23.03.2013 Views

Block & Burin #44 (Autumn 2010) - Wood Engravers Network

Block & Burin #44 (Autumn 2010) - Wood Engravers Network

Block & Burin #44 (Autumn 2010) - Wood Engravers Network

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

BLOCK & BURIN<br />

AUTUMN <strong>2010</strong> <strong>#44</strong>


Inner Worlds<br />

The delicate crunch of the graver, the silky surface of the wood under the fingers, the control of<br />

the cut line, the gradual revealing of the image by banishing darkness and letting in the light,<br />

the tactile delight in printing from the smooth surface of the block, the range of silvery tones<br />

and the surprising authority of the printed image – all these things form part of the sensual and<br />

intellectual attractions of wood engraving. There is something about the medium, and the way<br />

in which the viewer peers at an engraved print, that is secretive, that invites the investigation of<br />

arcane ideas, that hovers on the edge of dreams. Many artists have worked out ideas and fantasies<br />

in wood engravings when other more confrontational mediums have seemed inappropriate. The<br />

small scale and exacting nature of the medium can liberate the imagination. Whole worlds can<br />

be suggested in tiny spaces.<br />

Jenny Pery, from A Being More Intense, the art of six wood engravers<br />

The title page shows the boxwood round engraved by Chris Daunt<br />

that was used to print the cover of this edition of <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong>.


& FEATURES<br />

BLOCK BURIN<br />

No. 44 <strong>Autumn</strong> <strong>2010</strong><br />

<strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong> is the newsletter of the<br />

<strong>Wood</strong> <strong>Engravers</strong>’ <strong>Network</strong> (WEN)<br />

This issue: <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong> # 44, <strong>Autumn</strong> <strong>2010</strong><br />

Cover: Chris Daunt & Jim Horton<br />

Copy Editor: William Rueter<br />

For information on <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong> contact:<br />

Tony Drehfal, Editor,<br />

W221 East Wisconsin Ave , Nashotah, WI 53058<br />

Phone: 262-367-5191<br />

E-mail: adrehfal@wctc edu<br />

For information on WEN contact:<br />

James Horton, WEN Organizer<br />

3999 Waters Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48103<br />

Phone: 734-665-6044<br />

E-mail: Jimhorton@sbcglobal net<br />

Services of WEN:<br />

• Twice yearly mailing/print exchange<br />

(April & November)<br />

• Membership Guide<br />

• Resources and Materials Guide<br />

• Lending Library<br />

• Workshops and Exhibitions<br />

• Website: www woodengravers net<br />

Since 1994, WEN is an organization for the education<br />

and enjoyment of relief printmaking and in particular<br />

engraving upon end-grain wood<br />

<strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong> uses the Stone Print typeface family<br />

Sumner Stone graciously donated the fonts to WEN<br />

The Editor reserves the right to edit copy to fit as necessary.<br />

Notes from Jim<br />

by Jim Horton 5<br />

WEN Workshop <strong>2010</strong><br />

a photo album of the Grand Marais gathering 7<br />

Plein Air Engraving<br />

by Sylvia Pixley 14<br />

<strong>Wood</strong> Engraving Pilgrimage<br />

by Joanne Price 15<br />

WEN Bundle # 44, <strong>Autumn</strong> <strong>2010</strong> 27<br />

DEPARTMENTS<br />

Treasurer's Notes by Bill Myers 4<br />

Call for Bundle #45, Spring 2011 4<br />

Bundle Participation? 36<br />

A Calendar of Days 37<br />

New Members 39<br />

Changes & Updates 39<br />

Announcements & Notes 40<br />

Advertisements 43


Treasurer’s Notes<br />

by Bill Myers<br />

The <strong>Wood</strong> <strong>Engravers</strong> <strong>Network</strong> finances are in good<br />

condition to support the coming year of bundles<br />

and the 2011 workshop The present balance is<br />

$5,732 03 Late dues payments continue to trickle<br />

in, and we have sold another copy of Surroundings<br />

Coming expenses include approximately $1,200 for<br />

mailing and printing costs of the present bundle<br />

and <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong> The balance includes $1,240 70<br />

surplus from the 2009 workshop in Chicago<br />

The income from the <strong>2010</strong> workshop in Grand<br />

Marais, including workshop fees, two donations,<br />

and miscellaneous sales was $2,723 00 Expenses,<br />

including space rental and a donation to the Grand<br />

Marais Art Colony, the banquet, snacks, and miscellaneous<br />

equipment, totaled $2,320 98 So there was<br />

a net positive balance of $402 02 I will be happy to<br />

supply detailed breakdowns on request<br />

A note on financial stewardship: a year or so<br />

ago the treasury was considerably depleted, in part<br />

due to the expense of producing Surroundings, and<br />

in part because the dues were not quite keeping up<br />

with expenses We have recovered from that low<br />

period, and with dues coming in after the first of<br />

next year we are likely to have a substantial balance<br />

to report in the next <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong> While we do not<br />

want to deplete the treasury to the point that we<br />

can’t finance our regular activities, I do agree with<br />

Jim Horton’s philosophy that money should move<br />

and do things, not just sit in the vault I solicit suggestions<br />

from the membership: are there activities<br />

such as grants, exhibitions, travelling artists, or<br />

mini-workshops that we might consider supporting?<br />

Send your thoughts to wamyers@stkate edu<br />

4<br />

Call for Bundle #45<br />

Spring, 2011<br />

• Contributions are due by February 15, 2011.<br />

• Send bundle contributions to Sylvia Pixley, 601<br />

Borgess Ave , Monroe, MI 48162<br />

• Quantity: Minimum of 76 (one extra for the Archive)<br />

Our membership is at 180 at this writing<br />

should you wish to distribute to all members<br />

• Size: Maximum 9" x 12"<br />

(We are mailing in a 10" x 13" envelope)<br />

• Anyone submitting prints is ensured of receiving<br />

entire Bundles and moving to the front of the line<br />

for future Bundles<br />

• We recommend sending printing information<br />

with your contributions This is just a suggestion;<br />

not mandatory by any means This information<br />

accompanies your print which is stored in the<br />

Princeton University Graphic Arts Library This<br />

archive holds all WEN material<br />

• We encourage members to sign-up for producing a<br />

cover for <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong>. We will cover expenses<br />

• We welcome (and need) your submissions of<br />

articles, interviews, ads and announcements for<br />

publication in <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong>. Send articles, ads<br />

to,<br />

Tony Drehfal<br />

W221 East Wisconsin Ave<br />

Nashotah, WI 53058, USA<br />

e-mail: adrehfal@wctc edu<br />

Please send written submissions as unformatted<br />

text files via email, it makes the layout far more<br />

simple Please make an effort to use Microsoft Word<br />

for your written submissions Images should be<br />

mailed, or contact Tony for scanning specifics


Notes From Jim<br />

by Jim Horton<br />

I was reminded of the WEN Summer<br />

Workshop at the Art Colony<br />

up in Grand Marais, Minnesota<br />

when Sharen Linder posted some<br />

photos of “Gitche Gumee, the<br />

shining Big-Sea Water” (Lake<br />

Superior), kicking up her fury<br />

They say it was the worst since<br />

the Edmund Fitzgerald was sunk But when we were<br />

there this summer, it was hauntingly beautiful<br />

What a time we had<br />

Out host, Bill Myers, with the help of Rachel<br />

Scott and a few of the locals, made us welcome with<br />

an array of activities It was great seeing old friends,<br />

such as Dale Kennedy, Sylvia Pixley, Earl Nitschke,<br />

Joanne Price, Tony Drehfal, Carl Montford, Joel<br />

Moline, Josh Capistrant, Hans and Fiorella Mori<br />

(all the way from Italy), and newcomers John Mc-<br />

Williams, Gerri Carlson and Nancy Darrell Kent<br />

Aldrich popped in, and spouses, partners and<br />

friends added to the mix<br />

Visits to local art studios, fine dinners, showand-tell<br />

times, walks on the beach, evening presentations,<br />

a sketching field trip to Cascade River Falls,<br />

were highlights of the gathering Mainly, I think<br />

these workshops give us time to work When in the<br />

presence of other like-minded people, we socialize<br />

and we do what we really love, and that is drawing<br />

and engraving I even saw the Vandercook in the<br />

next room chucking out some editioning I always<br />

hear lots of talk about problem-solving and tips<br />

Joann Price did a presentation on her trip to<br />

England Gerri Carlson and family create and sell<br />

5<br />

world-class handcrafted fly rods She amazed us<br />

with some of that work John McWilliams showed<br />

his astonishing body of work John lives in the<br />

eastern edge of North Carolina in a unique natural<br />

environment Just walking around the room, looking<br />

over the shoulders of this group is an exhibition<br />

in itself<br />

Jim Horton at the Art Colony in Grand Marais<br />

Our business meeting was held, and not much<br />

is new Officers stay the same, Jim Horton – Chair;<br />

Sylvia Pixley – Secretary and mailer; Bill Myers<br />

– Treasurer; Tony Drehfal – Editor and producer<br />

of <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong> One new addition was Josh Capistrant,<br />

