RITCHIE'S PERFECT PRESS ZINE

Below are my summaries of essays I wrote about printmaking, printing, multimedia and on-line interactive communications. I publish almost exclusively today for digital media, but in the past I did a little trade paperback and articles for small publications like Crafts Report, Ceramics Monthly, newsletters of Artist Trust, Northwest Cyberartists, Northwest Printmakers and museum catalogs. You can see the summaries, arranged by year, below.

  2003 / 2002 / 2001 / 2000 / 1999 / 1998 / 1997 / 1996 / 1995  / 1994 / 1993 / 1992 / 1991 / 1990 / 1989 / 1988 / 1987 / 1986-1969

( For listing or downloaded full text of any article, please send e-mail to ritchie@seanet.com)

2003 Essays

New! If Every Art School had Emeralda:
Musings of a has-been professor

Emeralda is an ambiguous fantasy game that slips in and out of this art professor’s consciousness like an old dream remembered. He had dreamed of a perfect art school but reality is settling in. What will keep art alive, then, he wonders, without a dream? 657 Words. 3145 Characters. 2 Pages. ipp31204 If Every Art School had Emeralda. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Why Oh Why Emeralda?
Looking for the bigger context

In sum, Emeralda is a way to inject new life into the art one loves the most. To this artist it is printmaking, and he plays Emeralda to insure its vitality. Some think this can be done by putting one’s secrets of printmaking in the hands of young people. 746 Words. 3405 Characters. 2 Pages. ipp31124 Why Oh Why Emeralda. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Saving Professor Ritchie:
Analogy from a digital based strategy game

You can compare a video game with my life sometimes, and I want to create a PC game that will restore a life that was taken away from me almost 20 years ago. It’s a game in itself just to conceive of the method and I live the game as I think how it works.1196 Words. 5629 Characters. 3 Pages. ipp31114 Saving Professor Ritchie. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

What A Fine Art Drawing Teacher Wants:
Advice to Beginning Drawing Students

He starts teaching a beginning drawing college class—his first time in eighteen years—and realizes some things have not changed. After the first week’s meetings with the students, he writes down what he really wants them to do for him, and for themselves. 1264 Words. 6003 Characters. 3 Pages. ipp30915 What A Fine Art Drawing Teacher Wants. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Taking Care of Your Art Patrons:
One Household at A Time

How does an artist’s list of patrons’ names—individuals who bought his or her works over several decades—figure into the making of an online art game? Game developers state that your players are gold. Are art patrons like the loyal players of a MMORPG? 1440 Words. 6214 Characters. 3 Pages. ipp30905 Taking Care of Your Art Patrons. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Trading Places:
An Absent Professor As Student

As his third generation in school draws to a close, the author feels like it’s time to start again. Taking a long view of his future he sees forty years open for teaching, learning, research, practice and service. Obviously, he needs to be back in school. 1122 Words. 5176 Characters. 2 Pages. ipp30816 Trading Places Absent Professor As Student. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Imagining the Almost Unimaginable:
Art Education On-line

He will teach Economics and Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction, but he can hardly imagine how to do it. He’s looking for clues to solve a mystery, How can you teach art on-line? Part of the solution is to go half the distance—a hybrid-learning course. 658 Words. 3082 Characters. 2 Pages. ipp30806 Imagining the Almost Unimaginable. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Clicking My Career Away:
Confessions of a Pre-Boomer

He chopped up his domain-of-expertise into ten parts, and this was the beginning of the end of his career. Unless, however, new digital technologies required artists in mid-career to change his or her way of thinking that they learned in the 20^th Century. 1355 Words. 6381 Characters. 3 Pages. ipp30717 Clicking My Career Away. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

So You Want to Teach Art in College?
An E-Stamp and Story may make your career click

When someone asks me what I do, I'd like to give them a one word answer and then have them say, "Oh, YOU'RE the famous Bill Ritchie!" I'd like to be able to say, "Games" and they would know who I was immediately. “You invented Emeralda! I LOVE that game!” 1017 Words. 4622 Characters. 2 Pages. ipp30707 So You Want to Teach Art in College. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Professors Who Cheat:
The game master plan

Art education games are going on-line! As a professor who cheated the university out of about a half-million, he’s the best one to explain how the best professors are the ones who can always help students cheat at the games people play in the art schools. 1391 Words. 6545 Characters. 3 Pages. ipp30617 Professors Who Cheat. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

How Dr. Chew Saved Emeralda:
Memories of the ancestors

Faced with the eminent failure of his game, the inventor of Emeralda returns to his student mentor, who has by this time succeeded in hiding in the safety of another realm. With only his memories to guide him, he summons the eminent Dr. Chew for his help. 949 Words. 4314 Characters. 2 Pages. ipp30528 How Dr Chew Saved Emeralda. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Background Story for The Missing Professor:
Shades of Harry Potter

All video games have a background story as part of their design. The author wants to help create a video game or hybrid distance learning art course, so he created a background theme he calls The Students of An Absent Professor for the stage for his game. 1589 Words. 7553 Characters. 3 Pages. ipp30518 Background Story for The Missing Professor. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Marrying High-Tech with the Visual Arts:
Artistamps and the “Bluebook” On A DVD/PC

