Eugene Printmakers Can Now Leave Academia

Since moving to Eugene I've come to know several fine-art printmakers, all of whom have bemoaned Eugene's lack of community printmaking facilities. While printmakers in other cities can join non-academic studios, Eugene printmakers have had to stay enrolled in one of two colleges here, UO or LCC, to have access to printmaking equipment.

And staying in school is no small expense. At LCC a one-credit independent study in printmaking would cost you $221 ($98 per credit, plus $123 incidental fees), as best I can tell. That would give you access to a printmaking studio for about 10 weeks, your access being limited to campus hours and non-class times.

Or, if you have the space for it, you could set up your own printmaking studio. How big is your living room? It could probably accommodate a small press and the other sundry equipment you need to practice your art.

Now, however, Eugene printmakers have a third option. Whiteaker Printmakers is a membership studio opening up April. It is run by artist Heather Halpern and her techno-geek husband (and brother of mine) Paul. The studio is in the Whiteaker, Eugene's artsy district. Heather and Paul have done an amazing job of acquiring presses, equipment, furniture, and supplies to stock the nascent studio. 

Studio membership dues will pay the rent, utilities, and other operating expenses. My cocktail napkin calculation shows that member rates will need to be set at somewhere between $80 and $100 a month to break even. Members will have year-round 24-by-7 access to the studio, however, making it a much better deal than staying in school. 

Plus, it's a great space. It's in the same building as Clay Space (another membership studio), and it's lit with bright, indirect daylight. The building has a big parking lot, with plenty of street parking as well. You could park at the studio, work yourself into exhaustion, then walk to Ninkasi, Pizza Research, Izaki Meiji or any of the other nearby eateries and drinkeries for refueling. 

I haven't done much in the way of printmaking since I ran a little screenprinting business back in the time of the Reagan administration. But that handsome letterpress at the WhitPrint studio is calling to me. I think I need to learn how to use it. 

If you happen to be in Portland...

My solo show is now up! In Portland, in a yoga studio, on arty Alberta Street. Twenty-one pieces in all:

Nightlight de los Muertos

There I was, shopping at St Vinnie's, when I saw a somewhat scuffed and battered aquarium nightlight* in the toy department. I knew instantly that I wanted to throw those fish right out and paint a tableau of my own to set into motion. What you see here is the result of that impulse.

There were two moving plastic scrolls in the nightlight, on which the bright and cheerful aquarium scenery was printed. I replaced the inner scroll with an acrylic painting on opaque plastic film. The outer scroll I replaced with clear acetate, on which I drew with Sharpies of various colors. (Note for next time: use oil-based Sharpies! That's what the white is on the clear scroll; it's very opaque and very durable.)

The original nightlight's internal bulb was burnt out, and I didn't want to replace it, because back-lit hand-painted work rarely looks good. However, I just happened to have a tiny IKEA light that was pretty useless as a lamp because it casts such a tiny, bluish glare. But once I cannibalized it and integrated it into my assemblage it made a perfect spotlight for skeletons dancing on the astral plane across a backdrop of a funeral procession.

Unfortunately the finished objet is very difficult to photograph, because of the highly reflective clear plastic housing that holds the thing together. Here are a few stills, some with the spotlight off, which makes it easier to see the images on the scrolls:

*Since posting this, the full-sized aquarium nightlight seems to have disappeared from the Amazon catalog. But just to give you an idea, it looked a lot like this one, but bigger. Or like this one, but fish.

U and V

I made two pages for Julia and Martin's baby's alphabet book:

(Very much looking forward to seeing the pages everyone else contributed!)

Some Recent Drawings

(Click to see albums.)

Life drawing - Sep 7, 2013

Ninkasi Drink & Draw - Aug 2013

A Phenomenon of Sunset

Tonight the view to the west at sunset was entirely unremarkable:

But to the east... Oooh!

Now Here's An Idea for Bathroom Floor Tile