Engraving Professor's Papers

The professor explains the living print, the history of printmaking, and keeps the academic community informed.

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He took his palm device from one of those deep pockets that he had sewn to the sides of his loose-fitting pantaloons. A light breeze shifted the whitish-gray hairs ringing his head as he looked down at its tiny gray-green screen. "Seventeen-twenty, GMT," he said.

The first time he had given this talk was in 1994, in Seattle. Then, he had asked people to close their eyes and visualize the planet Earth. He had asked us to close our eyes, imagine being in out space, and zooming in on our present location. This was different. Now he was stating the hour according to Greenwich Mean Time, and it had the desired effect: an image of Greenwich, in England. This was how we beamed ourselves far away--using our imaginations--from Nassau to England!

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I asked him why he chose printmaking, and he told me it chose him.

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When I came into what he called his "office" I was surprised to see it was neat and orderly. Before, when I came the other time, it was a horrible mess. This time it was neat as any businessperson's.

The beautiful framed plates he had hung around the walls struck me, too. The way they looked, gleaming and mirrored copper, silver and gold, his engraved intaglio plates looked like the gold and platinum discs that recording stars like to hang, in frames, signifying how many of their albums and CDs they had sold. Only, I guess in this artist's case, he didn't sell millions of prints.

He laughed when I pointed this out and said, "Yeah, in fact, it's more likely a point of pride if I finish and sell ONE or TWO prints. The fewer the better, since no two are alike." Then he was quiet a second but he added, "It's really a record if an artist can sustain. You know, sustain his or her own interest, the audience's . . . heck, sustain life!"

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I stopped in to watch the artists this morning and I observed something that I'd never seen. There was a man and a woman working side-by-side, and a third person, whom I took to be a Russian, from the conversation, his name and accent. The two men were having quite a conversation about presses and studios and shop talk.

The woman was quietly working on a monotype. Later I heard her telling the other artist (this is after the Russian had gone and they guy was apologizing for having been too chatty) that she drives all over the Central Puget Sound, using presses at Pratt, here at Daniel Smith’s store, and a community college.

Another woman was listening and she exclaimed, "I get it, you print those monotypes over and over! I was doing them like it was a one-shot deal!" Then the guy-the artist working on printing an engraving beside her- said, "No. It's prints that have a tradition of being one-shot." From my view, however, I can see from his prints he's adopting some of the spirit of the monotype, if not the technique itself. Maybe that's what he meant when he was trying to define his expression, "Living Prints" for me the other day.

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I was looking through the selections of burins in the store and someone stood just behind me and said, "Those aren't as good as the could be." I was a little surprised, but it was Byron, an artist who had taken a print making class from me about--who knows? Twenty or twenty five years ago.

"I know," I replied and he continued. "You'd think a store founded by a print artist would have better stuff." He picked out a burnisher. "I got something like this from England a long time ago, and it's so much better."

"Well," I said, "it's a big store. These are for consumers."

"I guess so," Byron shrugged. Then we talked about his show plans at the Frye next summer, the new director at that museum and then we said good bye. He was escorting two women around the store, helping them buy things, I guess.

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When I stopped in to see how it went last night he had a piece of tracing paper taped on what I assumed was the first trial proof. He was bent over the paper. The lighting was bad, but he had managed to draw, freehand, a reflection of the calculus exercise.

Left: The artist draws a mirror reflection of the engraving on tracing paper, reflecting and extending the design.

As I studied it, I realized it was squeezed down to about half its original height. He was eye-balling it. The drawing reminded me of weather maps; and it also looked like a wood-grain pattern. When you think about it, land forms and wood-grain take years to form. If it takes this artist a couple hours, that's pretty fast by comparison. On the surface of it, I think he could have done the drawing even faster with a computer or some similar display system for calculus functions.

Left: Close-up of artist hand-tracing the calculus exercise from the first trial proof of his print, "Canceled Artist's Last Love Letter."

	Artist's Diary	The artist provides the vision and imagery of the living print, laboring after the compelling image.
	Curator's Log	The curator is seldom seen but is always seeing to it that the living prints' records are correct and rules followed.
	Printer's Notes	The printer performs many tasks to keep prints alive, crafting and designing solutions to problems the artist, curator and publisher propose.
	Publisher's Journal	The publisher produces the bases for living prints by supporting all the players and keeping communications clear and on course.