A professor, fallen from the grace of the traditional schools of visual arts, contemplates the state of the art of e-folios, reflecting also on his self-styled 40 year retrospective. The e-folio has value, but that it is a long way from school acceptance. 1062 Words. 4981 Characters. 2 Pages. ipp30309 Electronic Portfolios Marry High Tech and Visual Arts. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

SIM A Work of Art: :
An Original Without a Signature

The author, an ITinerate Professor (entitled to wander around, thinking globally and acting locally) staged a showing in an experimental “mini-mall”. It was a test lab and workshop to learn more about business success and the work of art in a new context. 930 Words. 4578 Characters. 2 Pages. ipp30227 SIM A Work of Art. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

A Teacher's Letter to his Last Student:
Paradigms for teaching art in the age of digital reproduction

When his last student can’t come to his Saturday class, the ITinerate Professor remembers a dream he once had and puts his dream into action. He dreams of teaching printmaking arts on-line and he gives her a lesson in this way, including 4 pictures of it. 870 Words. 4422 Characters. 2 Pages. ipp30118 A Teachers Letter to His Last Students Letter to His Last Student. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

2002 Essays

Perfect Press Perspective:
Adult game developers, please

The Professor is free from the Seattle Independent Mall, so he’s able to catch up on his writing. E-mail slips him a clue, snatched from an article published in New York Times, testing his hand at copy-writing an article about the aging of computer games. 2368 Words. 11524 Characters. 4 Pages. ipp21104 Perfect Press Perspective-Adult game developers please. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Portrait of A Future Professor:
The basis

The basis of the Professors of the next 5-10 years will be their utility value as Bernoulli postulated this quantity. That is the degree of risk-reduction that the teacher brings to the students, the research area, the practice and the community at large. 847 Words. 4206 Characters. 2 Pages. ipp21025 Portrait of A Future Professor. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Kinko’s and Me:
Alliances for Education

While some businesses around us are losing their ground, there’s one giant, important industry that is making dramatic growth in just the past three years. Next to the top growth area—health—education, in particular the for-profit sector, is making gains. 1302 Words. 3 Pages. ipp21015 Kinkos and Me-Alliances for Education. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Copyright, Copy Write and Copy Wright:
Which is Right?

I didn’t know what I was doing until I found out that many people would call it plagiarizing. Which stopped me—for a while—until I saw the issue in light of Jefferson’s metaphor of the lighted taper, a feud brewing on the ‘Net, and an article I could buy. 974 Words. 3 Pages. ipp21005 Copyright Copy Write Copy Wright. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

What if Out-of-Work Professors Got Together?
Would They Re-form Higher Ed?

In the night he wakens and is struck by the vision of thousands of out-of-work college teachers creating a global network to get connected directly with students world wide. This may be the destiny of his game plan, Emeralda, a game for the gifts of life. 1645 Words. 3 Pages. ipp20925 What if Out-of-Work Professors Got Together. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Emeralda is More Interesting than Reality:
From Postcards to Emeralda Interchange

Opening a postcard to himself from Caffe Vita MacRitchie’s he sent a week ago, the author finds yet another dimension to his fantasy world, Emeralda. There’s more potential for him in a virtual world, as for example his newest angle, Emeralda Interchange. 1414 Words. 3 Pages. ipp20915 Emeralda is More Interesting than Reality. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Smiling Faces at Caffe Vita:
It’s Not Your Typical Art Studio Any More

Searching for the easiest way to create the Artist’s Last Love Letter, the e-book version, is best done in some natural, enjoyable fashion. If one has to use e-book readers, then he should be rewarded in a big way. The author is searching for that reward. 1314 Words. 3 Pages. ipp20905 Smiling Faces at Caffe Vita.

Marketing and Selling My First E-Book:
Reinventing Arts Studios and In-Retro Melt Down

His search for the business plan comes in a Flash under a Seattle sky as he takes strides to Kinko’s and back He has made his first screen saver, then sees he can give it away free to his art patrons, and it is the pull through for artistamps and stories. 863 Words. 2 Pages. ipp20905 Marketing and Selling My First E-book. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Life Like Connecting Dots
Moving from Dotted to Solid Lines, Introduction

He’s building an infrastructure to house human structural intellectual capital of an emeriti, empowering those wisdom boomers, the few elder intellectuals like himself who believe they have the sense to know what they can change, how, and why they should. 511 Words. 1 Page. ipp20816 ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Passport Ready:
Heading In A New Direction Every Day

After a night conversing with strangers from around the neighborhood, the artist/scholar wakens to a new day of creating his own passport to another kind of life than those that he sees others leading. He’s exercising his freedom, Emeralda, his life game. 586 Words. 1 Page. ipp20806 Passport Ready. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Old IBIS and New Uptown Seattle-A Sharper Image :
What’s the Connection from Then and Now?

