26
DEPARTMENTS
Treasurer's Notes by Sylvia Pixley . . . . . . . . . . 4
Call for Bundle #38, Summer 2007 . . . . . . . . . 4
Bundle Participation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
New Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Changes & Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Announcements & Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Advertisements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
BLOCK BURINNo. 37 Winter 2007
& FEATURES
Notes from Jim by Jim Horton. . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Summer Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The Art of John Cadigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
an interview with John Cadigan by Tony Drehfal
The WEN Photo Album. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
snapshots from our membership
Dale DeArmond by Rebecca Poulson . . . . . . . . .18
A Tribute to Dale DeArmond . . . . . . . . . . . .22
by Julianna Humphreys
William Dove by David Harrison. . . . . . . . . . .27
WEN Bundle # 37, Winter 2007 . . . . . . . . . . .28
Block & Burin is the newsletter of the
Wood Engravers’ Network (WEN).
This issue: Block & Burin # 37, Winter 2007.
Cover: Gale Mueller, homage to Dale DeArmond
Copy Editor: William Rueter
For information on Block & Burin contact:
Tony Drehfal, Editor,
W221 East Wisconsin Ave., Nashotah, WI 53058
Phone: 262-367-5191
E-mail: [email protected]
For information on WEN contact:
James Horton, WEN Organizer
3999 Waters Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Phone: 734-665-6044
E-mail: [email protected]
Services of WEN:
• Twice yearly mailing/print exchange
(March & September)
• Membership Guide
• Resources and Materials Guide
• Lending Library
• Workshops and Exhibitions
• Website: www.woodengravers.net
Since 1994, WEN is an organization for the education
and enjoyment of relief printmaking and in particular
engraving upon end-grain wood.
Block & Burin uses the Stone Print typeface family.
Sumner Stone graciously donated the fonts to WEN.
The Editor reserves the right to edit copy to fi t as necessary.
The wood engravings of stars
on the title page
are from Dale DeArmond’s book
Sun Signs From A Polar Star
A Northern Zodiak.
4 5
Treasurer’s Notesby Sylvia Pixley
As of September 4, 2006, we had a balance of
$2,401.94. A late workshop fee came in adding
$100.00. On September 28, 2006 I forwarded
$2,000.00 toward the binding of the Surrounding book project, which brought our balance danger-
ously low. Jim Horton loaned WEN $500 and Sylvia
Pixley $200, which was paid back after the winter
dues came in. So far I have received $3,235.00 in
dues from 106 members. We thank Jeff and Sandy
Canfi eld, Susan Wilson and Richard Woodman
for their extra donations which totaled $155.00.
We also received $200.00 for an ad in Block & Burin from the Porcupine’s Quill. The 2006 summer Block & Burin and bundle cost us $1,174.37; the December
dues due notices went out at a cost of $313.61; offi ce
supplies of $32.25 and a miscellaneous workshop
expense of $19.50 closes out the expense column.
So WEN has $2,552.21 in our account as of March
6, 2007.
I found that the easiest way for non-USA
members to pay their dues was to send me their
MasterCard/Visa information and I processed the
money through my business account. I am not sure
we can do that next year.
Call for Bundle #38Summer, 2007
• Contributions are due by August 30, 2007.• Send bundle contributions to Kathee Kiesselbach,
1528 Ferndale Blvd., Niles, MI 49120-4234
• Quantity: Minimum of 76 (one extra for the Ar-
chive). Our membership is at 180 at this writing
should you wish to dis trib ute to all members.
• Size: Maximum 9" x 12"
(We are mailing in a 10" x envelope).
• Anyone submitting prints is ensured of re ceiv ing
entire Bundles and moving to the front of the line
for future Bundles.
• We recommend sending printing in for ma tion
with your contributions. This is just a suggestion;
not mandatory by any means. This information
accompanies your print which is stored in the
Princeton Uni ver si ty Graphic Arts Library. This
archive holds all WEN ma te ri al.
• We encourage members to sign-up for pro duc ing a
cover for Block & Burin. We will cov er expenses.
• We welcome (and need) your submissions of
ar ti cles, interviews, ads and announcements for
pub li ca tion in Block & Burin. Send articles, ads
to,
Tony Drehfal
W221 East Wisconsin Ave.
Nashotah, WI 53058, USA
e-mail: [email protected]
Please send written submissions as unformatted
text fi les via email, it makes the layout far more
simple. Images should be mailed, or contact Tony
for scanning specifi cs.
Notes from Jimby Jim Horton
I’m writing this on a train coming home from Chi-
cago. It is dark and snowy - a bitter night. I question
my going. I am so content with routines at home.
I would usually rather work than be entertained.
I prefer being with friends and pets than with a
crowd. Travel can be frustrating. I do not like wait-
ing in lines or hidden expenses. Pavement hurts
my legs. I like the train, but I’m not a big fan of
AMTRAK at the moment. They are dinosaurs.
The bright side of this trip was the Art Institute
of Chicago. It is one of the world’s fi nest. Gallery
after gallery take your breath away. One of the great
features are halls, parallel to the larger galleries, that
contain prints and small drawings. How commend-
able that they also give you the intimate along with
the monumental. These smaller works would get
lost in the big open spaces, but these hallways are
just perfect. I spent most of my time there. A full diet
of paintings can give you overload, but the prints
are like nibbling, and you don’t get stuffed. A trip
to a museum renews my energy to work. I can look
at the work of masters and be inspired. I also look
and say, “I too can do that.” We can all be players.
Age has humbled me, and I’ve found that an ideal
place to be. All that matters to me now is to work
and improve.
It is said that life is a well seasoned stew. We
take time to look closely at things and think deeply.
Just as important is taking time to be light. Ulti-
mately we are in this process to awaken ourselves. By
awakening we get a glimpse of spiritual energy that
is in all things. I think we artists know that well.
Back to the trip: At the Museum of Science and
Industry, there is an exhibit called Body Worlds II. A
team of German scientists has perfected the plas-
ticization (infusing tissue with resins, kind of like
fossilizing with plastic). They have created a stun-
ning exhibition of anatomy. Featured are numerous
cadavers, sliced and opened to reveal the wonders of
the human body. Most notably was a woman carry-
ing a seven-month-old child. You were able to peer
into the womb, and then walk around and see the
diseased lungs that killed her. She donated herself
and the child to give warning to the living. Every
conceivable kind of cross section was displayed,
and if you draw from the fi gure, you can’t help but
learn how the body is put together. This exhibit will
make it to larger cities if it hasn’t already. Keep an
eye out and don’t miss it.
Speaking of drawing and anatomy: Sylvia
Pixley recently handed me a stack of magazines
called Drawing, published by American Artist maga-
zine (just Google that, you’ll fi nd it). It is a wonderful
publication, and I think I’ve about worn the covers
off, reading and rereading the articles. There is
something for all levels, from historical applications
to the latest in tips. I like the drawings and prints
they present for study.
In the Spring 2006 issue there were several
articles dealing with line versus tonal drawing. As
engravers, we are always dealing with line and tone.
Do we make edges or boundaries with a line, which
is really an abstraction, or do we make edges with
more realistic tone?
An article by Dan Gheno called “Making Bet-
ter Lines, Making Lines Better” makes the point
6 7
that “Lines are the foundation of drawing. When
allied with mass and tone, lines become even more
expressive. Line quality is infl uenced by your choice
of materials and tools. Lines can have an emotional
and psychological aspect, and almost always display
some sort of a rhythmic property in the way they
dance around the page. Tonal drawing – the juxta-
position of relative values is the notion of seeing
masses rather than outlines. Tone more closely
replicates the way humans see, than do lines.” The
extreme form of that is of course a photograph.
