Engraving Artist's Diary

While Visiting ArtsPort

The artist provides the vision and imagery of the living print, laboring after the compelling image.

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I noticed whenever I said something that was funny, and we'd laugh, she'd lean toward me a little as she laughed. The more funny, the closer she leaned. Like a magnet, I thought, a force field that I could generate if only I could be witty.

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The first thing I thought I should do is go around and checklist the features of this studio. Radio (yes) Heating, lighting, restroom, hot and cold water (Yes) Cooking (No) Telephone (Yes, outbound-only) Computer/modem (No) Press type, size, make, accessories (Intaglio, 18-in Sturgess with gauges, new blankets. I'm thinking it would be a good idea to require people to bring their own blankets or put up a partially refundable blanket fee and agree to inspection. E-mail (Reservation) Home page (Shopping cart).

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I was watching her release my new prints from their dryer-stretchers. She kept looking at me, expectantly. Then she told me how there were two times when her job was most rewarding--this and when she pulled the proofs.

"Well," I said, "it's an addiction, didn't you know?" It's true. These are moments of proof, that the illusion of calculation will be truth or continuing illusion. Though we believe dreams come true, there's nothing like living prints to prove it--again and again. Even so, it's still hypothetical, and that keeps my brain and heart alive, mends the tears that threaten all the time.

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She hesitated as she folded her printer's apron to pack it in with the plates, camera and food she was taking along. I asked her if everything was okay.

She said, "Well, their competitor--from whom I bought this apron by mail order almost 30 years ago--had the name printed on the apron bib. Would they mind?"

"Why should they? Maybe it will get a laugh. Maybe they'll trade it for one of their company's." She tossed it in her case and snapped it shut.

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The professor has been bugging me to make a plaster print instead of waiting for the next open press at DSI. That means go buy a bag of plaster, spend more money and work alone a little longer.

Damn! It's tiring. He goes to campus several times a week, sees people. They're all of one mind, mas o menos. He doesn't realize what it is to work alone. Well, I'm not entirely alone, I guess. Like the song says.

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I Think I found someone who could provide the necessary color she ts for... (sic).

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Whenever I'm starting a new state of a print, it seems like there are always three or four other projects--spin-offs--that beckon me. For example, I'm merely cutting through tracing paper to establish lines to engrave for the "Cancelation" plate, and those little cut-aways suggest me other projects. A puzzle. A diazo print, A collage. I even thought about those Florentine mosaics. If I weren't constrained by previous states, I'd be trying to do a million things!

	Curator's Log	The curator is seldom seen but is always seeing to it that the living prints' records are correct and rules followed.
	Printer's Notes	The printer performs many tasks to keep prints alive, crafting and designing solutions to problems the artist, curator and publisher propose.
	Publisher's Journal	The publisher produces the bases for living prints by supporting all the players and keeping communications clear and on course.
	Professor's Papers	The professor explains the living print, the history of printmaking, and keeps the academic community informed.