Hepler's "Whorl" was editioned at Tamarind Lithography

Bruce showed us dozens of prints and work in other media, all the while regaling us with stories that revealed his strong connections to each piece and many of the artists. The students were amazed to see someone living with so much art and were gratified to learn that someone like Bruce exists.

Brown shows Hamish Fulton print to adoring crowd

These students are currently working on a covered slip case sructure to house an exchange portfolio around themes of collecting. To thank Bruce Brown for opening his home to us to share his collection, we plan to give him a copy of this portfolio. Other recipients of the boxed set will be an artist who gave us a great slide talk, Lauren Fensterstock, whose work strongly relates to Cabinets of Curiosity, and Marilynn Gelfman Karp, author of In Flagrante Collecto: Caught in the Act of Collecting. Gelfman Karp lectured at MECA in October and critiqued germs of new collections the students began in response to an assignment Gelfman Karp gave them to amass a collection of something no one else collects. Below are two images of a discussion of sophomore Luc Collette's Collection of Spills.

Marilynn Gelfman Karp shares her passion for collecting

students peruse collection of spills by MECA sophomore Luc Collette

Pronunciation: \fi-zi-ka-li-ti\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural phys·i·cal·i·ties

Date: 1660

1 : intensely physical orientation : predominance of the physical usually at the expense of the mental, spiritual, or social 2 : a physical aspect or quality

"physicality." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2008.

Merriam-Webster Online. 14 November 2008
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/physicality

Text on print:

"I had this old etching plate in the studio for a long time. Every time I saw it I felt uncomfortable because it was empty and dull. I always intended to mark it and finally I couldn't bear it any longer and attached it to the bed of a Start Rite panel saw so that the operator marked it with the wood as he worked. I am not sure, but I think it has something to do with art and its perpetual referencing back to itself."  Denise Hawrysio

 “Denise Hawrysio has worked in many media over the past twenty-five years, including film, video and installation. Throughout that period she has also pursued the conceptual possibilities of printmaking, especially in relation to her notion of site-specificity. Hawrysio produces her prints by employing external agents, both human and physical (such as cars driving over etching plates). The prints are a collaboration between the artist and the world as she finds it; the actions and motions of Hawrysio's surroundings leave their mark on her art, with the result that each print is a still, a frozen interface between the materials of art and the physicality of the world.

Excerpts from: www.sfu.ca/artgallery/0704hawrysio.html

Hell yeah it is!  This ain't no rant - this is raw passion, baby!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpAuDrs5ocg

I'm lucky to be alive to witness this moment in our history's time..........

Amy Nack, right printing relief plates.

As my first contribution to this wonderful community, I am grateful to be included among the contributors. While I was inactive for the first session, I plan to make regular contributions to the second session.  This post is being written from Boise, Idaho where I live and teach printmaking at Boise State University.  Boise has a growing community of printmakers, actively engaging with the region.  Amy Nack is my former student and a recently completed her B.F.A. with her emphasis in printmaking.  This fall she worked with the Boise City Department of Art and Art History, funded by a grant from the Idaho Commission on the Arts. The grant enabled Amy to engage Idaho’s large refugee population in making prints.

In September, refugees from Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burundi, Columbia, Congo, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Myanmar, Russia, Somalia, Thailand and Tanzania participated in three workshops offered by Amy.  Held at the Office for Refugees/ Mountain States Group, participants created relief prints on Styrofoam plates that were printed on Amy’s tabletop press.  I had the opportunity to assist Amy briefly for one of the workshops and was charmed by the excitement and engagement the refugees brought to the experience.

In particular, a young boy from Congo comes to mind.  He was initially timid toward drawing on the plate, but once we inked and printed it, his eyes had an extra sparkle and his smile lit up the whole neighborhood.  Many of the refugees are learning to speak English and the process Amy presented to them opened a new door for them to communicate their stories. A new community was built and hundreds of prints were created. The refugees were given one of their prints, agreeing to give another of their prints to the public during the WorldFest celebration held in downtown Boise on October 4, 2008.

Amy is living proof that teaching is truly a reciprocal activity. I am grateful to Amy for her natural inclination to serve others and her artistic perseverance, which consistently yields meaningful, rich work. Thank you Amy! Coming soon: Amy has another very exciting print related endeavor on the horizon.

Jill Fitterer, October 2008