In another article “The Emergence of Tonal
Drawing,” author Ephraim Rubenstein states,
“Most people conceive of drawing as linear and
contour. Lines separate and are a great tool for
clarity - they are descriptive and convey informa-
tion. Linear drawing favors boundaries, whereas
tonal drawing dissolves boundaries and stresses
the light and atmosphere. It is an immediate way
of seeing, most closely related to vision itself. The
contour is an artifi cial construction. We don’t see in lines. Linear drawing is abstract and intellectual,
not because it lacks emotion, but because we don’t
actually see in lines. Therefore, lines have to be de-
coded or interpreted. Juxtaposed tones, being closer
to vision, seem more immediate. In tonal drawing,
the eye retreats from the edges of things and sees
instead, patches of light and shade.”
In a further article, “Line Still Matters,” David
Dodge Lewis comes to a conclusion, “We don’t see
in lines, but our intellect lets us explain with them.
In the right hands, this contrived element can be
subtle and intuitive. There are no lines in nature.
Everything else (color, texture, value and form)
exists independently in the world. Only line is a
construct. Observation must undergo radical and
active translation to be rendered into line. We use
lines for maps, charts, and characters. It is precise
and useful. Line explains rather than invokes. Our
minds do connect dots and even use mathematical
perspective, but a line can be remarkably sensual.
It is a refi ned, distilled, restrained sensation. Line
is also essential to that part of art that teaches or
instructs, even on a subtle level.”
So I present this as food for thought. How do
you as an engraver present your vision? How do you
teach, explain, explore and convey emotion?
Changing the subject sadly, printmaker Ross
Zirkle recently passed away. Professor of Art at
the U of Kentucky in Lexington, Ross did a lot of
engraving in his early days, and learned from David
Sander to some extent. He always lamented having
left wood engraving. It was where his heart was.
But he focused on lithography. Ross is credited as
having developed waterless litho processes for their
non-toxic value. He did so because so many of his
Self Portrait Ross Zirkle
Many thanks to Suzanne Gonsalez and Alex Brooks
for providing the images of Ross Zirke and his
work.
Ross Zirkle
Ross Zirkle
Ross’ wood engraving class
colleagues developed cancer (from solvents, he be-
lieved). How ironic that he also may have died from
the chemicals he sought to discontinue. In his last
few months, he returned to wood engraving. I sent
him tools and materials. The last class he taught was
wood engraving. He was excited about that, and felt
it was like coming home. He now is at peace, and
hopefully, truly home.
8 9
Summer Activities
WEN Summer Workshop 2007
in St. Joseph, Michigan:
The Riviera of the Midwest
The 13th annual Wood Engravers Network work-
shop, hosted by Kathee and Bill Kiesselbach, will
be held in Niles, and St. Joseph, Michigan. The
welcome cookout dinner will be on Sunday, August
12, with the farewell dinner on Friday, August 17th.
Details, such as cost, are still being worked out.
We will be mailing to all WEN members a special
mailing in April, with all the details and registration
information.
The dual-destination of this workshop show-
cases some of Southwestern Michigan’s lush won-
ders, including Lake Michigan and the Lake District.
During the fi rst couple of days we will have working
days to draw, paint, or photograph new subjects, as
well as work on engraving. The Kiesselbach garden
is 1.5 acres of heavily landscaped property on two
levels. The lower level or “downstairs” is surrounded
on two sides by the Brandywine Creek, a top qual-
ity second-order 8.2 mile cold-water trout stream
that fl ows through southwestern Cass County and
southeastern Berrien County. It fl ows in a westerly
direction through the city limits of Niles, Michigan,
before it empties into the St. Joseph River. The
“downstairs” garden also has a gazebo, a 40-foot
long lily pond with waterfall, and gorgeous fl ower-
ing plants and wildlife.
The “upstairs” garden features a 12’ x 12’ herb
garden, two bee hives, fountains, a Koi pond, a
rhododendron garden, shade gardens with rare
plantings, and a covered veranda where we will
work. The house, a Prairie home in the style of
Frank Lloyd Wright, is built of glass, redwood, and
white Indiana limestone, has a fl at roof, star-burst
beamed semi-circular living room, two cypress-
paneled rooms, lots of built-ins throughout. It is
also inhabited by two friendly and sometimes over-
enthusiastic Newfoundland dogs named Brocka
and Misty.
In the rather rustic garage-printshop here, a
newly acquired Damon & Peets 1887 platen press
and 4 type cabinets full of gorgeous type — some as
yet unidentifi ed — await your use. In the evening we
will have a private viewing of historical broadsides
and wood engravings (Private Press Collections
include Cuala Press, Golden Cockerel Press, Kelm-
scott Press, Limited Editions Club, Overbrook Press,
Perishable Press, St. Dominic’s Press, Stamford Ab-
bey Press) in the rare book room of the Hesburgh
Library, University of Notre Dame.
The second half of the workshop will be
spent at the Box Factory for the Arts, in St. Joseph,
Michigan (35 minutes from Kathee’s home in
Niles, MI, and only 2 blocks from Lake Michigan)
where we will work in front of the public. The Box
Factory has sculpture, ceramics, and printmaking
shops, 40+ private artist’s studios, and boasts a
small printmaking studio with a Vandercook 15-21
proof press (1955), three type cabinets of type, a
Vandercook #14 proof press, a Charles Brand etch-
ing press, and a Charles Brand Lithography Press.
The Box also has three galleries, one of which will
be scheduled for an exhibition of WEN member
work. The Box also hosts evening events, including
concerts, poetry readings, writing workshops, and
art classes.
There will be plenty of time to spend on the
beach. Nestled on the southern tip of “The Riviera
of the Midwest,” St. Joseph is located just 90 miles
from downtown Chicago. The location is famous
for sport fi shing, boating, and perfect for weekend
adventure, antiquing, or walking through the many
shops and art galleries—with some of the best
stretches of beach on Lake Michigan. Visit the Kra-
sel Art Center, or spend a few extra days in nearby
famous artists’ towns, Saugatuk and Douglas.
What to Bring:
Shorts, T-shirts, sandals, sneakers, jacket or sweat-
shirt, hat, sun glasses, sun lotion, beach towel,
bathing suit, camera, wood engraving tools, show &
tell items, favorite water bottle, bee sting kit, allergy
medicine, bicycle optional.
Closest Airport:
South Bend Regional Airport (SBN) SOUTH BEND,
IN
Lodging:
Kathee’s recommendation: Unless you will have a
car, stick with hotels in South Bend on US Highway
933, Dixieway North or South, or in Niles, Michigan
on South 11th Street. Oddly enough, these are all
the same road! They are less expensive than hotels
in St. Joseph, MI, and close enough to my house that
someone can pick up and drop off easily. If you are
driving, these recommendations are all close to the
toll road exit for Notre Dame; and just minutes from
the airport — and 15 minutes from my house.
If money is no object, and you have transportation,
stay in St. Joseph on the Lake, and drive back and
forth to my house for the fi rst couple days of the
workshop. For more information, see the WEN web
site. Please do join us for this midwest down-home
relaxing workshop!
There will also be a class in Wood Engraving &
Letterpress Printing at the Augusta Heirtage Center,
Davis & Elkins College, Elkins, West Virginia.
August 5 –12, 2007.
Jim Horton and RP Hale will be doing their annual
class at one of the country’s premier traditional arts
workshops and festivals. Go to the web for details
(www.augustaheritage.com). Jim will be beelining
to Niles at the conclusion of this workshop.
Ice House R.P. Hale (70%)
10 11
I am sometimes surprised by the ways I come about
starting an article for Block & Burin. About a year
ago, as I was visiting my sister-in-law, a child psy-
chiatrist, I found on her kitchen table a copy of one
of her trade journals, Clinical Psychiatry News, and I
started paging though it. A small image of woodcut
caught my eye: Dread: The Ogre of Consciousness.
The title of the article was Visionary Art, The Art of John Cadigan.
