I cannot praise the Frans Masereel Centrum residency program and everyone there who make it possible enough.  My three weeks at the Centrum were amazing.  Besides the beautiful land & people of Kasterlee, Belgium, the residency is packed with presses and incredible artists.  I was lucky enough to work in the same studios with artists & printmakers from all around the world, from South Africa to Japan and Germany.  The atmosphere of hard work and camaraderie propelled all of us to create.  I was inspired not only by my physical and geographic location, but by the amazing prints that others were pulling off the presses.  I completed a portfolio of 18 letterpress prints using the footnotes of Borges’ short story Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, an AZERTY keyboard, and naive Flemish Translations (images of the project to come!)

The “C. Fremaux & Fils, Bruxelles” press that I used during the residency.  This all-manual press gave quite a work out, but we bonded nonetheless.

Fellow resident Chris Diedericks at work on a litho stone.  Chris made an amazing trio of litho prints which were a joy to watch being created.  Chris was just one of the bunch of residents that were inspirational and fun to work alongside.

The print shop of the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp.  This famous print shop was the longest running in history (1550’s – 1875) and is now a mind-blowing museum.  It has two of the oldest letterpresses to exist, alongside drawers of type that were cast in the foundry just upstairs.  I could rave for hours about this museum, if you go to Antwerp, it is a must.

I also went, twice, to the Nationaal Museum van de Speelkaart (National Playing Card Museum) in Turnhout.  It has a huge building full of beautiful lettepresses and litho presses.  It also has all of the other steam- and man-powered machines to make cards since the 1700’s.  Playing cards factor heavily in the history of printmaking and this museum shows a good part of that history.  Another recommended spot!  Below is an image of one of their letterpresses (which a boy of 14 would run all day during production.)

The travel and fees for my residency at Frans Masereel Centrum were funded in part by the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

I am so happy to be leaving soon for an Artist Residency at the Frans Masereel Centrum in Belgium.  As the Frans Masereel website states:

The Flemish centre for the graphic arts ‘Frans Masereel‘ is a dynamic, varied and forward-looking international centre for the contemporary visual arts and focuses on the printed image.

The Frans Masereel Centre is a centre for creation, but also for the communication of knowledge, international collaboration and research.

I will be working in the Letterpress area on a series of prints that will, most likely, explore circular buildings, book spines & ink splotches.  I do plan to update the News section while I am at Frans Masereel and my subsequent travels to Amsterdam &  throughout Belgium, including the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp.

The travel and fees for my residency at Frans Masereel Centrum are funded in part by the Regional Arts & Culture Council.

PROOF:
a group show / ART : SCIENCE
beppu wiarda gallery
319 NW 9th Avenue / Portland OR / 97209 / 503.241.6460

March 2010
Opening / First Thursday / March 4 / 6 – 8 pm
Gallery / Wednesday – Sunday / 11 am – 6 pm
Discussion led by Abra / Sunday / March 21 / 3 pm

I am so pleased to be a part of the PROOF: exhibition at beppu wiarda in March.  The group show includes multiple artists that focused on female scientists and mathematicians for the content.  I have continued my exploration of 19th century astronomer, suffragist, librarian and educator Maria Mitchell.  My work, “An Explanatory and Annotated Legend and Accompanying List, Utilizing the Path of Venus as Seen from Earth to Discuss the Connections between those in Maria Mitchell’s Personal Library as an Addendum to the Personal Libraries Library of Portland, Oregon.” includes a grid of nine letterpress prints (pictured above) and a take-away stack of offset posters.

Alongside the show, there are a series of discussions led by the contributing artists, art historians, scientists and mathematicians.  There is a discussion every Sunday at 3 pm in the gallery.  I will be leading a discussion on Sunday, March 21 that will involve Maria Mitchell and the Personal Libraries Library.

Other artists and their “collaborators” include:
Katie Ammons : Louise Arner Boyd / Kate Copeland : Zoe Rodriguez del Rey / Kate Fenker : Marcia Ascher / Bean Gilsdorf : Suzanne Gahl / Kim Hamblin : Chrystal Bell / Kim McKenna : Sophie Germain / Sara McKenna : Ada Lovelace / Lorna Nakell : Sophie Brahe

and do not miss:

COPY JAM!
A Printeresting Curatorial Project
Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
116 North Third Street / Philadelphia PA / 19106

One Night Only:
Thursday / March 25 / 2010 / 6 – 9 pm

I am also so pleased to be a part of Printeresting’s curatorial project Copy Jam! As the Copy Jam! website relates:

‘”COPY JAM!” will be an interactive print event. During the party, fifty works by fifty artists will be displayed in a grid on the wall. Upon arrival, each guest will be handed a complimentary ticket that can be exchanged for one black & white photocopy of any work the guest chooses. There will be no sales; one ticket equals one copy. Copies will be made LIVE in the gallery for one night only!’

This exciting “show & take” runs in conjunction with SGC’s Mark & Remarque and the inaugural Philagrafika in Philadelphia. I wish I could be there for all of the incredible art, discourse and ephemera!

No. 2 Print Shop
3317 SE 21st Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97202
(just south of SE Powell Blvd on 21st)
January 8-31, opening Friday, January 8, 5-8 pm

No. 2 Print Shop is an amazing local etching studio that also exhibits contemporary artworks. They are allowing me to exhibit the Asbury Memory Floorplans (silkscreen & letterpress) for the first time outside of the Asbury & Harwood buildings in Albuquerque. Come on out for a look!

Seattle City Light Portable Works, Northwest Emerging Artists: Part III

Seattle Municipal Tower Gallery                                                                                                                                  700 Fifth Ave / Level 3 Concourse                                                                                                                        January 5 – April 2, 2010

Artist Reception / Opening: Tuesday, January 12, 4:30 – 6:30 pm; Remarks at 5:45 pm

Three of my “American to Icelandic to American Translations” were purchased by Seattle City Light for the NW Emerging Artists Portable Works Collection.  The photographs and prints will be exhibited at the Seattle Municipal Tower Gallery (Level 3 Concourse, 700 Fifth Ave, Seattle WA 98104) from January 5 – April 2, 2010.  The Gallery is open Monday-Friday 5am to 7pm.  I have high hopes of making it to the opening!

The NW Emerging Artists Collection purchased 86 artworks by 56 artists.  This exhibition is the last of three, showing all of the works purchased last year.  Other notable artists collected are Derek Franklin, Midori Hirose, Justin Gibbens and Melody Owen.  Please visit the beautiful online gallery at:

Seattle City Light Portable Works Website & Gallery

I have started the Personal Libraries Library, a specially-curated lending library located in Portland, Oregon. The Library is dedicated to recreating the personal libraries of artists, philosophers, scientists, writers and other thinkers & makers. The collection has commenced with the personal library of Maria Mitchell, the 19th-century astronomer, librarian, educator and suffragist.

The Personal Libraries Library has acquired the first book of the Maria Mitchell Personal Library collection: Emerson’s Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson. This book is particularly special because it is also the inaugural book of the entire Personal Libraries Library.

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Maria Mitchell were good friends; when he lectured in Nantucket he was welcomed into the Mitchell household above the Pacific Bank on Main Street. Mitchell also found herself defending the work of Emerson to Dr. Whewell, the Master of Trinity College in 1857.

To join the Library, please contact personallibraries@gmail.com and visit the PLL website at www.personallibrarieslibrary.com