press play print

The Honolulu Printmakers, like many other nonprofits in this suffering economy, is looking for new avenues of fundraising.  Our usual grant sources have warned us not to expect any funding from them for next year’s annual exhibition. We have a special task force meeting on new events, methods of fundraising, and money-saving options for this historic printmaking organization to continue the community outreach & print programming for which we are known.

In the midst of our dilemma, a member from our own board made a very generous proposal.  He offered to match funds donated by other members of the Board of Directors up to one-thousand dollars through the end of January. We sent out a fundraising challenge letter, emphasizing the importance of all board members participating, no matter how great or small the contribution.  I am accustomed to this type of fundraising campaign from within, because the private school I teach for asks for all staff & faculty to contribute to the school’s fundraising.

Obtaining 100% participation in this fundraiser would both create an immediate solution to help meet our financial crunch for the Annual Exhibitions of 2010 and 2011 and offer us the opportunity to mount a larger effort to solicit additional funds from a wider group of donors, indicating that the board has already stepped up to meet some of the critical financial needs we foresee over the next two years.  (I have been told contributors are more likely to donate their own money when members of an organization appear to prioritize funding themselves).

In our letter, we did not ask for any specific amount of money from our board members.  And, we will not be publicizing who contributes and who does not. Soliciting them for donations is highly irregular, since we are a board of volunteers that already gives up a tremendous amount of time and energy serving the needs of the Honolulu Printmakers; as such we have had several complaints from within our board.  Financial issues always have a way of striking an especially stressful cord.

Since hearing of this fundraiser, a private donor outside the organization was impressed enough to make a sizeable donation to the Honolulu Printmakers.  And many of our board members responded quickly.  I believe we already made the $1000 to be matched.  This new fundraiser has already helped to ease the immediate financial needs of our organization.

I invite any comments on this idea or other fundraising options that have worked for organizations with which readers and other blog contributors have been involved.  Perhaps by sharing these options, we can make sure all of our arts organizations stay afloat in this slow economy.

“MONOTHON” is an annual fundraising event at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, Connecticut.  www.contemprints.org  For the week of MONOTHON, tons of artists make as many monoprints as possible.  Artists sign up for 5 hour sessions and there is a master printer, along with a press assistant, for every two artsts participating in the MONOTHON.   I had the pleasure of serving as a master printer for 2 sessions on November 5th. and 6th.  At the end of each session, the CCP’s full time master printer selects one print from each artist for their auction on November 21st.  It was so interesting to try and anticipate which print would be chosen, and why, especially after having a hand in printing all of them.  I was impressed with how well organized the Center was for this huge happening, and how engaged the artists were that I worked with. 

20 colors were laid out in ink can lids ahead of time, for all to dip into.

Two of the artists I worked with: Tom & Perry

Yupo paper makes for a great stencil.

PRINT WEEK IN NYC

While I was in the area, I got to take advantage of “print week” in NYC by attending the print fair at the Armory.  Pace Prints took center stage with its double booth at the entrance of the enormous room.  I was most interested in the work exhibited at Tandem Press (Judy Pfaff’s mixed media print collages), Shark’s Ink (Enrique Chagoya’s accordion print book) and Durham Press (Polly Apfelbaum’s colorful woodblock floral prints).  With a little luck, I’ll be able to schedule a return trip to MONOTHON 2010 and check out even more of print week next year.

IMPACT 6 Multidisciplinary Printmaking Conference, Bristol, UK

Laura Berman and Jill Fitterer, Garden Installation, UWE, Bristol, UK

In September, I had the opportunity and support to travel to IMPACT 6, held in Bristol, UK.  The conference was hosted by the Centre for Fine Print Research and the Faculty of Creative Arts, at the University of the West of England. Over 350 delegates from all over the world were in attendance. Some of our fellow PressPlayPrint contributors were in attendance and presented exhibitions and panel discussions at the conference.

Of the many panels presented, I especially appreciated the magnitude and breadth of topics explored in the panel, “Print in the Social Sphere” in particular “Sustainability in Printmaking”, presented by Professor John Risseeuw, Arizona State University and co-authored by Stephen Hoskins, Centre for Fine Print Research. While their presentation asked more questions than providing solutions, regarding practices and consumption of materials in printmaking, I was glad to hear the issues raised in the context of the conference.

Melanie Yazzie, University of Colorado, Boulder, presented in the panel, “Subversive Multiples: Activism in the Community” Melanie always affirms the importance of story and connecting with others through the telling of our stories.  At the end of the panel, she sang the delegates a beautiful Navajo blessing, thank you for connecting us with your beautiful heart and kindness! Melanie also presented the portfolio, Another New Zealand, Another United States.

There were a multitude of amazing exhibitions presented in tandem with the conference. Wanda Ewing, University of Nebraska, Omaha, presented her series, Hairdos, 103 linocut self-portraits, with Wanda sporting a different, unique, impressive and some hilarious and innovative hairstyles.

Anita Jung, University of Iowa, presented Art Dialogues: Rabbit Saves the World Part 2. This installation took over the foyer at the Ashton Bower Campus and was created over several days with works submitted to Anita from artists and art students in the United States. The resulting exhibition was a playful and adventurous explosion of rabbits and rabbit related prints.

