Where Have I Been?

Things have been kind of quiet here on the blog the past two weeks, owing to me spending pretty much all my waking hours at one job or another. Had my last classes this past week, and still a little bit of grading left, but at last I can start easing back into the Studio. Not today though, because I had a reception to go to up at the Printmaking Council of New Jersey. This is the second hanging of our 35th Annual Members Show, called Where Have We Been?, after first being a municipal space in Somerville. My contribution is the print above, from my Boardwalk Series. There are more than 50 works in the show representing the wide variety of print and paper related art that we typically show. Many were new names and faces, but there were also plenty of familiar artists as well.

Two of the pieces were from printmakers who are also fellow faculty at my university. Above is a mixed media piece from Julie Harris, and below is a large multi block woodcut (the yellow and orange piece) from Jane Thompson George.

Jane actually started her print in my first ever woodcut workshop at PCNJ, something she acknowledged in her artist statement. It was one of two statements to promote my occasional workshops. I was also mentioned in the statement that accompanied the print below by Elise Dodeles (black and white, center) that she created during my fall 2009 workshop. With all this free publicity, maybe I should schedule another one.

The place was almost empty when I arrived around the start of the reception, but soon the crowds arrived, so I ended up discussing my piece (and the series it comes from) with a number of people. Everyone likes the concept, and the print.