Breuer's take on Printmaking

Noah Breuer is up for consideration for the printmaking position at Sac State. He had an artist talk in Mendocino Hall on March 15, 2017. He talked about utilizing printmaking in various ways beyond the traditional ink on paper, delving into his experience with lithography, screen prints, and relief printing. He studied traditional woodblock printing in it's birthplace: Japan. Breuer's process of idea building was from personal material that he would gather and mold into a body of work. For example, he layered screen prints on cut foam core and lithographs of baseball cards to create textures. One of my classmates did not find the compositions clear. He explained that the effect would probably be more meaningful if he used one less color. I agree with him because although he was using image as texture, his main concept got lost in the textures that were created by the layering of multiple colors especially in his baseball prints. Breuer was utilizing the dot pattern layered over collaged litho printed cards plus four to five colors all at once and although the initial idea was interesting, the image does not engage the viewer to look deeper into the piece because there is so much going on.
The interesting fact about his work is that he utilizes digital media in the carving of his plates. Mixing vectorized images carved into the wood with a machine, he layered images and used them in a variety of ways. However, I question whether that is fine art or more commercialized art. Printmaking has always been on that borderline because of the ability to reproduce an image, but they are limited in how many copies they can make before the plate or etch starts to fall apart. Because of the addition of technology, identical plates can be cut and inked again with precision and ease. Although the integrity of the plate may degrade over time, the reproducibility of the plate itself makes it easier to make mass productions of the same piece.

Third row seat for the lecture.

Breuer is hella tall.

MOMA post coming soon!

Here's some photos created through the #SelfComposed exhibit at SFMOMA. This was my favorite second to the Diebenkorn/Matisse show (coming soon).

Funny Little Story My Friend Sent

Here's the link to the original story: http://www.knowable.com/a/people-share-their-most-heartwarming-stories-of-super-smart-kids/p-2

The recess art society.

A few years ago when I was teaching a class of five and six year olds, a child came in and asked to do show and tell. He showed a wrapped candy. He told us that he had taken it from an art gallery, from an exhibit that was a pile of candies in a corner.

A few of the kids then blew my mind completely by having an intense debate about whether or not such a piece truly constituted art. It was unbelievable. I just sat back and marvelled at the amazing depth of their discussion.

A young fella said (and please bear in mind that he was five years old at the time):

"I keep wondering if it's still art when all the candies have been taken and it's back to being an empty corner."

Some of the other comments I remember specifically are:

"It can't be art because it's not in a frame.”

"It's art because it's in an art gallery." 

"But people are in an art gallery and they're not art." 

"Yes they are!”

"I think candy on the floor is littering.”

It was the most awe inspiring day of my teaching career so far.

Emma-Francis Rutherford

Behind the Scenes: Curious Curating

Nancy Wylie explaining the zone system

Nancy Wylie started curating in 2003 as a student at Sac State. She had no prior experience and had to do a lot of research in how to care for the collection that had accumulated over the years. Wylie laughed when she told the horror story of pulling the works out from a closet with a water heater in it. The collection itself dates back to the 60's and there used to be records of the art but those were somehow destroyed in 2007. Wylie did not state what happened and we did not dare to ask. The place where the art is stored is incredibly small. There were three adjacent rooms: the first was a meeting space with a large table and chairs, the second was the main storage for the art, and the third was a workspace with a mat cutter, several flat files, and binders of records. There were talks about accessioning new works into the collection and Wylie stated that unless it is a deal too good to pass, the answer is generally no because space is limited and the location that the work is kept is not the best place. She mentioned that although the temperature and light regulations of the rooms are ideal, the space is too small and being in the basement level gives risk to flooding during the rainy season.

Unwrapping Montoya's print

Wylie pulled out a few prints that were featured in last year's Ink on Paper show including prints by Jose Montoya, Andy Warhol, and Picasso. A fellow student asked about a James Kaneko print so Wylie pulled out the binder, found exactly where the print was stored, and pulled it out for us to see.
The process of caring for each piece was intriguing. Dealing with a limited budget, large sheets of archival paper was used to create folders for each print instead of archival folders. Acid free sheets of translucent paper cover the surface of each print. A cut mat sandwiched the paper and print together in the folder which is also usable for when the print needs to be framed for display.

Third room, Wylie explaining preservation techniques used on a budget

Showing off the old slide system

Storage units

Wylie is currently working towards creating a curatorial class next semester. The class would involve learning about proper care of the artwork, organization, and exhibition design. Hopefully that class is approved because I would definitely try to fit it into my schedule. This experience was very exciting and interesting!

Picasso lithograph (left), Warhol print (right)

James Kaneko lithograph

Mandatory selfie with storage shelves behind me

Remembering Valerie Wheeler

Valerie Wheeler

Professor Mark Emerson telling the tale of his friendship with
Wheeler and the many different stories she would share

Majority of the printmaking fam

Live music in the gallery, jazz tribute from Wheeler's son

I left for two seconds and come back to this...
freaking torching the print bed...

A dear printmaker, teacher, and friend, the wonderful Valerie Wheeler was well remembered for her outstanding knowledge and love of learning. She was a phenomenal teacher and would always help me and many students understand the etching process and the wonders of intaglio printing. She passed away on January 16, 2017. The show in the Else Gallery from February 27-March 3 showed her exemplary work in photogravure which is a photo-mechanical process where a copper plate is coated with a light sensitive gel and exposed to a film positive and then etched. Photogravure became a dying art with the introduction of digital printing. Wheeler would spend hours in the dark room exposing images onto plates. She would come in early some mornings and pull a few prints, explaining to us about what went wrong with the prints she was unhappy with. Wheeler's images were very architectural, high contrast images of buildings, landscapes, people, and flowers. Her influence on the printmaking lab in Kadema hall will resonate with all of us students who had the honor to work with her and her presence remains there forever.

Beginning/Advanced Printmaking's Annual Field Trip to
Crown Point Press 2016