offering to take on the management of our<br />

website<br />

We all agreed to ask Hamilton <strong>Wood</strong> Type<br />

Museum, in Two Rivers, Wisconsin if they would<br />

allow us to return for a workshop in 2011 (we were<br />

there several years ago) We are pleased that John<br />

Moran, the manager of the museum, has agreed


to the dates, June 20 – 24th We have invited Chris<br />

Daunt to be our guest artist Chris is a world-class<br />

printmaker and block-maker Chris has agreed to<br />

join us and we will be getting all the details to you<br />

over the coming months<br />

6<br />

One memorable image that has stuck in my<br />

mind, was Joel Moline and Carl Montford up at the<br />

very crack of dawn, meeting out on the Artists Point<br />

to draw In they would troop, sketchbooks loaded<br />

with drawings How I wish I could have arisen to<br />

such a venture They are “better men than I am,<br />

Gunga Din”<br />

On a personal note, my summer also included<br />

teaching engraving at Augusta in West Virginia<br />

Then this fall I returned to John Campbell Folk<br />

School in North Carolina I had an amazing group<br />

I had the couple that created the Badger brand<br />

balms from up in New Hampshire I also had my<br />

valued friend Tom Patterson I’ve written about<br />

Tom before, as he and his wife Kay epitomize the<br />

mountain people of the region Tom engraved an<br />

image of his favorite goat, Rufus Incredible!<br />

The week at John Campbell Folk School concluded<br />

with a festival Nancy Darrell was there exhibiting<br />

wood engravings Nancy’s husband, John,<br />

came and studied my proof press He concluded<br />

that he could make such a press, and he can! The<br />

people from this region are those who scrabble their<br />

lives out of the mainstream of our pop-culture<br />

Indeed, these people can forge, weave, play acoustic<br />

instruments, practice healing arts and grow their<br />

own food They are incredibly resourceful They<br />

don’t have TVs or electronic gadgets They make<br />

things We wood engravers are accepted in their<br />

value systems They understand us, and we them


WEN Workshop <strong>2010</strong><br />

a photo album of the Grand Marais gathering<br />

Grand Marais Art Colony workroom, base camp for the <strong>2010</strong> WEN Summer Workshop<br />

Scenic Grand Marais Harbor<br />

7<br />

Kent Aldrich stopped in for an afternoon visit<br />

Visiting the studio of woodcut artist Betsy Bowen Carl Montford, Fiorella Mori & Gerri Carlson


Banquet at the Naniboujou Lodge<br />

The original 1929 Naniboujou painted restaurant ceiling (traditional Cree Indian pattern & Art Deco influenced)<br />

8


Earl Nitschke at Naniboujou (David Moyer inspired?)<br />

Naniboujou beach & Lake Superior<br />

9<br />

Joel Moline & Nancy Darrell<br />

Jim Horton drawing at Cascade River State Park


Dale Kennedy<br />

Rachel Scott Joel Moline<br />

10<br />

Carl Montford


Standing Row: Dale Kennedy, Bill Myers, Earl Nitschke, Sharen Linder, Gerri Carlson, John McWilliams, Nancy<br />

Darrell, Joel Moline, Carl Montford Seated/Kneeling Row: Sylvia Pixley, Rachel Scott, Fiorella Mori, Joanne Price,<br />

Tony Drehfal Ground Level Seating: Jim Horton, Josh Capistrant, Potted Plant<br />

