My SMFA students are AWESOME

Ok, so they are not really MY students, as I am not faculty and have not taught any of them specifically. But I have offered them advice, helped them with projects, and watched them as they struggle through the creative process...so I do feel a little mother hen proud when they have significant accomplishments.

First, this Friday evening Feb 5 is the artist reception at Grub Street for [Current Work] by Max Colby, Kokoro Yanagita and Wayne Kleppe. Their work includes relief printing, collograph, mural drawing and handmade paper. Their work will be up through the month of February. Grub Street is located at 160 Boylston on the 4th Floor in Boston.

And opening on Friday Feb 5 is Paper Capers: Adventures in Paper Art at the Wenham Museum. This group exhibition includes work by SMFA post-bacc student Gessica Silverman. This past fall it was exciting to occasionally be a second set of hands as she worked to pull large sheets of kozo. The Wenham Museum is located at 132 Main Street in Wenham, MA. The exhibition program also includes a few family friendly programs with children's book illustrators, readings, and hand's-on projects.

Body & Soul Exhibition at Bunker Hill Community College, Boston MA

My work will be included in this awesome exhibition! Come to the opening on Thursday February 11, from 6 - 7pm.



www.bhcc.mass.edu

Stone Graining video

Had fun shooting this short clip while graining a litho stone:



Lithographic limestones are re-usable; once an image is drawn, processed and printed, the image can be removed and the stone used again for a new image. I use a levigator to grain off the previous image from the top surface of the limestone. The process is a bit painstaking, in that I start with a very course carborundum grit to blast away the image, going through several rounds. Carborundum grit is basically shaved metal. It's like using sandpaper. Then I progressively use finer and finer grits to level off the stone and create a smooth surface. During the process, I have to be consistent ands even, I cannot grain one side more than the other or else then the stone becomes uneven, which then interferes with the printing process later on. So periodically while graining, I also check the level of the stone and check for any scratches. Scratches will interfere with my image. I want the stone to be a smooth as a sheet of Rives BFK, having a slight tooth to the surface so the drawing materials will adhere nicely.

So while it is painstaking, it is also very meditative. Like kneading dough for a baker. Or at least that's how I imaging kneading dough would be like!

Old wood, new groove

"Destroyed" the block from a series of monoprinted woodcuts I started years ago. Still love the idea of the image but the image itself needed to change. Here's the proof so far. Still needs some work, stay tuned...