Anita Jung, Art Dialogues: Rabbit Saves the World Part II, UWE, Bristol, UK

I had the wonderful opportunity of collaborating with the mastermind behind PressPlayPrint, Laura Berman, Kansas City Art Institute. We presented the exhibition: Converging Collections: Imprints Celebrated Through the Process of Gathering. Laura has been collecting rocks for over 30 years, and I have been harvesting my hair for over 3 years. Our collections came together in this exhibition with over 1,000 prints.

Laura Berman and Jill Fitterer, Converging Collections: Imprints Celebrated Through the Process of Gathering, UWE, Bristol, UK

detail: Laura Berman and Jill Fitterer, Converging Collections: Imprints Celebrated Through the Process of Gathering, UWE, Bristol, UK

As ever, it was wonderful to meet and connect with fellow printmakers from all over the world. In 2011, IMPACT 7, will be held in Melbourne, Australia and will be hosted by Monash University.

At the end of summer, I was asked to curate a printmaking exhibition at the Arts at Mark’s Garage, a downtown hot spot most gallery seekers start at each First Friday of the month in Honolulu.   The exhibition will follow a show called Slow News, co-curated locally and by a team from New York and comprised of international artists that created pieces about news (late-breaking issues or those that have been brewing for some time, world-wide o personal topics).  These artists sent scrolls, created in multiple media to be unpacked like Christmas presents & hung throughout the gallery.

I was asked to do something to compliment this initial, international exhibition.

ComPRESS, the resulting exhibition,  is a Hawaii-centered reaction to the expansion of electronic communication & the demise of newspapers & printed media.  The “com” refers to communication, community, and also to the computer that is taking over our communications.  Press refers to both printmaking and more traditional newspaper media.

For this exhibition, I allowed an expanded notion of printmaking, meaning an impression is made from a print matrix at some point in the work’s production (traditional fine-art & digital prints, installation, print-video hybrid, photo, photo copy, zine, sculpture formed in a mold, etc. may all be included).

Around 30 artists with ties to Hawaii are participating in comPRESS, and so far tentative plans have all grown to multiple pieces or larger scale works!  Work is being delivered this week and, the exhibition will be installed on the 11th.

The exhibition will be held October 13 – November 21, 2009, with an artist’s talk 6-8pm October 15, Opening Reception 6-10pm November 6, and a Closing reception 6-10pm November 19, 2009.  For the opening, one of our artists is set to play live rock and roll, and we are working on having a dancer dressed completely in newspapers perform.  Throughout the duration of the exhibition, we are also hoping to play a soundtrack of printmaking sounds made by one of the participating artists.

I realize Honolulu is a bit of a trip for most of you, but if you find yourself in the middle of the Pacific this month, come check out comPRESS!

A while ago, I posted information about the Damien Portfolio the Honolulu Printmakers will be showing in October at Cathedral Gallery in Honolulu to celebrate the canonization of Father Damien DeVeuster.  I’d been struggling for some time in coming up with an image idea I was excited about in moving forward with my print.

Because I work at a private Catholic high school of the Sacred Hearts order (Father Damien’s order), I was exposed to some additional information about Father Damien during our faculty retreat the week before school started.  A priest that used to teach at Damien Memorial School (Catholic School for boys in Honolulu) came to share with us about Damien’s life.  It was after the priest’s presentation that I found my moment of inspiration.

Father Damien was known for his benevolent works in a colony of Hansen’s disease (leprosy) patients on Kalaupapa on the Hawaiian island of Molokai.  When he first traveled to the colony, it was a place of lawlessness and despair.  Damien helped build the first hospital, cemetery, & church there, and helped design an aquifer system to bring water down the cliff-side that separates this peninsula from the rest of Molokai.  Because of all his carpentry work, Damien’s hands were always cut.  He continually anointed the wounds of the Kalaupapa community and shared food with them, showing little concern for hygiene.  Although it is not known exactly how Hansen’s disease is transmitted, long-term contact with those who have the disease usually typifies contraction.  Damien, ended up contracting Hansen’s disease and is known for embracing his community with writings that referred to them as “We lepers.”

Based specifically on a story this priest told us at our faculty retreat, my first image idea illustrated a simplified image of Damien handing a child the pipe he was known to carry – a gift used to mask the scent of rotting flesh…I thought this story was interesting for the following reason:  according to norms of public conduct & stewardship, most of us might look down on an adult handing a child a pipe, because we assume he is damaging the naive child’s health.  In this case, this act typifies the behavior that most likely caused Damien to contract Hansen’s disease…The path of toxicity is actually opposite that which we originally assumed.  Before he ever contracted the disease, Damien already acted as one with his community (we lepers).  I decided to title the work Peace Pipe (see design below).

Peace Pipe

In the end, I decided it best to avoid the mis-communication and outrage that would inevitably result from the image of Damien passing a pipe to a child.  Most people would probably not know the story that had been related to me, nor do most take the time to read signage.  So, I changed the pipe into a candle to signify a sense of sharing & community, but also the hope Damien’s work gave to the community of Hansen’s disease patients on Kalaupapa.  I changed the title to We lepers.

we lepers

I used to work at a stained glass shop, designing, teaching & fabricating custom work.  Because of the traditional ties between stained glass & the church, I chose to print in an aesthetic that gives a similar feel.  My image is being printed in screenprint, using various amounts of pigment mixed with transparency on a transluscent, 100% rag vellum.  My black outlines resemble the solder lines of stained glass windows, and I’m filling the simplified image areas with hand-rendered & printed textures based on photographs taken at Kalaupapa.  This is just computer-based design, compiled from my drawing & photograph textures; the actual print is in production now.