It Was Twenty Years Ago Today

It was exactly 20 years ago that I began my Fourth of July woodcut project, a woodcut for each day for a year.  I didn't cut or print any blocks that first day, but the idea came to me while watching fireworks from the upper deck of parking structure on the campus of Southern Illinois University.  The day, thoughts of my friend Dave Lasky's mini-comic story about the Fourth of July, my interest in doing Masereel style woodcut novel- it all came together in my mind.  I took a few days to work out parameters, and actually cut the first block on July 7th.  On the following Fourth, all 366 prints were done.

The complete series has been shown four times, most recently earlier this year in Belmar.  And the whole series is posted online, with a brief explanation of what event that day inspired the print.  The online version isn't quite so impressive as the over 150 square foot wall version, but it's certainly more convenient.