11


Jim starts the WEN public presentation<br />

Sharen Linder & Carl Montford<br />

John McWilliams presenting his wood engravings<br />

12<br />

Bill Myers presented next<br />

Bill, who is an accomplished magician, performing his<br />

signature “hovering end-grain maple block” illusion<br />

Joanne Price presenting her burin tattoo


Dale Kennedy looking at John McWilliams’ engravings<br />

The traditional passing of the burin ceremony<br />

13<br />

Nancy Darrell<br />

The photos in this album were taken by Carl Montford,<br />

Dale Kennedy, Tony Drehfal, Sylvia Pixley & Rachel Scott


Plein Air Engraving<br />

by Sylvia Pixley<br />

When Bill Myer announced that we would be doing<br />

some Plein Air engraving, I thought, “That’s<br />

impossible, ridiculous!” But when the time came on<br />

Wednesday to visit Cascade River State Park, I took<br />

a Resingrave block and a #5 liner tool, as well as my<br />

small camera, a sketch book, a couple pencils, a pen<br />

and an umbrella Thankfully after we got there the<br />

light drizzle abated, because I didn’t have enough<br />

hands for all of that I took lots of photos of the<br />

falls and cascades and the surroundings, even a<br />

ladyslipper flower, and stopped long enough for a<br />

pencil sketch of a section of the falls Then I saw<br />

Carl Montford carving on a block, supporting it<br />

on a sign post But he wasn’t doing the falls, he was<br />

looking into the woods I didn’t have to do an image<br />

of the falls! I didn’t have to do something big If he<br />

could do one, so could I But we were running out<br />

of time Back down the path I stopped at a patch of<br />

Bunch Berry plants Here was the perfect subject,<br />

great contrast, simple I sat down on the still damp<br />

wooden steps, put my sketch book in my lap and<br />

began sketching on my block The first rule is not<br />

to put the flower in the exact middle, OK, got that<br />

14<br />

But I did forget that the image would be reversed<br />

and we read left to right As I carved, people began<br />

leaving Was it time to go? OK “Don’t worry about<br />

the background, just get the flower and leaves ”<br />

Someone from The Art Colony took my picture I<br />

had sketched most of the important lines Then it<br />

began to rain! I had to stop and find my husband<br />

who now had my umbrella<br />

I don’t know how long I spent carving, maybe<br />

20 minutes When we returned to the press room,<br />

Carl and I printed our proofs Mine actually worked!<br />

I was on cloud nine, high on something other than<br />

caffeine Plein Air carving can be done, if the subject<br />

is simplified and you sit down in a relatively comfortable<br />

position More artists should try it<br />

People praised me for working quickly But I<br />

looked around and saw four other artists doing a<br />

different kind of Plein Air engraving Sharen, Cindy,<br />

Nancy and Fiorella had collected flowers or plants<br />

or weeds from around the Art Colony and sketched<br />

them on their blocks They were carving with their<br />

plants in front of them; not quick, simple blocks but<br />

involved, wonderfully complex compositions (See<br />

Cindy Coopman’s example in the bundle ) And at<br />

least two artists had gotten up with the sun to do<br />

more sketching at Artists’ Point and around the<br />

bay each morning before breakfast and used those<br />

sketches to create blocks to work on All in all, it<br />

was a glorious experience and the Grand Marais<br />

aura lives on in all those engravings


<strong>Wood</strong> Engraving Pilgrimage<br />

by Joanne Price<br />

Site of Thomas Bewick’s Newcastle workshop<br />

I was introduced to wood engraving by Frank Eckmair<br />

in 1993. I grew up in Buffalo, NY and moved to Minneapolis,<br />

Minnesota 11 years ago. As the Exhibitions<br />

and Cooperative Artists Manager at Highpoint Center<br />

for Printmaking for seven years, I was creating my own<br />

prints when time allowed.<br />

In December 2008, I started planning a trip to visit<br />

English wood engravers Simon Brett, Chris Daunt, Anne<br />

Desmet, Andy English, Peter Lawrence and Sarah van<br />

Niekerk. The trip represented a pilgrimage, a journey to<br />

study the historical and contemporary practice of wood<br />

engraving. I wanted to see and learn the printmaking<br />

15<br />

traditions in Great Britain in order to provide me with<br />

a better understanding of the roots of wood engraving<br />

and how that tradition fits in the contemporary art<br />

world. I was interested in each artist’s inspirations,<br />

influences, working methods, tools and techniques. I<br />

visited England, my first European experience, for 2<br />

1/2 weeks in May <strong>2010</strong>.<br />

I am immensely grateful to my amazing hosts<br />

who guided me through their landscape and their life.<br />

I am deeply indebted to them for their kindness and<br />

generosity.<br />

May 2, <strong>2010</strong><br />

After more than a year of planning, I arrived at<br />

Heathrow International Airport in London The<br />

hour drive to my cousin Ned’s residence in Hackney,<br />

Essex allowed me to adjust to the new architecture<br />

and landscape around London My first night in<br />

England was in a couple of pubs There was some<br />

concern that I could not handle a pint of English<br />

beer, so I accommodated their concern and slowly<br />

sipped my ale for nearly an hour<br />

May 3<br />

The next morning our group struggled through a<br />

hangover and drove to Leigh, near Southend on the<br />

Thames estuary We walked down to the historic<br />

fishing village on the River Thames which is now<br />

mostly shops, restaurants and pubs The Thames<br />

was at low tide and it was a bizarre sight to me – the<br />

river had stranded all these boats in the sand dunes<br />

Growing up on Lake Erie I had never experienced<br />

dramatic tidal forces


Andy English punting down the river Cam<br />

May 4, Andy English, Cambridge<br />

Andy and I walked around Cambridge through<br />

lovely parks and past St John’s University and<br />

down historic cobblestone roads The architecture<br />

and sculptural detailing is overwhelming and<br />

beautiful Andy suggested that we see Cambridge<br />

by boat Andy did a capital job punting while I<br />

snapped photos of the architecture and scenery<br />

Everything was so vividly green Next we visited a<br />

bookseller’s stall in Cambridge’s outdoor market<br />

We also visited the Haunted Bookshop and G David<br />

Bookseller where I found a sixth-edition copy of A<br />

General History of Quadrupeds by Thomas Bewick<br />

Meanwhile Andy spotted a first edition of the two<br />

volume Life of William Blake, a huge influence for<br />

his work Andy is an avid collector, very smart and<br />

patient, finding amazing art at manageable prices<br />

He has wonderful works displayed around his<br />

16<br />

house: A small self-portrait etching by Rembrandt,<br />

a David Jones drawing and Carel Weight paintings<br />

and watercolors There were wood engravings by<br />

Gertrude Hermes, Hilary Paynter, Michael Renton<br />

and Gwen Raverat Everywhere you look there is a<br />

treasure tucked away inconspicuously<br />

After the bookstores we headed to Kettle’s Yard<br />

House where Jim Ede, a former curator for the Tate<br />

Gallery in London, and his family lived from 1958 to<br />

1973 Ede’s friendships with English artists formed<br />

his collection and a way of living with great art We<br />

were greeted by a quirky but very friendly steward<br />

of the home who politely corrected my entry in the<br />

visitor’s log to reflect that Andy was not a first time<br />

visitor Andy pointed out some of his favorites First<br />

and foremost was a drawing by the artist and poet,<br />

David Jones The drawing was very soft, sweet and<br />

fantastical I had to wait a bit to see his wood engravings<br />

They were equally charming and ethereal I felt<br />

an immediate connection to his work<br />

May 5<br />

Andy’s home was very welcoming: a large garden<br />

in the backyard boasts cherry, fig, apple and pear<br />

trees, floral and vegetable bearing wonders Wisteria<br />

climbs along the front of the house under the<br />

bedroom window where a dove is nesting There is<br />

a beautiful panorama of rolling fields and pasture<br />

with a clear view of Ely Cathedral on the horizon<br />

Andy’s studio is in his garage where his two<br />

Albion presses reside The space is cozy and efficient,<br />