In this article, I learned that John has been
diagnosed with schizophrenia, and the disease
has had a dramatic effect on his life and his art. He
grew up in Danbury, Connecticut and when he was
young his family encouraged his interest in drawing,
painting, etching and sculpture. John eventually
became an art major at Carnegie Mellon and during
his junior year had a wonderful experience studying
art in Rome. When John returned for his senior year
of college, his life started to fall apart. He became
incredibly paranoid, having delusions that people
at school were bugging his phone and photograph-
ing him and that they wanted to kill him. His sister
Katie encouraged him to seek help. At the school
counselor’s offi ce John broke down and said, “I just
don’t know what to do…He had been spending all
his time holed up in his basement apartment, too
afraid to go to class,” and he had started getting
drunk a lot. The counselor immediately took him
to a hospital but he was too scared to stay. The next
day, he realized he didn’t have any other options
for help, and admitted himself. The doctors told
him that he had suffered a psychotic episode and
was delusional.
John has lived and struggled with his schizo-
phrenia for the past 15 years. For the fi rst three years
he was in and out of hospitals, while trying virtually
every anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medica-
tion available. Doctors gave John a bleak outlook,
predicting that he would spend most of his adult life
in hospitals and unable to function. Yet, John, and
his family battled this dire prognosis with the sup-
port of their church communities. With his doctor’s
help, John eventually found medication that helped
relieve his symptoms and then began learning how
to live with his illness. A marvelous documentary
fi lm, People Say I’m Crazy, was made by John and his
sister Katie. The fi lm chronicles, in John’s words,
“the world inside my head.” I had the opportunity to
view People Say I’m Crazy as I prepared to write this
feature. It’s a wonderful fi lm that poignantly shares
the diffi culties of living with schizophrenia, fi lmed
with an immediate directness that lets you “see” a
world that is not very well understood.
The Art of John CadiganAn interview with John Cadigan by Tony Drehfal
John Cadigan
John Cadigan has graciously accepted my
invitation talk about his life and to share his most
recent work in this issue of Block & Burin. I would
also like to thank Katie and Anne Cadigan for their
help in making this article possible.
My fi rst question is also what prompted me to
write you in the fi rst place, it’s what caught my
eye in the Clinical Psychiatry News article, the
reproduction of Dread: The Ogre of Conscious-ness. I would like to know more about this
print, its imagery and inspiration. I sense that
this woodcut is a pivotal work in your life, and
I would like to hear more about it.
In thinking about your question I am reminded of a
quote by Leonard Baskin who said, “Where do these
images come from? They come from the unfathom-
able caverns of my brain.” For over 10 years of my
life I was mired in a deep depression. All I wanted
to do was sleep all day and all night. I had a name
for my condition; I called it “morning dread”, even
though most days it lasted all day. In the beginning
of my illness I abused alcohol. During this time I was
having constant psychotic symptoms, most promi-
nently paranoia. I locked myself in my room only
leaving for beer and food. In an attempt to escape
the thoughts I drank bottle after bottle of beer and
I was afraid to leave the room. Racing images trav-
eled across my mind, constantly fi lled with violent
scenes. It was uncontrollable and very scary. At best
I was afraid, and at worst I was suicidal.
How could I go on when each day was a liv-
ing nightmare? I comforted myself with food and
gained over 150 pounds. I did manage to quit
drinking through a dual-diagnosis group but the
depression and paranoia and violent imagery stayed
with me. This is what Dread is all about. I wanted
the viewer to feel with their eyes the suffering I felt,
I wanted the images to make your skin crawl and at
the same time be absolutely beautiful. Why beauti-
ful? Because there is beauty in every corner of the
universe, suffering can be beautiful. So where to
start, where to begin this journey into pain?
The idea for the woodcut came when a case
manager one day asked me “John, why don’t you
draw your daily depression?” The idea intrigued me;
I had never attacked my illness in such a bold way.
The biggest question was: Will diving directly into
illness be cathartic or will it sink me into even deeper
illness? Will it help or will it hinder? I realized that
I must take the risk because nothing else seemed to
be working. It was the fi rst time I ever tried to depict
my illness directly. I was shaking with fear, but also
with excitement.
I remember the fi rst sketches. There was a fl am-
ing ball, then a man under the ball holding it up as
Atlas would. The ball had a face, - the face became a
tattoo, and the idea emerged of a tattooed man with
fl aming Atlas emblazoned on the chest! Yes, it was
all working, yet it wasn’t. The more I sketched the
tattooed man the more the idea sunk and sunk. It
was too much, so I chopped off the head. Headless
tattooed man! Without the head I could concentrate
more on the body full of intricate, sinewy muscle,
and organic design. I proceeded with vigor on my
headless tattooed man, but it still was not working.
12 13
There was not enough room for all the tattoos I
wanted to add. I decided to bring back the head, but
not a human head, a bison/horned animal head.
Then I checked myself - was I sinking into
deeper illness or was the work cathartic? The answer
was clear. I was on a high. My mind was working 100
miles per hour and the ideas were coming and going
just as fast as they came. I cannot remember all the
mutations but I do remember I was having a grand
time, so much so that I had to remind myself, “John,
this is a print about the worst pain and suffering you
have ever gone through in your entire life. Why am
I having such a grand time?” Then I thought, this is
the creative process, let it come and don’t question it
too much or it will dry up. If I am having a grand old
time depicting the worst part of my life, well, more
power to me. Back I went, to sketching. The bison
head was not working. The body was not working.
I was back to where I started.
Somehow the idea of multiple heads came to
the table. There is only one sketch I could fi nd that
showed this transition. It is a sketch of a six-headed
man. This was the last stop before I settled on my
fi nal idea. An ogre of consciousness was emerging;
it had six heads with no arms and no legs. The
power of the six heads made the arms and legs not
fi t at all. The six heads must stand alone. This was
the fi nal idea. A sense of relief, excitement and fear
came over me.
What exactly were these six heads to look like?
I knew they were to be some sort of quasi-animal/
beast/human. I needed this to be as large as I could
possibly make it which meant 2 feet by 4 feet. This
would allow me to do very intricate work and show
every nook and cranny of these terrifying creatures.
I started at the top and slowly worked my way down.
Dread: The Ogre of Consciousness
When I got stuck I would turn to postcards of art
I have collected and art books mostly of other
cultures and time periods. I did not know what I
was looking for but I always knew when I found it.
I wanted the heads to weave amongst each other as
if caught in some vortex of hell. It must be random
and chaotic yet make perfect sense. This was the
answer; this was Dread: The Ogre of Consciousness.
Many months after I finished the print, a
miracle happened concerning my depression - a
miracle that changed the whole way I live my life
to this day. I got on some new medication and
suddenly the “morning dread” simply went away.
Now I get up at 6 am every day and I feel refreshed
and hopeful - this is a true miracle. I remember the
fi rst time I called my sister before 9 am. She was
absolutely shocked because for over ten years I was
not up until after noon, at the earliest. I still suffer
from paranoia and occasional violent imagery but
the depression is gone - this is a true miracle.
Why did you choose Genesis as the subject for
your new work? As you work through each part,
has your approach to this work evolved into
something different, due to your own creative
process?
I was confi rmed in the Episcopal Church a few years
ago and this has greatly infl uenced the direction of
my artwork. My work has always been centered on
the spiritual. I am fascinated with the mystery of
life. This is the mystery of God. A few years ago I
created a series of eight prints called Unknown Fetish
to explore the mystery of God. A fetish is an object
that has some magical or fantastic powers. I added
the concept “unknown” to emphasize mystery. I
have been interested in just what exactly inspires
me. Where does my faith comes from? What draws
me to Christianity?
I am also greatly interested in my own mind. I
want to study myself, so to speak. I am fascinated
Genesis Day 1 John Cadigan (18"by 36
")
14 15
by my dreams. A few years ago I found a mini-tape
that I had recorded around 1992 which contained
all the dreams I had had that year. I instantly knew
that this was a gold mine. So at the same time that
I embraced my faith I found this tape. Somehow
I knew these were linked. The mystery of God
matched the mystery of my own mind. So while I
was contemplating the Bible I was also contemplat-
ing what makes me me. I decided to merge these
interests into one series.