There’ll be a panel discussion 45 miles from Uptown Seattle, and artists will reflect on the ‘80s IBIS project. The author asks if this retrospective moment will help sharpen his focus on a multimedia arts / game center for local access and global action. 6714 Characters. 1455 Words. 3 Pages. ipp20727 Old IBIS and New Uptown Seattle-A Sharper Image. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Tipping-in Artistamps at Perfect Press :
Little Things Mean A Lot to Creative Writing Education On-line

The root of the Perfect Studios Trilogy is EarthSafe 2022, but that movement, being of global proportions, has a microscopically small but significant element in the artistamp movement. Stamps are going electronic digitally on the Net in the Emeralda Way. (A partially copy-written, incomplete article) 6544 Words. 11 Pages. ipp20717 Tipping In Artistamps at Perfect Press. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

At Vel’s the 17^th of July::
Creative Writing Neighborhood

In his outreach phase, the artist/scholar meets with neighborhood writers to learn what they do. Voluntarily, without commercial motivation, they come to practice, benefited by a self-appointed leader and they write for themselves and read to one another. 1265 Words. 3 Pages. ipp20717 At Vels the 17th of July. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Restoring Susan Frank
The best things happen last

After a virus infected his computer named Susan and put all his data into suspended animation, the author reflects on the benefits that this brought about. It’s strangely like his story about a man who experiences what he called his Rip Van Winkle effect. 1196 Words. 2 Pages. ipp20707 Restoring Susan Frank. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

My Emeralda Green Slippers:
Escape from Toxi City

Comparing his exodus from a corrupt and contaminated institutional environment to Dorothy’s homecoming from Oz, the author describes how he saw his chances to break out of the intellectual molds cast by educators of bygone eras and find a path to freedom. 599 Words. 2 Pages. ipp20627 My Emeralda Green Slippers. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Most Amazing Art Auction Ever:
What I knew then I know Again

He’s searching for a way to contribute his art collection to his community without burdening his community with the costs of maintenance and exhibitions. He’s hit on the idea of an unusual auction to raise a million dollars the hardest way—an art auction. 572 Words. 1 Pages. ipp20607 Most Amazing Art Auction Ever. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

My Dream Started Here:
Perfect Press and the Road to Emeralda

He envisions education for the multimedia artists what Sesame Street did for reading, writing and math, and what Bill Nye (the Science guy) achieved for science. With a console game interface and Fisher Plaza nearby, he thinks Uptown Seattle is the place. 1265 Words. 3 Pages. ipp20528 My Dream Started Here. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Who Killed Bill Ritchie?
Or, I don’t know anything about jazz but I know what I like

The last thing I remember about Bill was when he went to bed that night he said, “Tomorrow I’m going to wake up as a different person.” He’d had a trying evening, trying to be everything to everybody, and not doing a very good job at, or for, any of them. 770 Words. 2 Pages. ipp20518 Who killed Bill Ritchie Or. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

After My Computer Fails, I print:
Printmaking is like music

His computer was blasted by virus, like something out of a shoot ‘em up computer game. To this artist/philosopher, it suggests that somewhere in this disaster there is a gem that he must find. plan of documenting, on DVD, the secret evolution of his work. .514 Words. 2 Pages. ipp20508 After My Computer Fails. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Whoopee! I Got IT Right
Right Moves and Right Times

Reading about one trend in higher education—not directly tied to printmaking (his domain of expertise)—this artist/scholar saw a trend in outsourcing. It’s in The Chronicle of Higher Education about a college replacing faculty counselors with contractors. 951 Words. 2 Pages. ipp20408 Whoopee I Got IT Right. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Would I Join An Organization that had Me as A Leader?
My life as a tree

A grateful former UW professor reflects on the organizations he’s belonged to and concludes that the best one is yet to come; but would he join it if it would have him as a member? Probably not, unless the leader is a strong tree with the power of limits. 1059 Words. 2 Pages. ipp20329 Would I Join An Organization that had Me as A Leader. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Artists Create Postage Stamp Sized Artworks:
They do IT for Fun and Community Building

Artists who make stamps for fun, and then share them with other people around the country and around the world, have built a kind of community using the mail systems as an instrument. This artist—playing the role of public scholar—presents a free lecture. 1213 Words. 3 Pages. ipp20319 Stamps and Mail Art. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Can Emeralda Create A Perfect Printmaking Society?
Seeking both a civil and decent printmaking society

The author recounts his early encounters with prints as fine art through acquaintance with print societies. On a path among living print societies and dying or dead ones, he sees complementary relationships with new technology as ways to make prints live. 5790 Characters. 1136 Words. 3 Pages. ipp20227 Can Emeralda Create A Perfect Printmaking Society. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Ghost in the Old Machine:
An Artistamp Perforator As A Haunted House

Working at the treadle of an antique perforating machine, punching out rows of tiny holes that will form the serrated edges of his artistamps, this artist is visited by a Muse who suggests a TV Game Show and new plotline for his screenplay titled Chimera.  833 Words. 2 Pages. ipp20217 Ghost in the Old Machine. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Confessions of An Art Nazi:
Teaching art students what they can never do

A former art professor in a US American public university turns himself in and describes how he and his colleagues trained aspiring artists, crafts people and designers in things that they would not be able to achieve. A happy ending is in sight, however. 3231 Characters. 703 Words. 2 Pages. ipp20207 Confessions of An Art Nazi. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

About My Print Homage to Hayter
The Artist Explains with A Little Help from A Friend

The on-line printmaking experience includes the exchange of prints among thirty participants scattered all over the world, and this artist/writer chooses to include an explanation to accompany his. He created this explanatory essay to go with the woodcut. 786 Words. 2 Pages. ipp20127 About My Print Homage to Hayter. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Grading and Passing Art Ed On-line:
Speculations of an ITinerant On-Line Art Professor