the way a studio should be There are many<br />

prints occupying the wall opposite the entrance that


make my eyes wander while I ask Andy about his<br />

inks and printing techniques Andy uses Lawrence<br />

Letterpress carbon black and often employs a specialized<br />

Zerkall paper for wood engraving specified<br />

by Edwina Ellis His registration system is clean and<br />

clever, using a plastic sleeve to place and protect<br />

his paper Andy takes commissions for bookplates,<br />

book illustrations and more – a self-described jobbing<br />

engraver I really enjoyed assisting Andy in<br />

printing some extra wedding invitations It was a<br />

nice way to get a feel for the Albion Press – the press<br />

of choice for English engravers<br />

After a morning in the studio and a quick<br />

romp through the fields with Bella, the family dog,<br />

we headed into Ely for a proper English tea experience<br />

Peacock’s Tearoom had elaborate lace table<br />

cloths and floral tea cups Bowls of sugar cubes<br />

with delicate doily covers and mini tongs adorned<br />

each table I relished the most flavorful tea I have<br />

ever had, Pleine Lune, a French vanilla, honey tea<br />

with savory scones that prepared us for our visit to<br />

Ely Cathedral<br />

Ely Cathedral is a dominant visual presence for<br />

miles around The Ship of the Fens has been a destination<br />

for many Christian pilgrimages for hundreds<br />

of years Difficult to take in all at once, the scale of<br />

the cathedral is unlike anything I have experienced<br />

before Everything is visually overwhelming Andy<br />

points out that the manner of carvings over the<br />

Prior’s door look suspiciously similar to Eric Gill’s<br />

engravings and sculpture<br />

From Andy’s home, views of Ely cathedral on<br />

the horizon are framed in impossibly perfect ways,<br />

17<br />

with fields and meadows of varied greens and bright<br />

yellow bands of rapeseed There is so much to see<br />

in the landscape – a connection to the community<br />

and land, echoing history and life<br />

Simon Brett in his Marlborough studio<br />

May 6, Simon Brett, Marlborough<br />

I was delighted to finally meet Simon Brett, wood<br />

engraving’s living legend, whose work as both an<br />

artist and an author I have admired for so long<br />

Simon Brett’s advice and many contacts were enormously<br />

helpful in planning my journey<br />

Through the conservatory and past the garden,<br />

Simon’s studio sat as a separate structure at the back<br />

of the property The organized studio space has 2<br />

iron hand presses, many work surfaces and framed<br />

prints filling any wall space unoccupied by books<br />

His engraving tools were carefully arranged at his


work station and the ergonomic kneeling chair<br />

suggested long stretches of engraving necessitating<br />

comfort and sustainability I am in awe of his<br />

drawing and engraving ability<br />

May 7<br />

We spent the morning in Simon’s studio where he<br />

showed me prints by George Buday, Leo Wyatt,<br />

Reynolds Stone, Michael Renton, Joan Hassall,<br />

Sidney Lee, Stanley Spencer and John Platt I also<br />

appreciated Simon’s insight as a professional illustrator<br />

and engraver as he showed me some of the<br />

50 book projects he has illustrated I particularly enjoyed<br />

seeing Legends of the Ring and The Meditations<br />

of Marcus Aurelius I was also treated to a preview<br />

of Brett’s current project The Play of Pericles: Prince<br />

of Tyre I stood entranced, staring at the theatrical<br />

presentation as Simon narrated Part I of the story<br />

It is a masterpiece<br />

As the authority on wood engraving, Simon was<br />

keen to introduce me to other local wood engravers,<br />

while at the same time providing a nice excuse to<br />

visit with friends After a fascinating visit to Avebury<br />

Manor and its standing stones, we visited a local but<br />

internationally accomplished engraver and painter,<br />

Richard Shirley Smith Over tea and a wonderful<br />

sweet homemade cake, Richard told me about his<br />

friendship and visits with the artist David Jones<br />

while he was studying in Cambridge; what a delightful<br />

coincidence As a parting gift, Richard gave me a<br />

book cataloguing his impeccable engravings Later<br />

Simon offered me a book Ten Letters, including correspondence<br />

between Richard and David Jones<br />

18<br />

Neil Bousfield and Simon Brett<br />

May 8<br />

Simon and I headed to Gloucestershire to visit<br />

Neil Bousfield in Stonehouse on our way to Sarah<br />

van Niekerk’s home Neil is an accomplished wood<br />

engraver in his own right, approaching the medium<br />

from a film, graphic novel and video game design<br />

background We viewed some of Neil’s 140 prints of<br />

an estimated 400 for his latest book project, Walking<br />

Shadows: A Novel without Words Very ambitious and<br />

prolific His studio was very organized and efficient<br />

with a neatly placed Vandercook – the only wood<br />

engraver I met using a cylinder press to print wood<br />

engravings in England<br />

Sarah Van Niekerk, Frampton-on-Severn<br />

Sarah’s street The Green features ponds and picturesque<br />

farms along a well-kept green grass lawn<br />

and a castle-like Frampton Court across the way<br />

from her home<br />

I had first seen Sarah’s engravings about 11<br />

years ago in the book Women <strong>Engravers</strong> by Patricia<br />

Jaffe at the campus library while I was studying<br />

printmaking at the University of Minnesota I fell


immediately in love with her lively engraving style<br />

Sarah told me that she focuses on the texture of<br />

things; how they feel determines how they are portrayed<br />

I often look at these textures as a guide when<br />

I make engravings Sarah uses Lawrence relief black<br />

and letterpress Seville Black when she prints I love<br />

her engraving station It has a stool with a sheepskin<br />

cover for the seat<br />

Sarah van Niekerk<br />

The view out Sarah’s back window is magical,<br />

like a living fairy tale; it takes my breath away<br />

19<br />

There are spotted horses grazing under the apple<br />

trees whose pink flowers are creating a confetti-like<br />

rain of blossoms in the wind I cannot stop staring<br />

outside Sarah told me that it gets really surreal<br />

when a Mississippi-like steamboat floats down the<br />

unseen canal between the apple trees and the pasture!<br />

I could easily fall in love with this place, this<br />

landscape<br />

Sarah brought me down to the River Severn<br />

in the middle of the horseshoe bend The weather<br />

was fitfully spitting rain at us and the wind was very<br />

strong and cutting The unsettled weather created<br />

many interesting changes in the light and mood of<br />

the landscape Peter Lawrence said later that she<br />

is an engraver of weather; there is definitely that<br />

sense of weather in her prints and after experiencing<br />

the River Severn for that short period of time,<br />

I understand why<br />

We drove to Wick’s Court, the location of<br />

“Farms for City Children”, where some very friendly<br />

pigs, piglets, cows, geese and ducks were anxious for<br />

some attention A giant split oak tree, the real life<br />

subject of one of her prints expressed such strong<br />

character as did everything; the flora, the fauna<br />

and their environment I feel I have a better understanding<br />

of Sarah’s art through these encounters<br />

Or maybe her work colored my perception … either<br />

way I enjoyed the experience<br />

May 9, Peter Lawrence, Oxford<br />

Peter Lawrence is the managing director of the<br />

Oxford Designers and Illustrators with a second job<br />

as president of the Society of <strong>Wood</strong> <strong>Engravers</strong> Pete


and his wife Kath generously planned a thorough<br />

and engaging visit for me while in Oxford<br />

We first headed out to view Oxford’s local talent<br />

during Artweeks: Oxfordshire Artists’ Festival<br />

It is the same type of event we call open studios or<br />

art crawls We visited Wolvercote Baptist Church<br />

to view some of Pete’s prints among the Oxford<br />

Printmakers Coop exhibit Pete is the only wood<br />

engraver in the bunch, but his work is very strong<br />

Back at the Lawrence’s home, he showed me<br />

an old composition notebook with meeting notes<br />

of the Society of <strong>Wood</strong> <strong>Engravers</strong> The first page<br />