My fi rst experience of reading the Bible for
creative inspiration came a few years ago. I was
commissioned to create two relief carvings for the
healing chapel at Church of the Epiphany in San
Carlos, California. They asked me to create pieces
based on the healing stories in the Gospels. I felt
drawn to the Transfi guration where God confi rms
Jesus’ divinity and the story of how Jesus raised
Lazarus from the dead. The process of translating
scripture into visual imagery both sparked my
imagination and strengthened my faith. When the
project was completed I wanted to delve more into
the Bible.
So I began working on a Genesis series based
on the seven days of creation. Each piece is one and
a half feet wide by three feet tall. Each print has
a circular top and a lower half of equal size. The
circular top represents one day of creation and the
lower half combines a particular story from Gen-
esis plus a dream element from the tape I found.
Although the pieces have the same basic structure,
I wanted each piece to have a unique way in which
the bottom interacts with the top. This is one of the
biggest and most exciting challenges of the series,
to have the two halves be distinct, yet work as a
compositional whole.
Another challenge was figuring out which
stories to select from Genesis. Genesis is great
because there is so much richness there. I read the
whole book a few times just to get a feel for my
Genesis Day 2 John Cadigan (18"by 36
")
options. Then I asked myself, what are the criteria
for the selection process? What was I looking for?
I gauged my reactions to the stories as I read them.
Which stories really resonated with me? The stories
I could not get out of my mind were the ones I chose.
They are some of the most famous Bible stories;
the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, Cain and
Abel, Jacob wrestling the Angel, the Tower of Babel,
Abraham sacrifi cing Isaac, and Jacob’s dream.
For the dream element fi rst I transcribed my
tapes and read them over and over again, trying to
feel what really resonated with me. I wanted dreams
that were especially vivid and compelling; images
that got me excited and fascinated. It was not easy
to choose because there were many that I loved. I
boiled down the dream imagery to six evocative
elements: fish in mouth, skeleton, gargantuan,
tentacled creature, shark, and killer with terrifi ed
girl.
My next challenge was to match up the dream
element with each Bible story. I came up with two
lists, one called order and the other called disorder.
For the order list I matched up each dream element
with a Bible story that seemed to make sense, for
instance where there were similar characters or ac-
tions. On the disorder list I played with the stories
at random hoping that synchronicity would take
place. In the end I chose the match-ups from my
disorder list for it seemed more alive more exciting,
richer with potential and beauty.
I have not yet formulated in my mind the con-
cepts and imagery for the seventh and fi nal print.
How do you depict God resting? I have not even
chosen a Genesis story for that piece. Right now it
is a mystery that will be solved when I get there.
How has the documentary about you, People Say I’m Crazy, impacted you and your creativ-
ity and your work? Does being the “topic” of
your documentary fi lm, about your struggle
with schizophrenia, possibly makes it more
diffi cult for people to look at your art on its
own merit, and not merely because of your
celebrity status?
The reason I made a documentary about my
struggle with severe mental illness was to try and
understand what was going on with me. When I
fi rst got sick, things were nebulous, confusing and
frightening and I did not know totally what was go-
ing on. I thought if I focused a fi lm on that mystery
maybe I would get some answers. As the fi lm was
being made I began to learn how misunderstood
and stigmatized mental illness is. This reinforced
my vigor because now I was not just telling my story;
I was educating people about the realities of living
with schizophrenia. My fi lm is the fi rst documen-
tary to be directed by a person with schizophrenia
about his/her self. We broke new ground. I “came
out” as a person with a mental illness because I
felt the issues were much, much larger than me. I
became an activist.
I do worry that people will not take my art
work seriously or that I will be seen as a mentally
ill artist and not as an artist. I believe it is the same
for women and ethnically-identifi ed people who
want to be seen as artists, not as female artists or as
16 17
ethnic artists. I realized that my art, my illness and
my creativity are so deeply intertwined, like a vast
intricate tapestry, that to highlight just one aspect
while hiding the others would take away from the
mysterious integrity of the whole.
I see filmmaking and printmaking as two
distinct creative avenues. They are totally separate
from one another. It is like switching brains. One
brain is for woodcuts, the other is for fi lmmaking.
One does not infl uence the other. But I will say that
my background in studio art helped my composing
ability for cinematography, but it is still very differ-
ent because with fi lm, one must take motion into
consideration.
The place art and fi lmmaking intersected was
when I’d fi lm myself making a woodcut. For the
documentary I had to really analyze what was go-
ing on in my mind, more than I had in the past. I
became more self-conscious of every artistic deci-
sion I was making. It helped me better understand
my creative process and be better able to answer
questions from the public and press. In the past,
when I was asked for an artist’s statement, I’d sim-
ply quote Jean Cocteau who said “Asking an artist
to explain his work is like asking a plant to explain
horticulture.” But now I am able to articulate how
my spirit expresses itself in my work.
Making People Say I’m Crazy has also taught
me a lot about myself, my illness and my family. It
made me analyze how my mind works, where my
thoughts come from, and it helped me learn how
to cope with my illness. Through fi lming I learned
how much the most important people around me,
my family, love me.
When the fi lm came out, I had to learn quickly
about public speaking. Going to fi lm festivals and
screenings is quite an experience. It is like being
a mini-celebrity for a single night. We have had
great responses to the fi lm at screenings with huge
audiences and at smaller screenings with just a
couple dozen people. I get a lot of attention after
the screening: it is really quite bizarre because the
next day I go about my business just as a regular
citizen. It is a massive amount of adulation and then
immediately after no attention at all. The attention
is nice, but frankly I prefer being an anonymous
person. Making People Say I’m Crazy has given me
a huge sense of accomplishment. I have tried to
make a difference and to make the world a better
place to live in for those of us who struggle with
mental illness.
More can be found about John’s work at this web
address: http://www.johncadigan.com/
Information about the documentary People Say I’m Crazy can be found at this web site: http://www.
peoplesayimcrazy.org/
The images of John Cadigan and his work were
provided courtesy of John Cadigan and are used
with his permission.
The WEN Photo Albumsnapshots from our membership
Don’t hesitate sending an image of yourself, possibly taken in your studio, with your carving setup, or at
your press. Your fellow engravers would love to see your photo. Send your contributions to Tony Drehfal.
Digital photos can be sent to his e-mail address and traditional snapshots can be sent to his mailing address,
both listed in the masthead of this edition.
Andy English Cambridgeshire, England
Andy, in his studio, with his second Albion press.
You can learn more about Andy English,
his engravings, and his Albion press res-
t o rat i o n e f f o r t s , t h ro u g h h i s w e b s i t e :
http://www.andyenglish.com
Will Rueter Ontario, Canada
18 19
Dale DeArmondby Rebecca Poulson
Dale DeArmond, Alaska’s and one of the nation’s
most talented and prolifi c artist illustrators, died
in Sitka, Alaska on November 28, 2006, at the age
of 92.
Dale found her medium in woodcut in 1960
and soon became one of the best-known artists in
Alaska. In the early 1980s she transferred her tal-
ents to wood engraving and made this challenging
medium all her own.
Dale Burlison DeArmond was born July 2,
1914, in Bismarck, North Dakota. She grew up in
Tacoma, Washington, where she met her future
husband, Robert DeArmond, who was from Sitka
but attending high school in Tacoma. They became
reacquainted in 1931, when Dale read a newspaper
article about Bob’s rowing and sailing a 16-foot dory
from Sitka to Tacoma, and a girlfriend dared her to
call him. She did.
Dale came to Sitka in 1935 to marry Bob, and
their fi rst home was aboard his 37-foot salmon fi sh-
ing boat. Her two children were born in 1938 and
1940, when Bob was helping create the fi sh plant
and community of Pelican on the shore of Lisianski
Inlet. Is it a big deal, taking care of a baby in a plat-
form tent in Alaska? Dale did not seem to think so!
The family moved from Pelican to Ketchikan in 1944
then back to Sitka in 1949, where Bob was partner
in the Sitka Printing Company, and Dale did some
illustrations for publications.