How will people be graded and evaluated in art education on-line, this professor asks. He used new methods when he was on the traditional campus, but when he left to find better methods, he also invented a new paradigm for teaching, research and practice. 1739 Words. 3 Pages. ipp20117 Grading and Passing Art Ed On-line. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Writing Between the Paragraphs – Interval (or Part 5)
Pause for reflection by an Itinerant Professor

In the game he invented this artist and professor plays with a 360-day calendar, having five days between each session called interval. So, too, with the ten essays he’s creating (or, copy-writing), based on the text written by Mark C. Taylor, a humanist. 1323 Words. 3 Pages. ipp20107 Between the Paragraphs - Interval. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

(For their summaries or full text, please send e-mail  ritchie@seanet.com)

Looking Forward to School Again
Introducing Your Printmaking Class

Anticipating a new kind of art education on-line, the author attempts to put himself in the shoes of a schoolteacher who’s taking a continuing education class. He wonders how it feels. Is there still joy—a thrilled sense of anticipation as there once was? 1002 Words. 2 Pages. ipp11229 ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

How Does Art-Ed On-line Work Really?
Demo or Die and Don’t Ask Why

From the first Harry Potter movie to the latest review of a poet’s book, the author gets satisfaction while producing a DVD, making one on the fly. His daily routine brings him close to his dream of a great teacher in the arts using ecological multimedia. 2019 Words. 4 Pages. ipp11204 How Does Art Ed On-line Work Really. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Opening Your Passport to Printmaking:
Art education on-line starts here

How you invent an on-line art education system is determined by what kind of art to start with. There’s only one, printmaking, that lends itself to interactive design for on-line teaching, research and practice. The inventor uses a passport scheme for it. 521 Words. 1 Page. ipp11124 Opening Your Passport to Printmaking. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Prisoners Dilemma Revisited:
Reflections from one who could not attend Crossing Boundaries

A mixture of envy and relief is expressed by one person who couldn’t attend a conference on his favorite topic—prints—with international understanding as part the goal. He compares it to being like a prisoner or house-bound person living among the mobile. 1355 Words. 3 Pages. ipp11015 Prisoners Dilemma Revisited. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

A Book on DVD DVD:
Making circles

When a friend suggested that he write an article about his ideas and a DVD school, the author is enthused. Overnight, he imagined the article becoming a book—an on-line textbook—for his idea of a school where prints and DVDs are both taught, side by side. 1226 Words. 2 Pages. ipp11005 A Book on DVD DVD. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Spreading Out My Collectible DVDs:
Fantasy for an Emeralda Player

This DVD collection is growing, and it’s time to step back and look at it as a collection instead of unique projects. The author looks back over nine month’s work and asks him self where he’s going. His answer may lie in collectible cards and printmaking. 1265 Words. 3 Pages. ipp10925 Spreading Out Collectible DVDs. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Against A Screen of War:
What my labor means to me

An art professor, laboring in a Seattle spare bedroom closet, makes Digital Versatile Disks (DVD). His DVD may be the “blue book” of the 21^st Century on-line, virtual classroom. He recalls another year and another war and how useless art education seemed. 1784 Words. 3 Pages. ipp10915 Against A Screen of War. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

New Mythology:
The Ghost of C. S. Lewis in the New Machine

The author of the DVD Prithwish and Me compares the new publishing medium with the old. The Chronicles of Narnia provide a useful contrast and builds a new position for the professor who would be a storyteller. 1067 Words. 2 Pages. ipp10717 New Mythology Ghost of C S Lewis. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

It Isn’t How Well You Play Emeralda:
It’s IF IT Plays-and Pays-You Well

As the Digital Versatile Disc he’s making takes on more and more attributes of being a work of art, the author is struck by the fact he knows almost nothing about it, and also he has less responsibility for it than he thought before. IT seems to play him. 1547 Words. 3 Pages. ipp10707 Its Not How You Play Emeralda. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

How I make a DVD :
Answer to a FAQ

One printmaker makes Digital Versatile Discs, believing he can be a Digital Versatile Artist—an old joke about fingers being digits, too. He makes DVDs the same way he makes prints—by himself. Someone asked How? and he gave his answer as a cooking lesson. 743 Words. 2 Pages. ipp10627 How I Make A DVD. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Dummied-down Art Education:
One day at the fairgrounds

An art professor with a future vision looks at a day when he visited a convention of educators dedicated to home schools. Seeking a glimpse of new technologies in K-12 distance learning for art, he saw two examples. He contrasts them with new video games. 2263 Words. 4 Pages. ipp10617 Dummied Down Art Education. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

MyCashLink.com:
Living Prints DVD and MyCashLink.com

It’s like a jungle in his project. He’s making a Living Prints DVD ‘Zine for the first time—a virtual dark continent! But there are gems,he discovers—ideas galore! Like this one: One way to link artists with money in the night. The secret is in the links. 318 Words. 1 Pages. ipp10518 Living Prints DVD and Cashlink. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

I Builded Me A DVD:
Death in the 20^th C and Awakening Living Prints in the 21^st