says:<br />

Meeting March 27th 1920<br />

At Mr. Philip Hagneens Studio<br />

Resolutions<br />

1. That this be called The Bewick Club<br />

The Bewick Club? Well, that was changed on May<br />

13th 1920:<br />

Proposed & carried that resolution No 1 of March 27th<br />

be cancelled, & the society in future be called The Society<br />

of <strong>Wood</strong> <strong>Engravers</strong>.<br />

Pretty cool Eric Gill, Robert Gibbings, Lucien<br />

Pissarro, Sydney Lee: they spelled his name wrong<br />

in the notes! An all-star cast to start the Society<br />

May 10<br />

During an Oxford University Press (OUP) tour that<br />

Pete arranged, I learned that the OUP did not use<br />

the standard “type high” or “trade height” ( 918”)<br />

the height of a shilling on its edge When Dr John<br />

Fell was Bishop of Oxford and Dean of Christ<br />

Church during the 17th century he brought Dutch<br />

20<br />

typefounders to Oxford to create beautiful fonts of<br />

“Oxford height” ( 9395”) called the Fell Types<br />

Next we made our way to Keble College where<br />

Colman Hunt’s painting, The Light of the World is<br />

kept Keble College is quite beautiful, with a strong<br />

gothic influence and patterned brickwork by architect<br />

William Butterfield Keble College sits across<br />

from the Oxford University Museum of Natural<br />

History designed by Benjamin <strong>Wood</strong>ward, incorporating<br />

John Ruskin’s ideas of “true Gothic ” The<br />

building is a neo-gothic structure and it is rumored<br />

that whenever Ruskin rode between Keble College<br />

and the Natural History Museum he would employ<br />

the carriage curtain to block his view of the offending<br />

Keble College architecture<br />

We toured the Sheldonian Theatre where the<br />

Oxford University Press was housed at one point<br />

and headed up to the cupola for a stunning 360degree<br />

view of Oxford We also visited Blackwell’s<br />

Bookshop, a huge bookstore with 5 levels of new<br />

and used books But wait, there are 9 other specialty<br />

Blackwell bookstores in Oxford! In Blackwell’s art<br />

bookstore, I was pleasantly surprised to spot A<br />

Being More Intense on the feature display next to<br />

an Albrecht Dürer book Pete thought that was an<br />

acceptable placement<br />

After a quick tour of the Bodleian Library we<br />

walked to the Oxford Printmakers Cooperative,<br />

where Pete teaches wood engraving classes about<br />

twice a year As in the United States, there appears<br />

to be a real concern from wood engraving artists<br />

regarding the lack of interest at universities<br />

and colleges in teaching wood engraving in the


printmaking curriculum Most people are learning<br />

the art through day or weekend workshops that offer<br />

only a taste of the medium Gaining a good grasp<br />

of the medium requires practice, encouragement,<br />

support and time<br />

Peter Lawrence<br />

Pete’s studio is mostly a desk on the top floor<br />

of his home – a place where collages of drawings,<br />

photos, printed ephemera, collectible cars, sea<br />

shells and other collected objects start amassing<br />

in the stairwell and continue into and around the<br />

studio space The objects, drawings, posters and<br />

collections reflect Pete’s personal interests in jazz,<br />

maps, pop culture and his aesthetics as a designer,<br />

21<br />

Peter working on a large engraving<br />

organizing fonts and visual information: “This is<br />

what designers do, we arrange the world ” Pete<br />

names Barbara Hepworth, Peter Blake, William<br />

Morris, Eric Ravilious, Eric Gill, Wallace & Gromit,<br />

John Surman, Penguin Books and Mr Punch as<br />

a short list of influences for his personal work<br />

Lawrence’s drawings are very carefully and slowly<br />

engraved after the basic drawing is worked out,<br />

sometimes taking up to 6 months to finish because<br />

he improvises the design around his drawing Engraving<br />

for Pete is a sanctuary, the place where he<br />

can listen to jazz and follow his own ideas<br />

May 11<br />

We started out early to meet the SWE Treasurer,<br />

Nigel Hamway Nigel works in finance and had just<br />

returned from a business trip in New York As we arrive,<br />

he is busily welcoming us and directing all sorts<br />

of activity in the house There are beautiful prints<br />

everywhere I look There is a collection of David<br />

Jones prints from the Rime of the Ancient Mariner


leading up the stairs Jim Todd, James Bostock, Rosemary<br />

Kilbourn, Jonathan Gibbs, Hilary Paynter, Peter<br />

Lawrence and many other engravings adorn the<br />

walls Nigel shared with us some of his impressive<br />

book collection: John Farleigh’s The Adventures of<br />

the Black Girl in her Search for God, Eric Gill’s Troilus<br />

and Criseyde and David Jones’ The Book of Jonah,<br />

Gulliver’s Travels, and a Welsh language only title<br />

with beautiful illustrations, Llyfr Y Pregeth<br />

Next, at the Ashmolean Museum, Pete officially<br />

transferred the entire archive of SWE’s materials,<br />

including the secretarial notebooks of early Society<br />

meetings to Colin Harrison, Assistant Keeper of<br />

the print room<br />

Mr Harrison, also our print room guide, provided<br />

insightful commentary on many of the prints<br />

we viewed including Dalziel Brothers’ (pronounced<br />

Dee-el) engravings of John Everett Millais’ drawings<br />

for the Parables of Our Lord Included with the<br />

engravings were letters written by Millais to Dalziel<br />

In one letter Millais suggests that the already<br />

delicately engraved fingernails could be finer!–We<br />

viewed prints by William Blake and Edward Calvert<br />

(a fervent follower of Blake), Blair Hughes-Stanton,<br />

Gertrude Hermes, and Hermes’ teacher Leon Underwood<br />

Hermes’ prints are some of my favorites,<br />

and Hughes-Stanton’s engravings for The Revelation<br />

of St. John the Divine are, well, divine We ogle some<br />

of Robert Gibbings prints from his time in Tahiti<br />

- whose name I suddenly remember from the SWE’s<br />

official first meeting notes The Ashmolean print<br />

room was truly a treat<br />

Next we walked to Christ Church to tour the<br />

22<br />

Christ Church, Oxford<br />

great hall and the Cathedral In the church, a steward<br />

tells us the story that William Morris depicts<br />

in a stained glass piece, Legends and Scenes from the<br />

life of St. Frideswide, the Abbess of Oxford, above<br />

the church’s reconstructed 1289 Shrine The Pre-<br />

Raphaelite style depicts some interesting scenarios:<br />

St Frideswide’s prayers are answered when lightening<br />

strikes the village’s oppressor, directly on his<br />

forehead making him blind And the last scene<br />

appears to illustrate a modern toilet near the dying<br />

St Frideswide; it is thought to be the earliest stained<br />

glass rendition of a toilet, the steward points out<br />

– or maybe the only one<br />

Pete and I walk around the central meadow<br />

where we can see a cricket game on the other side<br />

of the Cherwell River On the walk from Christ<br />

Church toward the bus, Pete pointed out an Eric<br />

Gill relief carving above a door – cool It was hard<br />

to leave Oxford Pete and Kath were perfect hosts,<br />

very friendly and engaging people


Chris Daunt<br />

May 12, Chris Daunt, Newcastle<br />

Our first stop was the Newcastle City Library’s<br />

sixth floor where they house the Bewick Collection,<br />

complete with a showcase exhibition of Thomas<br />

Bewick’s work table, a copy of a marble bust of<br />

Bewick by E H Bailey, engraving tools, blocks and<br />

prints The tool box is the real treat to see: there<br />

are 23 items total in the box, including 16 tools:<br />

four lozenge gravers, two square scorpers, a round<br />

scorper, a spitsticker, a chisel tool, three tint tools,<br />

seven multiple line tools: two seven-line, one sixline,<br />

one four-line, one three-line, plus two without<br />

handles, a double ended burnisher, a graphite lump,<br />

a leather covered lead dome, a sharpening stone, a<br />

small round of boxwood, an offcut, a small dish of<br />

lead white pigment and a magnifying loop<br />

Chris’ studio, the nearest room to his home‘s<br />

entrance, houses a large Albion press, formerly<br />

owned and used by Monica Poole His engraved<br />

blocks sit neatly on a shelf, upright on their sides,<br />

23<br />

Daunt made end-grain blocks and rounds<br />

creating a visual collage of relief images Chris is a<br />

self-taught wood engraver who admires the work<br />

of Karasawa Hitashi and Monica Poole Born in<br />

Northumberland, Chris has followed a wide variety<br />

of interests starting with four years as a Cistercian<br />

monk, a degree in English Literature, English<br />

language instruction in Poland, and his longest<br />

endeavor before block making, as an engraving<br />

illustrator


May 13<br />

Chris’ woodshop is in a small room off the kitchen<br />

Inside the woodshop there were various tools and<br />

different stations to accommodate each step in the<br />

process of block-making In between tools, shelves,<br />

tables and supplies there is wood everywhere One<br />

wall is completely covered with shelving to house<br />

neatly stacked rough-cut rounds of boxwood and<br />

squares of lemonwood Large boxwood trunks<br />

and rounds lie on the floor under tables and milled<br />

beams of lemonwood sat ready to be processed<br />

<strong>Wood</strong> engraving is well supported in Bewick<br />

country – not surprising, but still impressive As<br />

we walked around Newcastle Chris pointed out<br />

evidence of wood engraving everywhere We found<br />

enlarged wood engravings by Hilary Paynter depicting<br />

scenes of the city just around the corner from<br />

Northern Print, a community printshop where<br />

Chris often teaches wood engraving We found a<br />

plaque and sculpture marking Bewick’s original<br />

workshop next to St Nicholas’ Cathedral, Bewick<br />

Square and a bronze enlarged reproduction of the<br />

Chillingham Bull inset into the concrete sidewalk<br />

on Bewick Street Where else in the world would<br />

you find such public support for a wood engraver?<br />

I think I have found my second home<br />

May 14<br />

Chris’ friend Ian Corrigan, a genius traditional<br />

artisan, shortens and assembles engraving tools<br />

for Intaglio Printmaker and makes leather sandbags<br />

for Chris to sell Ian is a trained welder and<br />

possesses an overwhelming amount of traditional<br />

24<br />

Bewick’s recreated workshop at Cherryburn<br />

and historical artisan knowledge and skill We<br />

discussed the proper way to sharpen and maintain<br />

engraving tools Ian also taught me the proper,<br />

Northumbrian way to pronounce Thomas Bewick’s<br />

name: “ByOO-ick ” I responded, “Where I come<br />

from, ‘Buick’ is a car brand ”<br />

“Cherryburn, the Mecca of wood engraving”,<br />

as my wood engraving friend Carl Montford<br />

calls it, was next on the itinerary The birthplace<br />

of Bewick, the cottage, farmhouse and recreated<br />

workshop are all at Cherryburn featuring a picturesque<br />

landscape on the River Tyne We browsed<br />

through the exhibition of Thomas Bewick’s work<br />

and life, a collection of tools, blocks, prints, books<br />

and Victorian dioramas of animals The reconstructed<br />

workshop is housed in the adjoining barn<br />

and is packed with all the equipment and materials<br />

required to do wood and copper engraving and<br />

letterpress


May 15<br />

I caught the train back to my cousin Ned’s home<br />

in Essex in time for a barbecue with friends They<br />

were curious about where I had gone and what I<br />

had done with my time in England I explained to<br />

one of them that I would be visiting Anne Desmet<br />

in Hackney, London the following day<br />

May 16<br />

Anne had given me good directions to her house<br />

“We have a very distinctive path with an elaborate,<br />

colorful, fish mosaic ” That made it easy to find and<br />

verify I was in the right location Anne’s neighborhood<br />

was quiet, clean and calm<br />

Anne led me inside for a warming cup of tea<br />

and introduced me to her husband, Roy Willingham<br />

and her daughter, Marion Anne’s studio had bright<br />

large windows with a clothesline to hang prints to<br />

dry above her Albion press Anne works nontraditionally<br />

with wood engraving, using the prints<br />

to collage large unique pieces She prefers to use<br />

Lawrence’s relief printing inks and a German letterpress<br />

ink: Hostmann Steinberg Anne is inspired<br />

by Piranesi, Gertrude Hermes, Edward Wadsworth,<br />

Giotto, Piero della Francesco and Masaccio Anne’s<br />

hallway and stairwell have a wealth of engravings<br />

Some that I can recall include prints by Monica<br />

Poole, Colin See-Payton, Gertrude Hermes and Blair<br />

Hughes-Stanton<br />

Anne is a very busy woman actively involved<br />

in art making, educating and parenting As the<br />

editor of Printmaking Today, a quarterly journal of<br />

contemporary international graphics, Anne spends<br />

25<br />

Anne Desmet<br />

every Wednesday compiling, designing and editing<br />

for the publication She is the co-author of the book,<br />

Handmade Prints, and taught relief printmaking<br />

to Hackney primary school students, ages three<br />

to 11 Students carved and printed images and<br />

wrote poetry about their homes to be compiled<br />

into a book called Our London Anne also conducts<br />

wood engraving demonstrations during her exhibits<br />

around the UK She is also featured in a video<br />

demonstrating the traditional woodcut process<br />

at the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Materials and<br />

Techniques gallery for prints<br />

Anne learned wood engraving and linocut from<br />

Jean Lodge in her postgraduate studies at the Ruskin<br />

School of Art in Oxford A Rome Scholarship in<br />

Printmaking allowed Anne to work as a residency<br />

artist at the British School in Rome in 1989 – 90:<br />

the source of her interest in architecture Anne<br />

is currently working on a series of prints related<br />

to the construction of the London 2012 Olympic<br />

stadiums being built near to her home She exposes


the transformation and mutations of urban history<br />

I admire Anne’s incredible motivation, professionalism<br />

and work ethic The scope and reach of her<br />

work is inspiring<br />

Roy Willingham is also a wood engraver<br />

and linocut artist creating fun, colorful prints<br />

Roy’s working process starts with a drawing and<br />

progresses through a series of reinterpretations<br />

through drawing, painting, collage and print Roy<br />

learned printmaking from Ian Mortimer, who still<br />

runs the private press I M Imprimit in London,<br />

near their home in Hackney Both Anne and Roy<br />

seem to inspire each other and continue to discover<br />

that they have overlapping interests<br />

Anne talked about creating a still silence, as<br />

Monica Poole creates through her engravings I<br />

can understand a desire for that still silence after<br />

a busy day in the life of Anne Desmet and Roy<br />

Willingham<br />

When I returned to the United States, my mind still<br />

swimming with all the new experiences and knowledge,<br />

work and stress piled high at work – my friend asked me<br />

what I walked away with from my journey? I responded,<br />

“English engravers do some of the finest work in wood<br />

engraving – they are really professional and well organized.<br />

I realize that I need to spend more time practicing<br />

my own engraving – a renewed vigor to prioritize my<br />

own practice.”<br />

My journey to England was an incredible experience<br />

that I will cherish for the rest of my life, thanks to all the<br />

artists who so generously volunteered their homes, energy,<br />

time and resources for my educational adventure. 1920 Society of <strong>Wood</strong> <strong>Engravers</strong> meeting notes<br />