The DeArmonds moved to Juneau in 1953
so that Bob could work as assistant to Territorial
Governor B. Frank Heintzelman. Bob writes that “as
compensation for again leaving Sitka, which Dale
dearly loved,” he enrolled her in the Famous Artists
correspondence course. (Yes, the one that had the
ads, “Can You Draw Cubby - ” the cartoon bear, or
pirate, you would copy and submit.) “She fi nished
the four-year course in three years, producing art
in a range of media, from pen-and-ink illustration
to painting and zinc plate lithography.” Apart from
workshops, this was the extent of Dale’s formal art
education.
Dale DeArmond photographed by Yvonne Mozee
From 1958 until her retirement in 1979 Dale
was director of the Juneau City Library. Bob mean-
while pursued a career in writing and editing, and
is now legendary for his prolifi c, meticulously re-
searched books and articles on Alaskan history.
Dale was always an artist, but did not fi nd her
medium until 1960, when she learned woodcut from
artist Danny Pierce, who had been commissioned
to found the art department of the University
of Alaska Fairbanks, and conducted workshops
throughout the state. In his frank style, and his at-
titude - “By the time I left school I did not make a
distinction between illustration and fi ne art. If the
art is good it can be used for both purposes.” - it is
easy to see the appeal to Dale: “I’m an illustrator by
instinct and choice.”
Dale and her good friends and fellow artists Rie
Munoz and Diana Tillion sketched together around
Juneau, showed regularly, and plotted trips, once
to Port Chilkoot near Haines, and two expeditions
to the village of Gambel on St. Lawrence Island,
to draw and paint. They then held a “clothespin
art show” at the Gambel grocery store of the work
they had done. The three of them and photog-
rapher Yvonne Mozee traveled to Paris to make
stone lithographs, and twice Dale DeArmond and
Rie Munoz traveled to London, to make silkscreen
prints. In 1979 Dale and Rie went to the village of
Nondalton for a series of woodcuts by Dale and
silkscreen prints by Rie of Nondalton legends,
sponsored by a state Art in Public Places grant.
Dale also did a large book of Raven stories of the
Tlingit, a book of woodcuts of Juneau history, and
many independent prints. For a time in the 1970s
her limited edition woodcut prints were available
through Alaska Magazine, which Bob was involved
in, and whose publisher was a big fan. She was an
incredible woodcut artist, drawing life and spirit
with the simplest means.
Dale DeArmond was introduced to wood
engraving in the early 1980s at a workshop at the
University of Alaska Juneau. She then found and
attended a wood engraving school on the shore of
Lake Michigan, probably the school of David Sand-
ers. She said she turned to wood engraving partly
because she did not have the strength in her hands
to cut and print wood cuts, but it must have been
Aquarius Dale DeArmond (70%)
from Dale’s book Sun Signs from a Polar Star
20 21
wonderfully satisfying to see the graphic quality of
her work emerge in the crisp black and white of
wood engravings.
An early project was illustrations for Jack
Calvin’s book Sitka, fi rst issued in the 1930s, and
printed anew on an Original Heidelberg press in
1983 by Jack Calvin - Bob DeArmond’s one-time
partner in the Sitka Printing Company - and his
wife Margaret. After Jack passed away, Margaret
continued to operate the press and printed the
two volumes of Alaska Bestiary, which featured
Dale’s wood engravings and Sheila Nickerson’s
poems of Alaskan animals. All were printed using
Dale’s blocks. Other Old Harbor Press books were
The First Man and Sun Signs from a Polar Star. Dale
constantly challenged herself, with projects such
as a dinosaur (and other extinct animals) alphabet
and a series of Alaska Native hats with linoleum tint
blocks and hand coloring. She wrote and illustrated
several beautiful books for children, she did reduc-
tion prints, enjoyed trying handmade books, did
a series with color of the birds of Glacier Bay, and
illustrations for Tales of the Dena, stories collected
in the 1930s by friend and legendary ethnographer
Frederica de Laguna. She did many independent
prints, and illustrations for Cricket, the children’s
magazine. It is interesting to note that she only
began wood engraving when she was nearly 70
years of age.
Because she came to wood engraving after be-
coming a master woodcut artist, she easily avoided
the common pitfalls of cleverness and timidity. She
did fail at times, but she would do the block over,
sometimes more than once.
Dale and Bob returned to Sitka, which they
always considered home, in 1991, to an apartment
in the state Pioneers Home. There both could always
be found working or reading. They took walks as
long as they were able, Dale carrying dog biscuits
for her raven pals.
I met Dale at Thanksgiving dinner at my par-
ents’ house. She invited me to come to her weekly
sessions at the Pioneer Home, where she had her Et-
tan etching press set up in the recreation room amid
the construction paper, Halloween costumes and
glitter. The sessions had been started for Pioneer
Home employees, an example of her generosity with
her time, tools, materials, and encouragement, and
became a small ever changing group of artists and
the interested. Dale said all she could teach anyone
was how to hold the tools, but of course we learned
much more, mostly from her attitude toward art:
practical, yet fearless, that art is something you do,
rather than a precious product.
Dale would create a new block every week.
Meanwhile, the rest of us would be fussing for weeks
with just one. “If you wait for inspiration you will
never get started,” she told us. This is good advice.
You start working, and the ideas come. Without
Dale’s work, and her encouragement, I would not
be an artist now. Growing up in Sitka I’d only seen
cliched artwork done for tourists, or worse, with
arty affectation. So even though I loved to draw, I
had never considered doing art until discovering
Dale’s wood engraving, and Dale herself. I am lucky
indeed to have encountered such a confi dent, true,
productive artist, a teacher and role model. She
also had a great sense of humor, which is apparent
in her work.
Perhaps because of her own modesty, and the
fact that she was never dependent on sales, Dale did
not push for widespread promotion of her work,
so it is not well known outside of Alaska. Probably
few of her editions, usually of 100 or fewer, were
completed.
But perhaps in part because she was not seek-
ing fame or sales, she remained a true artist. Even
the best known artists, after the burst of creativity
that brings them to prominence, repeat themselves.
But Dale was among the true artists who never stop
trying new, interesting things, always evolving and
truly creative, working for her own pleasure and
curiosity and never for the praise of others, with-
out self-consciousness or fear. She admired others’
work, and clean, realistic engraving, and especially
liked Agnes Miller-Parker’s wood engravings.
She had a special affi nity for Native stories and
animals and especially ravens, or Raven, the trick-
ster-creator of Northwest Coast Native legend. She
captured the life and universality of humans and
other creatures without ever being cute or general.
Her illustrations of myths are somehow real, with-
out being literal. Her style is bold but always tight
in how every element works together.
In the late 1990s she started to lose her short-
term memory, and the last few years she had not
been able to read, converse, or work: a cruel hard-
ship for a person like Dale. She died November 28,
2006. While not as famous as she should be, she is
nevertheless known and appreciated throughout
Alaska, and her obituary ran in every paper in the
state.
Eventually her work should be collected and
published. A show of her work from local col-
lections will be presented at the Sitka National
Historical Park later this winter. No doubt future
artists and art lovers will continue to discover and
fi nd pleasure in her work, and her infl uence will
continue to grow.
Arctic Springtime Dale DeArmond (50%)
22 23
A Tribute to Dale DeArmondby Julianna Humphreys
The fi rst time I really looked at prints made from
wood blocks was just after I began working at the Rie
Muñoz gallery in Juneau, Alaska in 1990. The gallery
was fi lled with Rie’s wonderful watercolors and the
work of other local artists. I walked around famil-
iarizing myself with the art that I would be selling.