An archaic expression, so antique-sounding, was on his mind as this author thinks about marginalized artists’ stories and how they felt forced to follow new and different pathways like castaways, thrown out of their world and into new, alien environments. 285-0658. Statistics: 5373 Characters. 1199 Words. 2 Pages. ipp10508 I Builded Me A DVD. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Old Archivist Tells His Story:
How Dusty Got His Job Title

The true artist needs allies in the life sciences, according to this writer. It is only in this way that the true artist can learn eco-nomics or holistic arts and sciences. It lead to feelings of usefulness, the fullness-of-use, of personal utility value. Statistics: 4050 Characters. 860 Words. 2 Pages. ipp10428 An Old Archivist Tells His Story. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Searching for Paul Brainerd:
Finding A Path to Trust in the Silicon Forest

An artist who is interested in a job related to EarthSafe 2022 searches for a source that is like the headwaters of a watershed from whose wellsprings he might drink. The writer could become an arts director in a new kind of school if the path is trusted. 1515 Words. 3 Pages. ipp10418 Search for Paul Brainerd. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

On Sweet Target Hearts:
Notes about three prints for three women

An exercise in locating three artist proofs that belong to his wife and daughters sends the artist/writer into a deep reflection on a time—twenty five years before—and what he was concerned about then. As part of his 40-year retrospective, it makes sense. 1360 Words. 3 Pages. ipp10408 On Sweet Target Hearts. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr. For full text, send email.

Printmaking in Platinum:
Doing for Others As They Would Have You Do

In his daily routine as an expert in making Web pages for his art patrons, the author creates Web page for his daughters. At the same time he’s doing this, he wonders if he can show other printmakers how—and why. Practicing the “Platinum Rule” is one way. 1713 Words. 2 Pages. ipp10329 Printmaking in Platinum. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Print Circus, Clown and Gypsy Queens:
My Washington Years in Retrospect

When he was a professor of art, he dreamt of a print circus, moving, moveable studios that traveled across his state and the nation, dispersing arts of printmaking. Today there’s a better way: Surpassing ferries, trucks and planes on an Info-tech Highway. 511 Words. 2 Pages. ipp10319 Print Circus Clown and Gypsy Queens. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

A Good Day to Die:
Breaking the Print Barrier

The author is a bridge builder, always crossing between the old world of printmaking to the new world where he uses the expression Living Prints to refer to a new kind of printmaking. His project, a DVD, is not as new as it seems; it is a dream come true. 2466 Words. 4 Pages. ipp10309 A Good Day to Die. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Destination Emeralda:
Straight Road to Simpli City

The integrity of medium-of-origination, or MOO, is the stock basis for human structural intellectual capital. The author says it is a lifelong journey for which one prepares by investing in himself or herself and not entirely in other peoples’ enterprise. 2383 Words. 5 Pages. ipp10227 Destination Emeralda. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Printmaking is Dead He Said:
Long Live Printmaking

Artist compares the feelings of prints’ anticipation as those children who attend inspiring schools: Eager to go in the morning and reluctant to leave at the end of the school day. Resolving not to deny himself the thrill of prints he takes a new pathway. 907 Words. 2 Pages. ipp10217 Printmaking is Dead He Said. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

How and Why to Publish Your Retrospective on DVD:
The One-Minute Administrator

Approaching a turning point in the scripting of a 40-year retrospective, the Itinerate Professor, who professes to be a future teacher, compares a popular motion picture to making and publishing new DVD-based virtual art for on-line art teacher education. 11262 Characters. 2384 Words. 5 Pages. ipp10207 How and Why to Publish Your Retrospective on DVD. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Homage Moment:
Six minutes for Ross

The artist pays homage to an old friend, Ross Jones, as he finishes the task of uploading a drawing to his virtual art gallery. An inner voice suggests he will have a limited time for it and she calls it “a moment” as, “art works for our moments in life.” 510 words. 1 Pages. Filename: ipp10127 Homage Moment for Ross.

Teaching Printmaking in Six Seconds:
The One Minute Printmaking Professor

If TV commercial designers can get a point across in one minute for sponsors, why can’t artists who teach printmaking do the same? This writer believes it’s possible, and has set out to achieve this. He will be the fastest teacher in the world if he does! (Proposal state) 325 Words. 1 Paragraph. ipp10118 Teaching Printmaking in Six Seconds. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

(For more information, including requests for full text or custom writing services, please send e-mail to ritchie@seanet.com)

Preface to Die Brucke

Bill Ritchie is working on his newest book, Die Brucke, a derivative of Die Broke, a 1997 book on financial planning by Pollan and Levine. Bill’s Preface suggests that Tom Jefferson, a pioneer in dying broke should be retired, along with his tired ethics. 1040 Words. 2 Pages. ipp01211 ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Art Professor for Higher:
Printmaking On A DVD – Part II

Potential text for a letter to introduce college faculty to a service or product the author is planning for release in May, 2001 under the Living Prints label. It is a combination calendar and entertainment resource springing out of so-called edutainment. 1903 words. 4 Pages. Filename: ipp01208 Art Professor for Higher. © 2000 Bill H Ritchie Jr.