26


Bundle No. 44<br />

<strong>Autumn</strong> <strong>2010</strong><br />

The prints contained in this issue of <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong><br />

have been scanned from WEN Bundle No 44 This<br />

section does not intend to substitute the value of<br />

viewing the original prints as printed by the artist<br />

on fine paper with quality inks, but is meant to<br />

provide a facsimile for WEN members not receiving<br />

bundles Because of space and reproduction<br />

limitations, some images have been reduced in size,<br />

North Shore Dale Kennedy (actual size)<br />

North Shore is printed on Mohawk Superfine Cream paper Dale printed the edition at Bill Myers studio This<br />

wood engraving was printed in an edition of 95<br />

27<br />

and color prints have been reproduced in shades of<br />

gray In some instances a print represented in the<br />

bundle may have been excluded in this section as<br />

requested by the artist All original prints from the<br />

bundles are archived at the Princeton University<br />

Graphic Arts Library, Princeton, New Jersey, with<br />

Agnes Sherman serving as curator


Split Rock Lighthouse Carl Montford (60%)<br />

Carl engraved this image of Split Rock Lighthouse<br />

located at Split Rock State Park, Minnesota This is<br />

an edition 100 for WEN The lighthouse was built in<br />

response to a particularly tragic year of shipwrecks<br />

(1905, with 215 lives lost on Lake Superior) The<br />

light was visible up to 60 miles away<br />

28<br />

You Will Have… Susan Lowdermilk (actual size)<br />

You Will Have Good Luck And Overcome Many<br />

Hardships was engraved on Resingrave and printed<br />

on a Tanach etching press For the WEN bundle<br />

edition Daniel Smith Relief Black #79 ink was used,<br />

mixed with 1/8 th magnesium carbonate Susan<br />

engraved the image in a wood engraving workshop<br />

taught by Paul Gentry at Lane Community College<br />

in Eugene, Oregon in November, 2008


Germania Earl Nitschke (70%)<br />

Earl was engraving Germania at the WEN workshop<br />

in Grand Marais An edition of 100 was printed for<br />

WEN<br />

29<br />

Old rockers never die!… Ken Ferguson (82%)<br />

Old rockers never die! they just play away! is a linocut<br />

and printed on Sumerset Soft White 300gm paper,<br />

using a mixture of Van Son Black and Red ink An<br />

edition of 90 was printed for WEN


Untitled John Carrera (actual size)<br />

John sent an assortment of 10 differents prints to<br />

WEN for bundle <strong>#44</strong><br />

30<br />

Cruise II Rachel Scott (actual size)<br />

Rachel engraved Cruise II on Resingrave and printed<br />

an edition of 150, with 118 for WEN


Rocks at Artist’s Point Sylvia Pixley (actual size)<br />

Sylvia started working on Rocks at Artist’s Point at the WEN workshop at Grand Marais The edition of 120 for<br />

WEN is printed on Mohawk Superfine<br />

31


DragonFlight Karin A Hokkanen (38%)<br />

DragonFlight is a woodcut on plank pine and printed<br />

on office supply paper, using a blue green mix of<br />

Speedball oil based ink An edition of 110 was printed<br />

for WEN<br />

32<br />

Untitled Mary Thompson (actual size)<br />

Mary sent in 9 different prints, all images of cars


2009 AIDS Service Cover John R Benson (55%)<br />

2009 AIDS Service Cover is a hand printed linoleum<br />

block print using brayer baren techique John<br />

printed an edition of 600 with prints 101–200 sent<br />

to WEN<br />

33<br />

Hotei John R Benson (40%)<br />

Hotei is a linoleum block print The image is printed<br />

on Chinese Joss Paper using brayer baren technique<br />

An edition of 125 was printed for WEN


Dandelion Cindy Koopman (actual size)<br />

Cindy sent an edition of 100 for WEN, printed on a Vandercook SP15 press, using a toned linen paper “The<br />

block was begun during the WEN workshop of 2004 in Minneapolis I couldn’t think of what to carve so I pulled<br />

up a dandelion in the back parking lot of the Minnesota Center for Book Arts This has become a workshop<br />

theme – for the Grand Marais workshop I found some plantain outside the Art Colony Building ”<br />

34


She Says What She Thinks Linda Karel Sage (90%)<br />

Linda printed She Says What She Thinks, engraved<br />

on end-grain maple, in an edition of 76 for WEN<br />

The edition was printed, hand inked with Graphic<br />

Chemical Litho #1796 Ink, on a Morgan Line-O-<br />

Scribe sign machine press<br />

35<br />

Stone Sandy Webster (actual size)<br />

Sandy Webster printed Stone in an edition of 80 for<br />

WEN It is one of seven wood engravings of stones<br />

for a small book titled Owning Stones


Bundle Participation?<br />

Show your stuff!<br />

A Note to All WEN Members on Bundle Participation:<br />

and in particular, those new members that might still<br />

be confused as to what and how the print exchange<br />

works.<br />

A Bundle is a name we dubbed the mailings that take<br />

place twice yearly (Spring and <strong>Autumn</strong>) A Bundle<br />

is a packet of prints, or a “non-digital” show that<br />

comes to your door They are not intended for sale<br />

or speculation They are meant for people to share<br />

the joy of printmaking with others who know and<br />

appreciate what went into their production<br />

We have many levels of expertise represented<br />

There are established professionals along with beginners<br />

There are a few who appreciate prints, but<br />

don't practice printmaking themselves We hope the<br />

Bundles are a means of education We do not publicly<br />

judge or criticize the work that is contributed,<br />

though we are always open to comments, and certainly,<br />

individual contacts can be made to these artists<br />

with your more personal comments and ideas<br />

We love of seeing ink on paper that came from an<br />

artist's hand Sometimes we are awed by the quality<br />

of the work Sometimes we learn from the rawness<br />

of a “Beginner's Mind” as the Zen masters call it,<br />

that hasn’t been influenced by standard practices<br />

and shows the exciting marks of experimentation<br />

“A print is the halfway point between a thing and a<br />

thought,” as Fritz Eichenberg once said To hold it<br />

close to the eye, and see the artists intimate journey<br />

of creation is no small thing In these days of digital<br />

imaging, it is a rare and valued thing perhaps<br />

more so than ever<br />

36<br />

We are always happy to hear of sales and contacts<br />

that result from people seeing someone’s work<br />

in the Bundles, however, that is not the prime reason<br />

we exist WEN is just one place where, if you have<br />

something extra to give, with the spirit of “What<br />

goes around, comes around,” you donate We are<br />

an appreciative audience When you do contribute<br />

to a Bundle, unless you indicate that it not be used<br />

for exhibition, you are giving people the right to<br />

show it to others in educational displays If it were<br />

to be reproduced for commercial use, permissions<br />

must be sought<br />

Bundle participation is not mandatory for<br />

being a member of WEN If you paid your dues,<br />

you will receive a journal, all announcements, a<br />

welcome to come to any of our activities (such as<br />

summer workshops), exhibit in any WEN connected<br />

exhibitions and receive some prints that have been<br />

donated by members You might not receive all the<br />

prints (as members only have to submit a total of 76,<br />

not enough to go around to all) Why that number?<br />

Some of these artists print by hand, slowly, and<br />

to even give away 76 of such work, is asking a lot,<br />

though some do contribute the maximum How do<br />

you get the full array of prints? You do so by contributing<br />

at least 76 prints to a Bundle If you do so,<br />

you are put at the head of the list when the stacks<br />

of prints are sorted into envelopes for mailing If<br />

you never contribute (which there is no pressure to<br />

do so), you will get whatever is left over That list is<br />

sorted by the seniority of when you joined If you<br />

are a newcomer, obviously, you are going to be at the<br />

end of the line But contribute, and you are at the


front of the line This keeps a healthy array of new<br />

artists coming in If contributing every few years,<br />

you are still getting just about everything<br />

We do ask that the work going into a bundle<br />

is by your hand You may contribute brochures,<br />

advertisements or a prospectus All materials are<br />

welcome as long as you feel it would be of interest<br />

and benefit to the group We have received intaglio,<br />

lino and plank-grain woodcuts, which are welcome<br />

Any questions, do contact us<br />

A Calendar of Days<br />

Participate; promote WEN and your work!<br />

We now have a new WEN tradition, A Calendar<br />

of Days, which promotes the <strong>Wood</strong> <strong>Engravers</strong>’<br />