Dale DeArmond’s wood engravings were exhibited
there, and from the beginning I was drawn to the
crispness of the small black and white images and
how well they read from a distance. And then I was
drawn into them, closer and closer, appreciating the
skill that must have been required to engrave those
tiny details on the blocks, noting the play of black
against white, wondering about the artist and how
she was able to create those engaging little master-
pieces. She obviously loved the myths and folk tales
of the Alaska Natives, and they provided her with
a rich supply of subjects for her illustrations. Her
images seemed to refl ect a wry sense of humor, so
her prints were full of life. I was falling in love with
wood engraving. And to my happy surprise, the
artist lived only blocks from me!
I remembered Dale from her days as the librar-
ian in the children’s section of our public library
years before. She was a no-nonsense woman who
maintained silence in the library with a stern look
at any noise-maker, and my children had quickly
learned that the library was a place for dignifi ed
decorum. Now, although I really wanted to know
more about wood engraving, I wasn’t sure that this
woman would be approachable. I steeled myself and
called her up one day, asking for a bit of advice on
how to get started if I wanted to learn to engrave.
Wow! Any worries I’d had were immediately dis-
solved. An open, welcoming artist answered the
phone. She invited me to her home, where we
sipped tea in the kitchen and she showed me her
tools while we talked about how a wood engraving
is made. I took copious notes and went home deter-
mined to buy blocks, burins, inks, a press, and to
take a class. She had made it all sound so “do-able”
and straightforward. But that was Dale’s way. She
believed that what she was doing was so easy, and
that anyone could do it. The truth is that she had an
incredible gift for engraving, and that, coupled with
her work ethic and her endless fascination with the
process, led her to produce hundreds and hundreds
of delightful block prints.
Too soon after that tea-in-the-kitchen talk,
Dale and her husband Bob moved to The Pioneer
Self Portrait with Birds Dale DeArmond (actual size)
Home in Sitka, Alaska. Bob was born in Sitka, and
they had lived there as a young married couple, so
for them it felt like going home. But I really missed
her when she left, as did a great many others here
in Juneau. I decided that I would try to fl y over to
Sitka at least once a year to study with Dale if she’d
agree. I proposed my plan to her, and she graciously
agreed, saying that I should plan to spend three or
four days each time I came so that we could “really
get some work done”.
And so my apprenticeship with Dale began. We
wrote letters back and forth; I asked questions, she
answered them and posed new ones for me to pon-
der. Before each trip we’d discuss what projects we’d
work on while I was there. On several occasions she
would dare me to try a new technique, and I’d spend
weeks researching and preparing. On two occasions
she dared me to make a reduction wood engrav-
ing, using at least 5 colors. She would do the same.
That was a scary assignment, to be sure, as she had
described it as making a “suicide print.”We carved
away small bits of our blocks at a time, printing a
different color after each reduction, and printing
from the lightest color to the darkest. The process
was exhilarating, and a welcome change from the
black and white (although basic black will always
seem most appropriate for wood engravings). Those
two reduction prints are the only ones I’ve done to
date, but I may have to do another, with a tip of the
hat to my mentor.
I continued to visit once or twice a year for
seven years, and during that time Dale taught me a
great deal about engraving and printing. But beyond
that she taught me about life. When I was there
we’d talk about family, take walks, feed her raven
friends, eat in the community dining hall, visit the
library, and attend her exercise classes. But mostly,
we carved and printed, and I watched a master at
work. I’m so very glad that she gave me the oppor-
tunity to sit beside her and learn.
Good journey, Dale.Tree Dale DeArmond (43%)
24 25
Leo Dale DeArmond (actual size)
from Dale’s book Sun Signs from a Polar Star, A Northern Zodiak
Tips I Received from Dale
• Set your edition sizes at 100, then print up only as
many as you need to begin selling them, say 30.
You can always print more when and if the 30 sell
out and a gallery orders more. No wasted time or
materials on prints that aren’t selling!
• Always use the biggest burin that will do the job.
Scratching away with a small burin to clear a big
space is “just silly.”
• Harden maple blocks with a coat or two of Dan-
ish oil. “That makes them almost as good as the
unavailable boxwood.”
• Get a GRS Power Hone sharpening system when
you can afford one. It holds the tool at a constant
angle while the honing wheel spins, so you can
sharpen your tools quickly and effi ciently. Use
it often.
• Pick a project that you can sink your teeth into.
(Dale liked challenges…big projects like illustrat-
ing a book. Doing 26 blocks for a bug or dinosaur
alphabet was perfect!)
• Round scorpers do a better job of clearing large
spaces than fl at gravers do. They remove mate-
rial deeper in the center of the space, resulting in
fewer “stick ups” to catch the ink. Again, use the
biggest tool you can for the job. The fl at gravers
are better for smoothing.
• Be as generous as you can with your knowledge
and your time. (Dale gave away many of her
carved blocks to the schools so that the children
could try printmaking, and spent countless
unpaid hours teaching those who asked for her
assistance.)
A quote from Dale: “Wood engravings are not the
least spontaneous. If you want spontaneity try
another medium. …There is a singular pleasure in
cutting the wood and an unfailing excitement in
pulling that fi rst print. It never looks the way you
had in your head before you started, but I think that
is one of the reasons I go on making prints. Maybe
one day I can sneak up on it and a print will look as
good as the one in my head.”
WEN members Rebecca Poulson of Sitka, and
Michelle Morrell and Julianna Humphreys of
Juneau, each knew Dale DeArmond and benefi ted
from her tutelage. She will be missed.
The images in these articles are used with the
permission of Dale’s husband, Bob DeArmond.
Harbor Seal Dale DeArmond (50%)
26 27
Lake Spirit Dale DeArmond (actual size)
William Doveby David Harrison
Imagine my amazement when I, an amateur gene-
alogist, discovered that a distant Yorkshire cousin
had used strychnine to poison his wife in 1856. But
as a wood engraving enthusiast, my amazement
grew when I discovered a wood engraving of this
relative awaiting his execution in his condemned
cell in York Castle.
I came across the story of William Dove, 3rd
cousin four times removed, a little over a year ago
and then almost immediately discovered that a
book, Murder, Magic and Madness: the Victorian Tri-als of Dove and the Wizard by Owen Davies, had just
been published. The story is set in the mid 1850s in
Leeds, Yorkshire. The Doves were a staunch middle
class Methodist family, successful in business and
influential in their church. William was one of
eleven children and most certainly the black sheep
of the family, as he demonstrated bizarre violent
traits from an early age, though his father worked
hard at fi nding the boy an appropriate education
and vocation. In short, William came under the
infl uence of a local wizard, was convinced that he
could be happier if he poisoned his new wife, Har-
riet, did so, and was sent to trial.
The court case was a sensation for Victorian
Yorkshire and was an early example of an insanity
plea in the English court system. After the trial Dove
was jailed in York Castle. At the same time a local
printer published a broadsheet titled The Last Mo-ments and Execution of William Dove. The broadsheet
contains many interesting details including a fi nal
letter from William to his now widowed mother
and one remaining sister, a letter from William’s
mother to Queen Victoria pleading for leniency, a
letter of confession from William, and a description
of the hanging. A series of verses about the crime
illustrate local popular sentiment of the time, as do
two engravings: fi rst, what could be a generic wood
engraved image of a hanging, and then, of more
importance to me, a second wood engraving of Wil-
liam Dove in his condemned cell in York Castle.
William Dove was executed at a public hang-
ing at York Castle on Saturday, August 9th, 1856 at
12:00am. He was buried at York. Harriet Dove was
buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave in Burman-
tofts Cemetery, Leeds.
Permission to use images was granted by York
Museums Trust (York Castle Museum)
28 29
Bundle No. 37Winter 2007
The prints contained in this issue of Block & Burin
have been scanned from WEN Bundle No. 37. This
section does not intend to substitute the value of
viewing the original prints as printed by the artist on
fi ne paper with quality inks, but is meant to provide
a facsimile for WEN members not receiving bundles.
Because of space and reproduction limitations,
some images have been reduced in size,
and color prints have been reproduced in
shades of gray. In some instances a print
represented in the bundle may have been excluded
in this section as requested by the artist. All original
prints from the bundles are archived at the Princ-
eton University Graphic Arts Library, Princeton,
New Jersey, with Agnes
Sherman serving
as curator.
