First print of the year…

(Finished in first week of January, but belated posting)

January 15, 2012

For a folio exchange called Everything Eleven (and some A/P ones will be used for my Bestiary), this one’s called:

Eleven Polish Posing

'Eleven Polish Posing' • 3 color reduction linocut with some hand-coloring on Rives Lightweight • 14in x 4in • January 2012

(more than) 11 polish drying

He’s a White Crested Black, cockerel (under 1 year old), all grown up (he is one of my summer 2011 chicks). Quite the beauty, and not too mean as far as these fellows go. I have a bunch of young polish cocks in the barn pen, separate from the coop. When it came time to decide which polish would migrate to the coop (all the pullets and some of the cockerels), this guy was a no-brainer. Although he has about 6 or so other equally handsome brothers of the same breed, when I went to gather up some of “his” girls to take to the coop, he swooped down and tried to grab them (literally) out of my hands. He didn’t try to attack me, but rather tried to grab his girls back. I knew then that I had a good caretaker, mate for those girls, so I swooped him up too. At the very least he would look out for them and not let any of the bigger chickens pick on his girls.

(click any image to enlarge)

2 days left to see MFA Thesis Exhibit

A Pattern of Processing
Now showing today and tomorrow (Thurs) 9-5. Hope you can make it…. Woodcut-printed wallpaper and upholstery, with fancy-framed, reduction-woodcut portraits, and a meat locker. Fun stuff!

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(8ft walls, 8ft carcasses, all woodcut prints)

8ft chicken and pig woodcuts at the Overture Center

…in our Beastly Prints show. Here they are with kids for scale (below). Exhibit at the Overture Center for the Arts in Madison, WI, Gallery 1. It’s a 3 person show with myself and Briony Morrow-Cribbs and Patrick Smyczek. More info at the Overture.

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Badger Herald article about our “Beastly Prints” show

ArtsEtc.: Art
Dichotomy of human-animal interaction depicted through diverse media, aesthetics

‘Art of Bestiary’ explored in Overture print exhibit. Photo courtesy Patrick Smyczek

By Kathi Gadow
Wednesday, April 13, 2011 10:05 a.m.

Even if you are not in the Veterinary School, or even an animal lover, you’ll enjoy “Beastly Prints: Modern Interpretations of the Art of Bestiary,” part of the Overture Center’s new round of spring galleries….. (Read entire article)

8ft chicken is finished and on display…

…at the Overture Center for the Arts.

The show is up! Now on view through June 25th, 2011. Meet the artists at the reception Gallery Night, Friday, May 6, 6pm.

More info: Overture Center, Gallery 1

Hand- colored woodcut, printed on masa, then mounted on plywood cutout form and varnished. By the way, that's a Golden-Laced Wyandotte, cock. Maximus was one of my first roosters (bros with Big Tiny).

It’s a huge relief to be done with this and have it up on display. I mean it was fun to do, but printing by hand with a wooden spoon (my press is “only” 30in wide….the chicken block is a 4ft x 8ft plywood block) is not easy, especially with so much solid black. An exercise in patience most definitely.

“Beastly Prints” show is up!

Some sneak peeks:

Closeup of one of Patrick Smyczek's hand-colored screen-prints

Closeup of one of Briony Morrow-Cribb's intaglio prints

Briony’s website, Sue’s website.

Closeup of S.V. Medaris' 8ft chicken woodcut

The show is open now, with the big reception at the Overture on Gallery Night, Friday, May 6, 2011 at 6pm.

2 Big Shows: Receptions (Fri, Sat) May 6, 7

Beastly Prints

Now showing! "Beastly Prints" at the Overture. Reception May 6, Gallery Night!

Link to Overture show online.

A Pattern of Processing

Opening reception May 7 at 6pm.

More info: S.V. Medaris, shows.

New reduction print

The story behind this scene (or what happened afterwards)
For this folio exchange, Hand, Eye, Bird, I took the literal approach (as usual). In fact this image is the first thing I thought of when I read about this folio. For me, there is no stare more intense than a predator focusing on it’s prey, and although that was not my intent (to feed a helpless, cute little chick to Dexter), it was clearly Dexter’s.

'The handbook said' • 5-color reduction linoleum print on mulberry • 10in x 16in • click image to enlarge (and read the text)

As you can read in the print, The handbook said…, I am doing just what is recommended, showing Dexter one of the chicks (out of the box full of chicks that I just brought home from the post office). I am telling Dexter: “Gentle, good boy!…Mama’s chick…gentle…good boy!….” which I’m sure he translated to “Blah, blah, blah good boy, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, good boy….” (I now realize that I was praising him for staring, “pointing” and anticipating the kill as he trembled with anticipation). He is vibrating here (as little terriers do), eyes growing wider and wider. What you don’t see in the print, is the split second after…. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Dexter had the chick’s head in his mouth! “NO!! Dexter!!! BAD boy!!!!” I shouted, and in the next instant, Dexter had opened his mouth and the chick’s head popped out (chick wasn’t harmed), and then Dex was cringing and trembling with fright that I’d yelled at him (which is SO Dexter). It all happened in seconds–so fast that the chick didn’t even blink an eye or register the fact that it was almost swallowed alive.

Another typical vignette of life on our farm. It is never boring when you live with terriers.

“Pig, Hog, Bacon” (the book)

Relief-printed cover (on red, book-cloth-wrapped boards). 4 3/8in x 3 3/8in x 1in. Click to enlarge.

This book was created for Monumental in Miniature Books II. Photos of all of the books are on Flickr. Every artist sent in an edition of 5 to the organizer, and soon, these (plus many, many other artists’ editions of 5) will be divided up into 5 different collections. Some of these collections will then be curated for traveling exhibitions all over the world. The rules were simply to create an edition of 5 books (or more–artist keeps any additional book) that were no larger than 5in x 4in x 1in, and could be in any printmaking medium.

Pig, Hog, Bacon is actually an edition of 13 (which means I have 8 books currently), and the story visually follows the life cycle of a feeder pig.

Accordion book unfolds flat to 42in. Click image to enlarge

It measures 4 3/8in x 3 3/8in x 1in, and is a 4-color reduction relief (linoleum) print on the one side, backed by a 1-color bacon print on the other. The cover is hard boards, wrapped in relief-printed red book cloth. Old feedsack twine is used to tie it together.

Click any image to enlarge:

In the beginning, there are piglets.

Feeder Pigs: usually weighing 50lbs, purchased by one farmer from another for the purpose of raising the pigs for slaughter.

That's a Hampshire pig

A hog weighs over 120lbs. A Market Weight Hog--like the one you see here-- weighs ideally 230-280lbs and is ready for market.

Back print is covered in bacon.

The colophon

Poster for “Beastly Prints”

A 3-person show, featuring the work of Briony Morrow-Cribbs, Patrick Smyczek, and S.V. Medaris, at the Overture this spring, 2011 (reception May 6, Gallery Night!).

We (Briony, Patrick and I) just printed this today–our screen-printed, 4-color, 25in x 17in poster! Part of the edition will be available for sale at our reception.

Printed with 4 colors only. Click to enlarge.