<strong>Network</strong> to an expanded audience, thanks to our<br />

partnership with Tim and Elke Inkster and their<br />

marvelous literary press, The Porcupine’s Quill<br />

A Calendar of Days includes fourteen reproductions<br />

of wood engravings contributed by artists<br />

from the United States, United Kingdom and<br />

Canada, all of whom are members of the <strong>Wood</strong><br />

<strong>Engravers</strong>’ <strong>Network</strong> (WEN) The images have been<br />

engraved by hand, proofed letterpress by the artists<br />

themselves, then digitized and printed offset on<br />

the Heidelberg KORD by Tim Inkster at The Porcupine’s<br />

Quill in Erin Village, Wellington County,<br />

Ontario A Calendar of Days is what promises to<br />

be an on-going collaboration between the <strong>Wood</strong><br />

<strong>Engravers</strong>’ <strong>Network</strong> and The Porcupine’s Quill, a<br />

small publishing company noted for its expertise<br />

in using twentieth-century offset technology to<br />

37<br />

replicate the quality look of a nineteenth-century<br />

letterpress product<br />

For the <strong>Wood</strong> <strong>Engravers</strong>’ <strong>Network</strong>, our primary<br />

involvement in the production of A Calendar of Days<br />

is to provide high-quality wood engraved prints<br />

that will be reproduced and featured For future<br />

calendars, engravings can be submitted year round<br />

Our hope is that it becomes a regular habit of WEN<br />

members, to print an “extra” proof of their latest<br />

edition and mail it to Tim Inkster Prints not chosen<br />

for the current year’s calendar will be kept as candidates<br />

for future calendars As our pool of prints<br />

grows, finding the best seasonal image for any given<br />

month should become an easier task for Tim<br />

The finished size for A Calendar of Days will<br />

be 8 1/2” high by 5 1/2” wide, with 1/2” margin at<br />

the bottom and 5/8” at the top for a ring binding<br />

Prints will be reproduced in black and white at<br />

their actual size Prints submitted will have to fit<br />

within the following calendar template dimensions:<br />

within a 4”x4” space (3”x3”, 3”x 4”, 3”x3”, etc ) or 5<br />

1/8”width x 4”” height, in which case there will be<br />

no border, and the image will bleed left and right<br />

A border may be used for images less than 4” x 4”<br />

in size<br />

The artists whose work is chosen will be compensated<br />

for the one-time usage of their image in<br />

advance with 10 copies of the calendar, including<br />

freight For this royalty, The Porcupine’s Quill<br />

can reproduce the selected artist’s engraving for<br />

a one-time use in the calendar The artist retains<br />

all copyrights to the image Artists whose work<br />

is selected also will be eligible for a 40% discount


on any additional calendars that they may wish to<br />

order The artists would be paying the freight for<br />

these additional calendars<br />

Tim Inkster will select the engravings to be<br />

reproduced, as The Porcupine’s Quill will have total<br />

creative control over the design and printing of the<br />

calendar If Tim would like to receive any additional<br />

input pertaining to the selection of engravings for<br />

A Calendar of Days, the <strong>Wood</strong> <strong>Engravers</strong>’ <strong>Network</strong>’s<br />

organizers would be happy to help If the WEN/<br />

PQL Calendar partnership ends, all wood engravings<br />

submitted will be returned to WEN To keep<br />

the process simple, all the prints would be returned<br />

to WEN organizer Jim Horton<br />

At this time, 14 engravings will be chosen<br />

for the current calendar design, including a cover<br />

image, an image for each of the 12 months, and a<br />

“bonus” month – January of the following year<br />

Extra leaves will be included that will include brief<br />

biographies of the contributing artists, calendar<br />

information, etc When you submit an engraved<br />

print, please include your contact information, so<br />

if your image is chosen a follow-up request for your<br />

biographical information can be sent to you<br />

Tim Inkster will determine the retail cost of the<br />

calendar and the number of copies to be printed<br />

WEN members are eligible for a 20% discount off<br />

the list price from The Porcupine’s Quill, excluding<br />

shipping and handling A Calendar of Days is already<br />

listed on amazon com in both the US and the UK<br />

The calendar is also available through Barnes &<br />

Noble (US) and Waterstones (UK) websites<br />

As The Porcupine’s Quill has committed its<br />

38<br />

resources to this endeavor, we believe it is important<br />

that Tim should have enough quality engravings to<br />

select from for the A Calendar of Days effort For the<br />

continued success of this partnership it is essential<br />

that WEN members send Tim Inkster prints on an<br />

ongoing basis, so our collection builds Always print<br />

an “extra” (if the image size fits within the calendar’s<br />

template size) when you can, and mail it to The<br />

Porcupine’s Quill – address below (Write Tim a<br />

nice note while you are at it ) We encourage you to<br />

submit engravings often Our hope is that Tim and<br />

Elke receive so many quality engravings that they<br />

will have a difficult time choosing the best<br />

As our calendar spans a little more than a year,<br />

the topic of the engravings you submit may find a<br />

matching month to represent it Your winter scene<br />

might be competing against another engraver’s<br />

snowy landscape It may be the case that an image<br />

that is more universal, and not having a seasonal<br />

aspect to it, will have a better chance at being selected<br />

As the WEN engraving collection grows<br />

at The Porcupine’s Quill, the calendar’s months<br />

and seasons will find their matches naturally My<br />

advice would be to submit your best, and in time,<br />

your work may be featured on one of 14 pages of A<br />

Calendar of Days<br />

When you mail your submissions, it is<br />

very important that when you fill out the customs<br />

declarations form, and identify the content of the<br />

package (printed material) that you do not assign<br />

any value to what you are mailing The Canadian<br />

Customs collect a 13% Harmonized Sales Tax (HST)<br />

for the value listed on the declarations form This tax


has to be paid before Tim can receive the package<br />

If you sent two wood engravings and valued them<br />

at $50 each, Tim would have to pay $13 HST before<br />

he can receive the parcel! Therefore, any package a<br />

WEN member assigns a substantial value to most<br />

probably will be refused at the Erin, Ontario post<br />

office and returned back to its sender<br />

With your mailing to The Porcupine’s Quill,<br />

please comply with the Canadian Customs and<br />

postal administration addressing requirements<br />

Be sure to display the complete name and address<br />

of both the sender and recipient on your parcel<br />

If you decide to send a proof/print inside a “standard”<br />

letter you won’t need to fill out the customs<br />

declaration form The print may get scrunched a<br />

bit, but it should scan just fine if it is selected for A<br />

Calendar of Days<br />

Please join in our new tradition, A Calendar of<br />

Days, which promotes the <strong>Wood</strong> <strong>Engravers</strong>’ <strong>Network</strong><br />

and The Porcupine’s Quill WEN encourages<br />

you to participate Mail your engravings, including<br />

your contact information to:<br />

Tim Inkster CM RGD<br />

The Porcupine’s Quill<br />

68 Main Street, PO Box 160<br />

Erin, Ontario N0B 1T0<br />

If you have any questions about A Calendar<br />

of Days or any other WEN-related topic, feel free<br />

to write or call Jim Horton or Tony Drehfal, using<br />

their contact information located in the masthead<br />

from this edition of <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong><br />