Implant vs Queen’s Gambit Earl R. Nitschke (actual size)
chacos Mary Thompson (75%)
These are just some shoes on miscellaneous
papers, variations on part of a show that I had in
D.C. a few years back.
Home Bob Oldham (80%)
This Christmas card image of our home was my fi rst
engraving and was cut in Corian. 155 copies were
printed for WEN by Bob Oldham.
30 31
D.C. Abagail Rorer (actual size)
D.C is printed on Mohawk Superfi ne Text paper,
using NA Graphics Letterpress Black ink, using a
Vandercook #4 press. This image was engraved on
Corian.
After Tornado Michael L. Lynch (actual size)
For the past few years, Michael L. Lynch has been
Art Department Head at Northeast Community
College in Norfolk, Nebraska. Thematically, his
work addresses the passage of time, correlating the
past with the present. Generally, Michael’s work is
a synthetic process, combining infl uences from art
history with images of experiences, memories, and
surroundings.
Spring Bouquet Julianna Humphreys (actual size)
Spring Bouquet was engraved on a Maracaibo wood
block, printed on Zerkall Book paper, using Graphic
Chemical Co. lithographic dark brown #1903 ink.
This is an edition of 100 printed for WEN.
Titmouse Lewis Scott Baldwin (75%)
32 33
W. Paul Cook Gale Mueller (85%)
This image was engraved on a hard maple end-grain
block and printed in an edition of 450 copies for
AAPA & APA (amateur printers’ bundles) with
accompanying text, plus 115 copies for WEN. Gale
printed with Van Son Black ink on Mohawk Super-
fi ne 100# white text paper and 60# laid text for the
printed booklet. Both a Vandercook SP15 and a C&P
8"x12" platen press were used for these editions.
Poppy Gale Mueller (actual size)
This image was engraved on a hard maple end-grain
block and printed in an edition of 100 for the WEN
2007 Calendar plus another 100 prints for bundle
#37. This edition was printed at the Millstone
Press by Gale Mueller using a Vandercook SP15.
Gale printed with Van Son Black ink on Mohawk
Superfi ne 100# white text paper.
Barrel John Johnson (50%) Muck Tony Drehfal (actual size)
This image was engraved on a hard maple end-grain
block and printed in an edition of 100 for the WEN
2007 Calendar plus another 165 prints for bundle
#37. The majority of the bundle prints are on Zerkall
Book smooth white paper with a handful of images
made on Rives BFK white. Muck was printed on
a 400lb #1 Vandercook proof press using Daniel
Smith Relief Ink #79.
34 35
Yangshuo Susan Wilson (actual size)
Yangshuo (China) is printed on Mohawk Superfi ne,
100# ultra white paper. This is an edition of 76
printed for WEN.
Reading Will Rueter (actual size) Princess Jeanne Norman Chase (90%) Chipmunk Keri Safranski (90%)
This is an edition of 100 prints. Keri used Daniel
Smith inks, mixing black #79 with burnt umber. The
image is hand printed on Aquabee Bristol paper.
36 37
Santa Fe Fiorella Mori (actual size)
Santa Fe is engraved on a hard and crispy boxwood
block and printed on Graphia 160 gr.sm (made
by SICAR in Italy), using Daniel Smith Relief Ink
#79, on a portable proof press. This is an edition
of 112.
Birds Elizabeth Belz (70%) Mum & the Girls Richard Woodman (65%)
This image was created on a Resingrave block using powered rotary burs. This is an edition of 90 for bundle
#37. This edition was printed on a Dick Blick model 906 cylinder etching press. Richard printed with Akua
intaglio waterbased ink mixed with magnesium carbonate, on Neenah Classic Crest bond writing paper.
Mum and the Girls is a free interpretation of an 1890’s photo by Chansonetta Adams titled Aunt Abigail Vose and Her Daughters.
38 39
Prosciutto Garth Hammond (33%)The State of the Union Sarah Whorf (actual size)
This is an edition of 100, printed with Daniel Smith
relief ink on a Vandercook No. 099 ball bearing
proof press, on Rives heavyweight paper.
W Anders Sandstrom (55%)
This image was engraved on Resingrave and
printed using a Vandercook Universal I press.
Snowstorm Dale Kennedy (55%)
This is an edition of 140 prints.
40 41
Rhythm Colleen Dwire (80%)
Rhythm was engraved on end-grain maple and
printed on a Vandercook Universal I press, using
Wausau Paper Royal Fiber Sunfl ower 80lb cover,
and Daniel Smith Relief Black ink.
Bookplate 1 William R. Stolpin (90%)
This is an edition of 76. This image was engraved
on a hard maple end-grain block and printed on
Lenox 100 paper using black litho ink. This edition
is chopped with both the DAS mark, indicating
a print from DAS Print Co. (an informal group
of mid-Michigan printmakers that have printed
weekly since 1980) and my logo, the encircled
dragon silhouette, identifying William R. Stolpin
as the publisher of the print.
Ex Libris JRK Andy English (actual size)
Ex Libris JRK was engraved on boxwood and printed
on Zerkall smooth white paper using Lawrence’s
carbon black letterpress ink. The plates were
printed in quantities varying between 100 and 500
in an 1865 Albion press.
Ex Libris Niccolò Maracchi Andy English (100%)
Ex Libris Niccolò Maracchi was engraved on boxwood
and printed on Zerkall smooth white paper. Andy
used Lawrence’s carbon black letterpress ink. The
plates were printed in quantities varying between
100 and 500 in an 1865 Albion press.
42 43
Bundle Participation?Show your stuff!
A Note to All WEN Members on Bundle Participation: and in particular, those new mem bers that might still be con fused as to what and how the print ex change works.
A Bundle is a name we dubbed the mailings that
take place twice yearly (March and September). A
Bundle is a pack et of prints, or a “non-dig i tal” show
that comes to your door. They are not in tend ed for
sale or spec u la tion. They are meant for people to
share the joy of print mak ing with others who know
and appreciate what went into their pro duction.
We have many levels of expertise rep re sent ed.
There are es tab lished pro fes sion als along with
be gin ners. There are a few who ap pre ci ate prints,
but don't practice print mak ing them selves. We
hope the Bun dles are a means of ed u ca tion. We
do not pub lic ly judge or crit i cize the work that is
con trib ut ed, though we are al ways open to com-
ments, and cer tain ly, in di vid u al con tacts can be
made to these art ists with your more per son al com-
ments and ideas. We avoid politics...just the love
of see ing ink on paper that came from an art ist's
hand. Some times we are awed by the quality of
the work. Some times we learn from the raw ness
of a “Be gin ner's Mind” as the Zen mas ters call it,
that hasn’t been in fl u enced by stan dard prac tic es
and shows the ex cit ing marks of ex per i men ta tion.
“A print is the halfway point be tween a thing and a
thought,” as Fritz Eichenberg once said. To hold it
close to the eye, and see the artists in ti mate jour ney
of cre ation is no small thing. In these days of digital
im ag ing, it is a rare and val ued thing...perhaps more
so than ever.
We are always happy to hear of sales and
contacts that re sult from people see ing some one’s
work in the Bun dles, how ev er, that is not the prime
reason we exist. We know that giving away work is
not exactly going to put food on the table (and cer-
tain ly artists have to do so). WEN is just one place
where, if you have something extra to give, with the
spirit of “What goes around, comes around,” you
do nate. We are an ap pre cia tive audience. When
you do con trib ute to a Bundle, unless you in di cate
that it not be used for exhibition, you are giving
people the right to show it to others in educational
displays. If it were to be re pro duced for com mer cial
use, per mis sions must be sought.
Bundle participation is not man da to ry for
being a mem ber of WEN. If you paid your dues,
you will receive a jour nal, all an nounce ments, a
welcome to come to any of our activities (such as
summer work shops), exhibit in any WEN connected
ex hi bi tions and receive some prints that have been
donated by mem bers. You might not re ceive ALL the
prints (as mem bers only have to submit a total of 76,
not enough to go around to all). Why that number?