The Basis of Die Brucke:
A Formula for Legacy Transfer

The basis of his proposed book, Die Brucke: Artists Insurance Guide is that it is the formula for legacy transfer for an imperfect world. All previous asset management and legacy transfer methods are based on perfect information. This doesn’t fit artists. (Proposal) 341 Words. 1 Pages. ipp01206 The basis of Die Brucke. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

How I will Save the Earth:
Bill Ritchie’s Plan

Taking on a great mission with a kind of passion known only to artistic lovers of beauty and living things, he lays out his blueprint, his plan to banish the wicked prince, restore the imbalance of carbon dioxide and save Earths’ life sustaining capacity. 1037 Words. 2 Pages. ipp01106 How I will Save the Earth. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Graduation Ceremony:
An Emeralda Warrior Rite

There’s something new at Emeralda Works: Graduation Certificates! The Ceremony when this are won is in keeping with the RPG and rules of Emeralda, the Game for the Gifts of Life. This time, it’s the completion of the second phase of Elmer Gates Biography. 1541 Words. 3 Pages. ipp00616 Graduation Ceremony Emeralda Warrior. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Dear Art Patron:
Artist’s Loveletter

The artist who created “The Artist’s Last Love Letter” experiences déjà vu as he prepares a slide package for the State jury. Seeing himself entering the same old thing, he stops and writes down an idea about a new art, an idea that grew out of tradition. 1533 Words. 3 Pages. ipp00530 Dear Art Patron. ©2000 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Gates’ Mistake:
The Impower of Unlimits

A flat earth would be a fine place to be for people like Elmer Gates. As he got closer to solving the mystery of why and how people create, invent, discover and imagine the flatter and neater his world became until he made the edge of man’s world reality. 806 Words. 2 Pages. ipp00428 Gates Mistake. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr

Flash of the Morning:
An E-newsletter from Maclain’s

Emeralda Games are games for the gifts of life, and today’s gift is the convergence of two events: The potential of owning a printmaking supply business; and the value of adding an e-newsletter as part of the interactive games online based on printmaking. 1339 words. 3 Pages. Filename: ipp00425 Flash in the Morning.  ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr

Sunrise over Bellevue:
Meeting the Man behind The Learning Council

Emeralda Works by testing the validity of the central principle, which is Boomers Count. As the sun rises over Bellevue, thanks in part to technology and in part to innovations, the Learning Councilman agreed to meet the Emeralda inventor in this account. 892 Words. 4 Pages. ipp00409 Sunrise over Bellevue. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Search for Reinventing Studios:
A message

He got an order from a bookstore for a book he did not make time to finish. Is there time to do it now? Something happened when he opened the last draft of his manuscript and he begins to test the bases for his fifth manuscript, Reinventing Arts’ Studios. 827 Words. 2 Pages. ipp00329 Search for Reinventing Studios. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Who is Peter D, Anyway?
Testing AUREL

He wants to know, quickly, who wrote him a mysterious e-mail message. He gave his name as Peter D. but how can the Arts Uniform Resources E-commerce Locator tell him more about this guy? The author of this article must think, so he makes this into a test! 2259 Words. 5 Pages. ipp00310 Who is Peter D Anyway. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Me? Go back to college?
No Way! Letter to the iEditor

The interactive online letter-to-the-editor offers up this fantasy note from an artist who thinks he should not have to go back to college in order to receive continuing education. His 20^th Century street-smart college’s degree, he feels, is all he needs. 812 Words.  2 Pages. ipp00307 Me Go Back to College No way. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

How I Teach Art Ed Online:
Proof in the Works

An ITinerate Professor reveals his secrets for teaching art education on-line. He explains concurrent teaching/learning, research and practice. Then he reveals how this essay is, in itself, an example of teaching on-line, and links it with other teachers. 797 Words. 2 Pages. ipp00305 How I Teach Art Ed Online. ©2001 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Hurt at the Bottom Line:
Flyer’s Remorse

A high flyer, sensing a crash, regrets that he leaned his ladder against the wrong wall, chose the less rigorous course and took the wrong advice when young, in pilot training. Foreseeing this, turning to the navigator, he seeks the way to turn to safety. 640 Words. 1 Pages. ipp00227 Hurt at the Bottom Line. ©2000 Bill H. Ritchie, J

(For information or downloaded full text or custom writing services, please send e-mail to ritchie@seanet.com)

One way to exorcise terrors of loss is to use the witty invention of light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation and not to engage in strip teases, baring the link between head and heart with the less witty invention of paper, plate and press. 1478 Words. 2 Pages. PP990709 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

On the third Days of Perfect Information, the inventor of Emeralda compares the books Book and Closing of the American Mind in an attempt to plan his action toward making Emeralda work for other people besides himself. He sees his life as fiction reified. 1963 Words. 3 Pages. PP990708 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Giving measurements to the intangible value of art, technology and education is a difficult task, especially when one is in the middle of the processes, as it were. One may have only the beginning and end of a lifetime to go by, and these are hard to see. 2284 Words. 3 Pages. PP990707 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr. (Full text)

Safeco Revisited:
View from Perfect Press

A story began twenty five years ago which this author still writes. He lives the story like he is at a distance from himself; an autobiography, perhaps, written at a safe distance in order to achieve and maintain objective, scientific evidence he is sane. 1131 Words. 2 Pages. PP990706 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Great Expectations:
Clarifying expectations in co-operative development

