ Baltic birch plywood. For multiple color prints, I use the laser to cut 1/4″ diameter registration holes in the same spot for each color block. Then, using Ternes Burton pins and tabs and a special homegrown jig, register each color as they are printed.
My biggest challenges have been analog, not digital. Getting the right inks was a big challenge. Switching to Cranfield Caligo Safewash Inks made a huge difference for me. They stay the same consistency long enough to get through a print set, are easy to thin with their Safewash Oil, and are easy to clean up with soap and water even though they are oil-based. Being linseed oil based and non-toxic is a big deal.
Next challenge was drying. The oil based inks dry in three stages – absorption, oxidation and polymerization — meaning they take a long time. It turns out that paper choice is super important. Finding paper made with no sizing, 100% cotton, acid free, with more random, broken fiber strands and with enough thickness is all key. Saint Cuthbert printmaking papers are a good choice.
Then learning some tricks like letting the prints get tacky (not wet) and sprinkling them with a bit of arrowroot, corn starch or pure food grade calcium carbonate. Chalk of the modern type is often made from less pure gypsum (calcium sulphate) and can cause issues with prints. But calcium carbonate both absorbs the wet ink and jumpstarts the oxidation process.
Now it feels like all the most basic “figuring it out” is done and I can get more serious about printmaking.
So I have decided to take the plunge and start doing etchings using an intaglio press. The press is very different and after failing to find a nice used one, I purchased a new Stark 16×30 etching press from two brothers in New Jersey who build them from scratch, per order.
It took some research for me to start etching because the chemicals, acids, rosin, asphaltum, and solvents, are really pretty toxic. I got serious when I found some books on non-toxic printmaking. Basically, there are now non-toxic grounds (the liquid that keeps the metal plates from being etched, and you no longer have to use acid – zinc etches quite nicely in a solution of table salt and copper sulphate, both pretty benign. And the grounds wash up with non-toxic cleaners. On top of that, there are many inks that now are non-toxic and wash up with water, even though they are oil based and give you great results.
OTTO Bookstore 2024
Williamsport Pennsylvania is home to the very oldest independently owned bookstore in the United States, OTTO Bookstore.
Each month, the bookstore features an artist in their store gallery, alongside the area’s best selection of books, puzzles, and more, plus their knowledgeable staff.
My work is featured in September 2024. Download the Artivive app (free on Apple and Google stores) to experience augmented reality on some of these pieces. Here is a page that tells you how it works and has links to the free app.
Lycoming Arts 2024
Williamsport Pennsylvania has a lot going on in the arts. There are several galleries downtown, one at Penn College, and many showings of artists in local businesses.
Lycoming Arts is the organization that does all things Williamsport First Friday and a lot more. You can learn about them here.
Each month, they feature an artist in their own downtown gallery, along with work from a local school district and a college artist.
My work is featured in June 2024. Download the Artivive app (free on Apple and Google stores) to experience augmented reality on some of these pieces. Here is a page that tells you how it works and has links to the free app.
Below are the current picks for the show. This curation is getting pretty close to final, after far more work than I realized these things take. I went through thousands of my photos from over the years, and had to learn about giclee printing, framing, and hanging.
My Photographs
I shoot lots of photographs everywhere I go. Like most people, most of the shots are not particularly artistic. This is a work in progress, a kind of a live lightbox to find the artistic. I am making successive passes at weeding out the bad stuff in hopes of distilling this into a quality curation.
I have been fortunate to be able to do some travelling, so the images are from a wide range of places.
My Artwork
Since my art school days, I have done a lot of graphic design and art direction. I have more time now to pursue my fine art interests. I am still drawn toward the immediate and generative nature of photography. I combine that with my love of serigraphy to create these collages. I print these on quality watercolor paper using inkjet technology, so that all evidence of the printing dots bleed together, producing a silkscreen-like final output.
My work tends to take images I find interesting and juxtapose them in non-representational ways and which draw on meanings or symbols from other, more historical roots, or to present images where the elements are representational but in visually dissonant ways.
I have also always been interested in found object art. One of my art teachers did a lot of sculpture using found objects. Some of my work uses “digital found objects” — 3d models of objects rummaged from industrial sites, and repurposed in Cinema 4D.
