hen & chick

Troy

I'm in Troy NY at the AERO Conference. Actually, I'm not at the conference right now. I'm in a cafe because I couldn't find any wifi on the campus.

After just a couple of hours of sleep Chris and I headed south at 5:30 am. We stopped in Rutland for breakfast at the Midway Diner. We walked in like the giddy, sleep-deprived rockstars we are and got some funny looks... he he. When we left the guy at the register, who reminded me of Uncle Fester handed me my credit card receipt and a pen to sign it. The pen didn't work. First he told be that it was because the paper was heat sensitive...what that has to do with anything, I'm not sure. Then he told me that I had to lick the pen. I knew that wouldn't work but I did it anyway and we started cracking up. The pen still didn't work. Then Uncle Fester told me that I didn't need to sign it anyway, it wasn't going anywhere. I think he was just too lazy to find me a pen that worked.

I dropped Chris off in Bennington so he could head east on his bike to Brattfest then back to Maine and I headed west to Troy. I got lost coming into the city and was so tired I didn't think I'd find my way. Thank God I have a good sense of direction and Jason for lending me his atlas. I went to 4 workshops and was feeling completely beat. I'm in absorption mode today, I don't have much energy to contribute or even talk much but that's OK too.

Anyway, there's no one else in the cafe at the moment, the barista put on some contemporary Latin music for me because I told him that I liked it, though I don't know much about it... I just know good music when I hear it. I'm enjoying being alone in an unfamiliar city. Whenever I visit someplace new to me I like to experience the local... what people there would do, not what a visitor would do... so I got myself off the campus where the conference is and into downtown to see what this place is really like. I'm not sure what I think of Troy yet.

I met Joe Kramer!

You may be wondering, who the hell is Joe Kramer? I wondered to. I was at Red Square tonight, sitting outside with my friend Sarah and this guy approached us and asked if he could sit and chat. He's from out of town, everyone's been snobby, just wants to have a conversation, blah blah blah. Sure thing. He told us that we might not know who he was but that we would want to know him. He introduced himself as Joe Kramer, famous drummer and he was obviously drunk. He told us that he's a studio drummer and he plays gigs with bands. Two upcoming shows that he claimed to be playing are with Bob Dylan in VT and The Police in CT. It was hard for me to believe. He was making offers of tickets and getting us backstage but when it came right down to it I got the feeling it was all BS. He gave me his email then it turned to "your pretty... I need a place to stay tonight..." Right. Once I get some sleep I'll try to find the truth. I don't like being bullshitted but It doesn't really matter, I went out hoping for something unexpected and I got it.

Finally...more from the residency

I finally have a moment to post more of the photos from the residency at the Vermont Studio Center. I can't believe it was a whole month ago. Its still so fresh in my mind and heart. I've posted these picture to my flickr but here they are again.

This is my studio portrait taken by Howard Romero. I hate having my picture taken, I don't trust anyone, not even a good photographer, to see me the in a way that I believes reflects how I feel, so I was a bit skeptical. I actually like this one.

This is the Charles Brand press I used. I love the language  and capitalization on the plate :

MAXIMUM PRESSURE IS NOT NECESSARY

Instructions

Increase pressure as job requires

OUR ETCHING PRESS requires much less force than other etching presses

If you follow these instructions you will have Longer Lasting surfaces to print from and Better Results in printing.

This Intaglio Etching Press is for etchings  and type high wood blocks and CAN be used for embossings.

The Other Jen  (Jennifer Anderson)had a great robot pencil sharpener. He kept me company while I was pulling my robot prints. In fact, I believe he helped improved the quality of my prints

These are the pictures documenting my process of making the robot print. The reduction print was created from the photo I took of Evan dressed up in his cardboard robot costume last year.

I  had a piece of unmounted linoleum that was about 12" x 36". I generally don't use unmounted linoleum but since I had it and my Grandmother's voice was in my head telling me to make do with what I had, I used it.

I made the image larger and cut the linoleum into 4 equal pieces,knowing this would cause some registration issues and other challenges. I also knew it would show the qualities of a block print. I used glassine to make patterns for each reduction

.

It turned out to be a completely frustrating process. Once I washed the first color of ink off the linoleum it started to curl terribly and nothing seemed to flatten it. This problem is caused by the burlap that backs the linoleum shrinking after its been wet. I did a lot of thinking, talking to folks about my dilemma, visiting the lumber yard ( in Johnson it takes half a week to get a piece of masonite cut), and finally decided to mount the linoleum on a piece of plexy glass with 5 min epoxy.

I also needed a hairdryer to warm the linoleum  and flatten it as much as possible before mounting it and to warm the linoleum for easier cutting to make up for the time I lost while troubleshooting. You also can't get a hairdryer in Johnson. I had to drive to Morrisville

I made 9 prints expecting an edition of maybe 3 or 4 considering the troubles I encountered. 

While my first color dried and I contemplated how to address the curling linoleum I made a couple of monoprints of the same image.

This is the second reduction printing. I started to really like how the nine prints looked together, more than one individually.  I'm still deciding what I want to do with them. If I want to frame them together or not.

I forgot to take pictures of them with the final reduction as well. I don't have the blank wall space to do it at home .

There is something about multiple robots  that's more interesting to me than a single robot. A population of robots. I surrounded myself with them in my studio not fully realizing the environment I was creating until it was made.