The publications of Dr. Stephen R. Covey inform the founders of the Dental Internet Services Cooperative because they give the instructions for principle-centered leadership. Dentalisco is based on patient-centered dental practices and cooperative models. 674 Words. 1 Page. PP990510 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

What Does an MFA do?
Toodle-do

Practice Makes Permanent is the message for people who want to apply hands and minds to a new category of professionals called the Multi-Faceted Auxiliary. The author is applying the principle and experimenting on himself in this essay--linked to the Web. 545 Words. 1 Page. PP990507 ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr. (Full Text)

Interactive Education on DVD-The MFA Metaphor:
Consideration in A DISCO-OP Vision

Visualizing ways to use a Digital Video Disc in connection with teaching dentistry on-line, the Emeralda Apprentice User writes about a free loan of a DVD system that will bring the practitioners into line and assist in feasible plans to develop together. 855 Words. 2 Pages. PP990311 Interactive Education on DVD-The MFA Metaphor. ©1999 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Specifying the Gates Prize:
A Focus on Books

The inventor of the Gates Prize is again at his task of specifying the fantastic prize in his game, Emeralda, thinking that a deep and rewarding specific is available in the form of books as containers of information: Perfect, Imperfect, Real and Virtual. 456 Words. 1 Page. PP990310 Specifying the Gates Prize-A Focus on Books. ©1999 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

My day:
Musings of an Apprentice User at Perfect Press

A diary or journal entry of an Apprentice User who feels stranded in the wrong place at the wrong time, as printmaking--the passion of his artistic life--seems to be of no interest and, worse yet, of no consequence in a plan of his itinerary for the stay. 508 Words. 1 Page. PP990309 My Day-Musings of An Apprentice User at Perfect Press. ©1999 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Future shock, human nature and family calendars:
Beneficiaries of the illusion of calculation

Is it better to transfer risks of becoming poor to someone else, and then show up for work at a mass production line that makes calendars that everyone needs and wants? The sales figures prove that people like those calendars; his wife even collects them. 405 Words. 2025 Characters. 1 Page. PP990113 Future Shock Human Nature and Family Calendars ©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

A Stick is to A Duck As A Game is to Life:
An artist/scholar's perspective

The artist/scholar’s goal is to restore the integrity of the artists who love the media arts above all other forms of expression and to create a cooperative game in which maker and made are one, change is constant, and interference is the rule of the day. 1301 Words. 5833 Characters. 2 Pages. PP990111. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Thought for the day:
Jefferson and the constitution

Thomas Jefferson, according the author who wrote a biography on him, was an artist born into an unfortunate land at an unfortunate time. Nevertheless, he was able to exercise his art, craft, and design in surprising and profound ways. His example is good. 378 Words. 1849 Characters. 1 Pages. PP990110. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Musings on a Pot:
Notes from Perfect Press

This dreamer always loved ceramics—the art of pottery—but he chose printmaking as his lifelong career. Yet he would return from time to time, if only in his imagination. Here he’s musing on what it would be like to see a modern pot in the year 30,000 B.P. 810 Words. 3773 Characters. 2 Pages. PP990109. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Visit to A Fantasy Studio:
An Emeralda Tourist Journal

The inventor of Emeralda writes as though he is a stranger, a mere tourist, visiting the printmaking studio at Perfect Press. He sees there is interest in the mix of technology and paper model-building, but not so much interest in traditional printmaking. 585 Words. 2784 Characters. 1 Pages. PP990108. ©2003 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

(For listing or downloaded full text, please send e-mail to ritchie@seanet.com)

1998 Essays

Birth of a Video:
On freezing intellectual capital funds

He listens to a mutual funds adviser on a radio talk show and switches from art professor with former student “investors” to the role of fund manager. Trainees in publicly funded state schools aren’t aware that intellectual assets are subject to freezing. 1104 Words. 5389 Characters. 2 Pages. PP981114 Birth of A Video-On freezing intellect.... ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Compulsive Printmaking:
Analyzing your self to death

He writes down fantasies on his palmtop when he has an imaginary encounter with some ghost from his past—a person, event or place. Always he’s accumulating scenes for his game, Emeralda. Following is a short example designed to be a vivid picture someday. 747 Words. 3426 Characters. 2 Pages. PP981104 Compulsive Printmaking-Analyzing your self to death. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

The Waiting Room:
Magazine rack mirage

He waits for a lecture honoring his old friend, Lisel Salzer, and the author writes, on his palmtop, thoughts about the surroundings and people there. Monotypes adorn the walls, and there’s a sense of awe and respect for Lisel. The author feels skeptical. 512 Words. 2457 Characters. 1 Pages. PP981025 The Waiting Room-Magazine rack mirage. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Describing Emeralda:
Of Hands, helves and hearts

Wondering if people had been playing his game, Emeralda, the inventor speculates on what kinds of changes may have occurred. He’s interested in economics and how a different basis of valuation—on intellect instead of material goods—would change the world. 724 Words. 3535 Characters. 2 Pages. PP980806 Describing Emeralda. ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

The Printmaker's Life Value Calculator:
Demonstration at Perfect Press

Aboard his fantasy printmaking bus the author recounts a vision of how a patient under treatment for voices in his head gave him the idea for Group Education Co-operative and fusion of healthcare and education using old and new technologies as the bridge. 1032 Words. 5203 Characters. 2 Pages. PP980727 The Printmakers Life Value Calculator-Demonstration.... ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Demonstration:
What is a Knowbot?