39<br />

New Members<br />

Linda Sage<br />

4466 Morrison Road<br />

Morgantown, IN 46160<br />

n, North Carolina 28907<br />

Changes and Updates<br />

Address change:<br />

Richard Wagener<br />

900 Middlefield Drive<br />

Petaluma, CA 94952<br />

Phone: 818 599-0945<br />

John Carrera<br />

2722 Thurston Road<br />

Frederick, MD 21704<br />

E-mail change:<br />

William Rueter<br />

dovecotte@295 ca


Announcements & Notes<br />

Eric May Remembered<br />

The Kent State School of Visual Communication<br />

Design celebrated the life and creative spirit of Eric<br />

May by showcasing his work in an exhibit entitled,<br />

Eric May: Printmaker, Educator, Mentor The exhibit,<br />

which occurred from August 4 – 21, <strong>2010</strong>, featured<br />

Eric’s work from Type High Press Kent State has a<br />

web site dedicated to Eric May<br />

http://www theericmayproject com<br />

40<br />

Palm Tree Story<br />

Congratulations to WEN member Joanne Price who<br />

has published Palm Tree Story<br />

Greetings My two-year book project, the Palm Tree<br />

Story is finally done Come help me celebrate during<br />

the MCBA Book Arts Fellowship Exhibit opening<br />

reception:<br />

Opening reception: November 12, 6pm - 8:30<br />

Exhibit dates: November 12 – February 6<br />

Open Book building<br />

Minnesota Center for Book Arts<br />

1101 Washington Ave S<br />

Minneapolis, MN 55415<br />

The Palm Tree Story is a Colombian oral tale which<br />

chronicles a little boy’s quest to help three men who<br />

had set out to find their fortunes Along the way the<br />

boy encounters continual resistance and rejection<br />

from the three men, but he endures their trials and


outwits an old woman with evil intentions The<br />

boy guides the men to a fortuitous future despite<br />

their cruelty<br />

Two versions, both hand printed and bound,<br />

include a pamphlet and portfolio edition, presenting<br />

the story in very different ways The pamphlet<br />

edition has 16 pages on Arturo soft white with 12<br />

wood engraved illustrations and several linocut<br />

embellishments accompanying the text Pamphlet<br />

bound edition of 80 with Lokta chestnut covers<br />

Pages are H11” x W6”<br />

The portfolio edition presents the text and<br />

selected embellishments as an accordion book and<br />

the 12 wood engravings are hand printed on loose<br />

sheets of Revere Silk, all resting within a portfolio<br />

box The accordion book has hand printed unique<br />

woodcut end sheets carved by the artist Portfolio<br />

edition of 20 Single, unbound sheets are H9 5” x<br />

W7” www snickleprice com<br />

Full Circle, Hilary Paynter <strong>Wood</strong> Engravings<br />

“… a landmark publication, not only for Hilary as one<br />

of the country’s foremost engravers and promoters of the<br />

art, but for the world of wood engraving.”<br />

Peter Lawrence, Chairman of the Society of <strong>Wood</strong><br />

<strong>Engravers</strong><br />

It has been a busy <strong>Autumn</strong> for Hilary Paynter<br />

as she celebrated the launch of the book Full Circle,<br />

Hilary Paynter <strong>Wood</strong> Engravings, with a major retrospective<br />

exhibition in London at the Bankside<br />

Gallery, September 22–October 3, <strong>2010</strong><br />

Here is a description written about Full Circle,<br />

41<br />

Hilary Paynter <strong>Wood</strong> Engravings “The past thirty<br />

years has seen a renaissance in the art of wood<br />

engraving to rival the ‘golden age’ of the 1930s Hilary<br />

Paynter has been prominent in this resurgence,<br />

both as an artist/engraver and through her work<br />

as Honorary Secretary and later Chairman, of the<br />

reformed Society of <strong>Wood</strong> <strong>Engravers</strong> This book<br />

brings together all her engravings of the past 40<br />

years, telling both the story of her life and providing<br />

a visual commentary on the world ”<br />

Encouraged by friends and admirers to produce<br />

a book, Hilary has gathered together a comprehensive<br />

record of her work, which she has arranged thematically.<br />

Within these pages lies a cornucopia of imagery<br />

to enjoy, whilst her introductions to the themes, and<br />

detailed captions to the images, provide a truly personal<br />

and revelatory account of her forty-or-so years of wood<br />

engraving.<br />

From the Foreword by Hilary Chapman<br />

With 264 pages and over 600 wood engravings<br />

(21 in colour), this book covers a huge range of subjects,<br />

from breathtaking landscapes to bookplates,


from collections of animals to social and political<br />

commentary<br />

Hilary self-published Full Circle, Hilary Paynter<br />

<strong>Wood</strong> Engravings She received a grant from <strong>Wood</strong>end<br />

Barn art centre as she was completing the book<br />

so she named them as publishers Hilary worked<br />

closely with Pete Lawrence who designed the book,<br />

allowing her to construct it slowly, chapter by chapter<br />

It took two years to complete the book<br />

The book is available in the United Kingdom<br />

through Art Matters at the White Lion Street Gallery<br />

(http://www artmatters org uk/galleries/hp/<br />

book/index htm) The paperback version of Full<br />

Circle is available for £25 (currently $40 45) for the<br />

book and £22 08 ($35 73) for postage (The book<br />

is substantial and weighs 1 55kg The postage costs<br />

are what artmatters org have paid, shipping to the<br />

USA) E-mail info@artmatters.org.uk for order<br />

information Payment can be taken via credit/debit<br />

card or artmatters org could send you an invoice<br />

via Paypal As Hilary has self-published Full Circle,<br />

she is learning about the publishing world Hilary<br />

has yet to sort out the distribution of the book, as<br />

she is very busy with a series of major exhibits Feel<br />

free to e-mail Tony Drehfal for an update of North<br />

American distribution Everyone who the editor has<br />

corresponded with says the book is fabulous A full<br />

book review will be featured in <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong> #45<br />

Hilary Paynter was born in Scotland, and studied<br />

sculpture and wood engraving at Portsmouth<br />

College of Art She illustrated numerous books,<br />

including titles for the Gregynog Press, and her<br />

work is in the collections of the Victoria & Albert<br />

42<br />

Museum, the Ashmolean Museum, the FitzWilliam<br />

Museum, the Laing Art Gallery, and Hereford and<br />

Durham City Museums amongst others<br />

Major commissions have included a mural<br />

for the Newcastle upon Tyne Metro stretching 22<br />

metres and printed on vitreous enamel<br />

Hilary is President of the Royal Society of<br />

Painter-Printmakers, a Fellow of the Royal Society<br />

of Arts and former Chairman of the Society of<br />

<strong>Wood</strong> <strong>Engravers</strong> ”<br />

Book of Hours by George A. Walker<br />

The Porcupine’s Quill continues its avid support of<br />

the art of wood engraving with its publication of<br />

a new work by George A Walker, Book of Hours, A<br />

Wordless Novel Told In 99 <strong>Wood</strong> Engravings. “The Book<br />

of Hours draws us back through time and into the<br />

intimate routines of daily life in the hours before the<br />

onslaught of 9/11 Here Walker expresses through<br />

images what is too horrific for words, and although<br />

the inhabitants of The Book of Hours can’t imagine<br />

the tragedy about to befall them, the reader must<br />

dread the slow, uneven countdown that weaves<br />

between the pages ”<br />

“This is not only a remembrance of innocence<br />

lost but also a recollection of the historical activism<br />

and art genres that had such an important influence<br />

on today’s graphic novel Walker contributes to the<br />

great woodcut tradition established by the likes of<br />

Frans Masereel, Lynd Ward and Otto Nückel, and<br />

shows the endless need to expose and question<br />

social injustice through art and narrative ”


In Memoriam<br />

<strong>Wood</strong> <strong>Engravers</strong>’ <strong>Network</strong> Members<br />

Fred Brian<br />

Jane Walker Conneen<br />

Robert Crump<br />

Dale DeArmond<br />

Guy Debenham<br />

Bill Jackson<br />

Eric May<br />

Ann Mikolowski<br />

Erena Rae<br />

Ross Zirkle<br />

43<br />

Advertisements<br />

Service for WEN Members<br />

The WEN Calendar of Days for 2011 is<br />

now available from Ingram, Baker&Taylor,<br />

amazon.com or direct from the publisher<br />

at http://porcupinesquill.ca<br />

Contributors include Wesley W. Bates,<br />

Gerard Brender à Brandis, Simon Brett,<br />

Evan Charney, Tony Drehfal, Andy English,<br />

Jim Horton, Judith Jaidinger, Rosemary<br />

Kilbourn, Michael McGarvey, Carl<br />

Montford, Gale Mueller, Abigail Rorer,<br />

and Jim Westergard.<br />

14 images 16 pages coil-bound $16.95<br />

978 0 88984 336 3


44<br />

AREPO AREPO<br />

s t o n e t y p e f o u n d r y . c o m

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!