Some of these art ists print by hand, slowly, and
to even give away 76 of such work, is asking a lot,
though some do con trib ute the max i mum. How do
you get the full ar ray of prints? You do so by con-
tributing at least 76 prints to a Bundle. If you do so,
you are put at the head of the list when the stacks
of prints are sorted into en ve lopes for mailing. If
you never contribute (which there is no pres sure to
do so), you will get whatev er is left over. That list is
sorted by the se niority of when you joined. If you
are a newcom er, obviously, you are go ing to be at the
end of the line. But con trib ute, and you are at the
front of the line. This keeps a healthy array of new
artists coming in. If con trib ut ing ev ery few years,
you are still get ting just about ev ery thing.
We do ask that the work going into a bundle
is by your hand. You may contribute brochures,
advertisements or a prospectus. All ma te ri als are
welcome as long as you feel it would be of interest
and benefi t to the group. We have received intaglio,
lino and plank-grain wood cuts, which are welcome.
Any questions, do con tact us.
New Members
Terrence (Terry) Chouinard
Wells College Book Arts Center
170 Main St.
Aurora, New York 13026
315-364-3420, [email protected]
www.wells.edu/bookarts
This is actually an institutional membership. Terry is the Director of the renowned Wells Book Arts Center. This is the college where the legendary engraver and woodcut artist J. J. Lankes taught drawing and relief printmaking. They still hold many of his blocks. It is a wonderful facility and Terry is an accomplished instructor and fi ne printer. Check out their Summer Institute on the web.
Michael Lynch
1211 Madison Ave.
Norfolk, Nebraska 68701
402-992-0944, [email protected]
Michael is an instructor of art at Northeast CC, hav-ing been educated at Northwest Missouri State and an MFA from Washington U in St. Louis. Michael was a student in our class of engraving this past summer at Frogman’s.
Dea Sasso
351 Pleasant St., #142
Northampton,Massachusetts 01060
413-537-2061, [email protected]
www.binderyinabox.com
Dea is an accomplished book artist (Light of Day Bind-ery), restorer, marbler, teacher and wood engraver. Dea and Jim Horton are going to co-teach a class at John Campbell Folk School this coming October. Dea is the Director of the Book Arts Program at JCFS. She splits living time in Asheville, North Carolina.
Claire Emery
605 Dickinson St.
Missoula, Montana 59802
406-728-7910, [email protected]
www.emeryart.com
Claire is an illustrator, educator and mother of “two little people” as she says. She has mentored with James Todd and Michael McCurdy. She published six engrav-ings for the book, A Road Runs Through It (an anthol-ogy with esteemed writers on the subject of roads).
44 45
F. C. “Bud” Hadfi eld
PO Box 777
Cypress, Texas 77410-0777
281-256-4245 (offi ce), bhadfi [email protected]
Bud is a brand new member that came to us over the Internet. More information on him will be coming. In the meantime welcome Bud, and all our new members. We look forward to meeting you and seeing your work.
Changes & Updates
Apt, Benjamin
zip: 20017-2919
Ashley, John
P.O. Box 855, Kila MT 59920; [email protected];
cell: 406-249-6418
Burrows, Richard
Chambers,Harold
Dwire, Colleen
www.colleendwire.com
Farquharson, Linda M
Borelick Farmhouse, Strathbraan, Dunkeld,
Perthshire; PH8 OBX, telephone 01350 723330,
www.linocut.co.uk
Harrison, David
Hogan, Anna
Linder, Sharen
21243 W. Willow Drive, Kildeer, IL 60047;
Lukacs, Chuck
[email protected]; www.chucklukacs.com
Mori, Fiorella
Mueller, Johanna
9490 Virginia Center Blvd, #428; Vienna, VA
22181
Newland, Peter
20A Fairway Lane, Port Ludlow, WA, 98365
Post, Michelle
(home)818 Hogbin Rd, Millville, NJ 08332; mail:
PO Box 3646 Trenton NJ08429
Reese, Sara Holliday
[email protected]; home: 610-347-0316
Reynolds, Evelyn
4131 Vashon Dr. NE; Olympia, WA 98516
Ridenour, Ellen
[email protected] cell: 574-329-4100
Sandstrom, Anders
Snodgrass, Kay B.
731 W. Washington Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91103
Sweet, Marsha
replace “Screening Room Press” with M.Sweet Studio
Announcements & Notes
Congratulations to WEN member, Johnny Carrera,
on the completion of his remarkable artistic visual
reference book, Pictorial Webster’s. “The 400 plus
page volume is printed with the original wood
engravings and copper electrotypes of the Merriam-
Webster dictionaries of the 19th Century.”
Learn more about Johnny and his new book at…
http://www.quercuspress.com/quercushome.htm
Back to school?
Beginning in the fall of 2006, the Department of
Art, at Emporia State University in Kansas, will
offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Art with a
concentration in the Engraving Arts. “Students will
learn basic and traditional techniques to apply to art
media in ways unique to their visions. Using hand
fabricated objects, students are encouraged to go
beyond the traditional applications and to push the
art form to new and innovative limits.”
“The Engraving Arts curriculum will include
eighteen credit hours beyond the standard art course
requirements. Engraving Arts coursework will in-
clude selecting from metals, glass and printmaking
to apply and illustrate acquired skills.”
Learn more about this new offering at…
http://www.emporia.edu/engravingarts/
WEN member Bob Oldham has just published a
new book. “A Field Guide to North American Hand Presses and Their Manufacturers is designed and
written to assist in the identifi cation of ‘mystery
presses’ as well as to help the reader better under-
stand the place of the individual examples in the
pantheon of printing machines. It gives historical,
contextual, and chronological information about
the hand presses that may be found in museums,
academic studios, printing companies, and private
collections.”
Available for $15, plus $2.25 S&H, from Ad Lib
Press, 12276 Welling Hall Rd, Doswell VA 23047
Find out more about Bob’s new book at…
http://www.adlibpress.us/Home.html
46 47
AdvertisementsService for WEN Members
The Devil’s Artisan
A Journal of the Printing Arts
‘The Devil’s Artisan’ was a medieval term used to de-
scribe a practitioner of the ‘art and mystery’ of print-
ing. In publishing this journal our desire is to maintain
that early sense of wonder about the craft of printing
in the context of our current wider role as a ‘Journal of
the Printing Arts’.
The latest issue (59) features Gaspereau Press publisher
Andrew Steeves writing about Rod McDonald’s Lau-
rentian typeface, and interviewing the typographer.
Novelist Derek McCormack talks about publishing
with Toronto’s eccentric Pas de chance. And Biblioasis
publisher Dan Wells introduces the letterpress work of
Caryl Peters at Frog Hollow Press in Victoria.
A year’s subscription (two numbers) costs $22 us.
visa orders may be faxed to 519 833 9158 / On-line orders
should be directed to abebooks.com
For a list of back issues, visit www.sentex.net/˜pql/DA.html
• TOOLS• TECHNIQUES• TRAINING
1-800-835-3519620-343-1084www.grstools.com
1-800-835-3519 or 620-343-1084Emporia, KS USA
Expand the Power of Your Handswith metal engraving that's faster & easier than ever
You can now learn beautiful metal engraving in just dayswith help from GRS. With our power engraving tools andeasy-to-use techniques, folks like you who work in woodand other materials can create new opportunities andhave fun. The artistic work you've already done puts youon a fast track for the type of metal work you see here.
The same GRS tools used for fine metal engraving alsowork great with your wood burins, gravers, and chisels.Imagine your satisfaction from executing artwork inmore ways than ever.
Take the first step. Request your FREE GRS24-page catalog, full of beautiful, creativethings. Call NOW to visit with the beststaff you'll find anywhere.
This pendant, only 1” wide,was hand engraved instainless steel using GRSTools. Learn how you canachieve results like this.