Knowbots are intelligent programs that can be "educated". They live in virtual realities and are capable of accumulating knowledge about the world on their own. This is a long article copied from a 1994 workshop held in Germany by a scientist-philosopher. 6216 Words. 34027 Characters. 13 Pages. PP980617 Demonstration What is A Knowbot. ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Demonstration:
Emeralda 21 explained

The author taught college at an innovative ‘70s school and the experience helped shape one variation on the game Emeralda that he invented. In this game he incorporated some self-help ideas he learned from motivational speakers and designed a cell system. 755 Words. 3661 Characters. 2 Pages. PP980607 Demonstration Emeralda 21 Explained. ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Demonstration:
Imaginary talk show guests from Net Gain

The author uses a clever method to introduce a novel idea of serving artists with an information system that will reduce their time on the Internet, sort e-mail and provide their following with information on coming events, shows and biographical resumes.1309 Words. 5940 Characters. 3 Pages. PP980528 Demonstration Imaginary Talk Show. ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Demonstration:
Explaining demonstrations

In Emeralda play, there are twenty-one cells and each cell allows for a demonstration. This essay begins to explain what the inventor intended by the word demonstration and how he based his idea on the Prisoner’s Dilemma, one he derived from games theory. 627 Words. 2944 Characters. 1 Page. PP980518 Demonstration Explaining Demonstrations. ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Demonstration:
Making Living Prints

The joy of inventing Living Prints is that this artist lives the adventure from beginning to end, a privilege of having a childhood, growing to maturity, overcoming considerable frustrations and linking with the foundations laid by artists and scientists. 954 Words. 4591 Characters. 2 Pages. PP980508 Demonstration Making Living Prints. ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Demonstration:
What Is Your Secret?

A strange sense of guilt haunts the author almost every time he peruses his collection of communiqués he collects on the Internet from printmakers worldwide. What is the cause of this guilt feeling? The reading of "Net Gain," no doubt, causes him to lurk. 1383 Words. 6656 Characters. 3 Pages. PP980319 Demonstration What Is Your Secret. ©1998 Bill H

Who is ascendant?
Let the Bored decide

Dealt a hand from a deal of the cards in the collectible card version of Emeralda (in a deal where the ascendant sister is difficult to determine) the inventor of Emeralda turns to the Meeting of the Bored to decide how to resolve his day's dilemma tales. 1292 Words. 2 Pages. PP980309 ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Painting, Monotypes and Living Prints:
They are as different as proof and calculation

The author finds a parallel between Peter Bernstein's account of the history of math and risk-taking and the history of painting and printmaking. He compares it to the illusion of calculation, the mantra he says defines his idea of Living Prints®. 774 Words. 1 Page. PP980112. ©1998 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

Printers and other vassals:
Steering your own course with media artistry

The Emeralda Master, a printer, reflects on old images, phrases and memories and arrives at a new accounting for performance. He explains how to and why to break from being someone else's vessel and vassal. Triple entry bookkeeping is one path to freedom. 1625 Words. 7791 Characters. 3 Page. PP980110 Printers and Other Vassals. ©1998 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

I Wrote A Book Review:
On Lois Allan's Contemporary Printmaking in the Northwest

If it serves no other purpose my book review introduces the next stage of printmaking. I am included in the book--a wonder inasmuch I seldom create prints today. This book leaves out some facts that may now, with cybernetics and multi-agents, be restored. 2815 Words. 12966 Characters. 4 Pages. PP971230 I Wrote A Book Review-On Lois Allan.... ©1997 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Artist checks and disposable diapers:
What's the connection?

Soon to be a grandfather, the artist contemplates his creative idea (artist's checks) and the debate as to whether fabric or disposable diapers are matters to weigh investment decisions. Odd combination? Not in this artist/writer’s scope of a Big Picture. 2783 Words. 13133 Characters. 5 Pages. PP970811 Artist Checks and Disposable Diapers-Whats the.... ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Preface to Ghosts:
An author’s hope

A cyber Wright and bookbinder is a person who works both in cybernetics (hypermedia, the Web, etc.) and hand bookbinding—plus variable hybrids in between—according to this author’s vision. He has planned to write a book, and thinks this may be its preface. 463 Words. 2257 Characters. 1 Page. PP970520 Preface to Ghosts-An authors hope. ©2002 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

The Wealth of Artists:
Banking, Insurance and Investing in the age of digital reproduction

A list of topic headings of essays triggered by financial and investment events that seemed to this author to point toward a new set of economic principles. The author sees these for the benefits of their potential to be disseminated as hypertext e-books. 418 Words. 2435 Characters. 4 Pages. PP970426 The Wealth of Artists-Banking insurance and Investing.... (c)1997 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

Explaining Emeralda:
A dilemma tale

How can an artist earn a living today? With the creativity claimed by one who has practiced art for over 30 years it should be easy. The rewards of long practice, study and research are great. But how? Emeralda, the game is easier to play than to explain. 750 Words. 3683 Characters. 2 Pages. PP970419 Explaining Emeralda-A dilemma tale. ©1997 Bill H Ritchie, Jr.

A Point of Origin:
Publishing in the Information and Telecommunications Age