Printmakingblog

EMERGENCIES ARE RELATIVE

2011-09-14T10:34:00.000-07:00

It's been too long since my last post, but surprisingly it's because I have almost nothing to say. Nothing, that is, until I received an e-mail from a friend yesterday that causes me to post a warning on this blog. Most of you don't need the warning, but hey, it gives me something to do.

The e-mail is bogus, and I've deleted my friend's name, because I suspect that even he doesn't know that I received this, and while e-mails are somewhat interchangeable around here, I'm pretty sure that this particular friend likely doesn't have my personal e-mail address (the one that this "emergency" missive came to).

Hello,
I am really sorry to bother you with this email but i just want you to know what i am going through right now. I am sorry i didn't inform you about my traveling to Spain for a Seminar,i am presently in Spain but unfortunately for me i lost my wallet and other valuables in a taxi. I can easily access the internet for now but i do not have access to phone and i also cannot afford the pay phone simply because i do not have a dime on me at the moment. I want you to please assist me urgently with a loan of €1,800 to sort out my hotel bills and to get myself back home. I have tried the embassy here but they are not responding to the matter effectively,i want you to know that i will pay you back as soon as i return,so kindly let me know if you can be of help so that i can send you the details you will use to send the money to me and i think the best way i can receive the money is via WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER since i still have my passport with me.

There are a lot of this type of e-mail floating around these days. Most of them are from people we don't know, but every now and again they stumble across a real printmaker to use in the scam. So Bill (or Tom or Frank), if you are really in Spain and really lost your wallet, and are waiting at the American Express office for my wire transfer, I'll quote my sainted mother as a response - you are so screwed!

PEOPLE YOU SHOULD KNOW

2011-07-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of people in the printmaking world. A few years ago, there was a movie called Six Degrees of Separation. The premise of the movie was supposedly (since I didn't see it, I can only suppose about the premise) that you can move from yourself to any other figure on the planet - perhaps the Pope, with only six degrees of separation. Of course, if your target is Kevin Bacon it's more like four degrees.

In printmaking, I would argue that the number is more like two degrees! I've rarely met a printmaker that didn't share a common acquaintance with me. I would like, however to introduce you to someone that you don't know probably...Florence. Like Cher or Madonna, she needs only one name. Her given last name is probably "the Milk Float".

Shown above, Florence is a refugee from the Dairy industry. In this picture she is toting two heavy hitters in the printmaking world. Well, they're both heavy at least! In the command seat - yours truly, and closest to the camera is Martin Lawrence - the chief cook and bottle washer at T.N. Lawrence & Sons of Hove, England. In a fit of insanity, I allowed myself to be intimidated into driving Florence down the street from her home to the Lawrence warehouse and back. It was a nerve racking distance of almost 50 yards round trip....all on the wrong side of the street. Fortunately it was Sunday morning and all of the intelligent nearby residents were still asleep, or cowering behind their drawn curtains!

While our plans had some last minute changes which necessitated canceling a couple of stops on our grand tour - most notably an art fair in Oxford, England, and one of our distributors, it was still a successful, albeit damp trip. Successful, if you can forget about being run over by an Amsterdam taxi that I was in at the time, and a decidedly unpleasant gate crew for Continental Airlines who tried to put our 8 year old granddaughter on a different flight than Susan and I. But that's a story for another day. Hopefully by then I'll have forgotten about it.

INT'L PRINT EXCHANGE & EXHIBITION

2011-06-16T18:56:00.000-07:00

The following was received from the Inkteraction Group today. I thought that it was a good thing to pass along to any printmaker that might be interested. The picture to the right has almost no bearing on the text, but I thought it would be a good opportunity to show off our new labels.

Dear Friends,

Hope you are doing well, I am sending you a call: La Calaca Press International Print Exchange that I am organizing in conjunction with Expressions Graphics in Oak Park, IL for the Day of the Dead celebration in Nov. I would love to count with your participation on this project, please feel free to spread the word!!!

Thanks, have a great day!

Carlos Barberena

La Calaca Press and Expressions Graphics invite you to participate in the first LA CALACA PRESS International Print Exchange and Exhibition. This exchange is open to printmakers from the USA and abroad. The purpose of this exchange is to promote printmaking and create connection with artists around the world.

Requirements:

• Deadline date: Prints must be received by September 15, 2011

• Please RSVP by e-mail to: Carlos Barberena at calacapress@gmail.com

• Theme: “CALACAS” Day of the Dead / Open to your own interpretation.

• Media: Any traditional Printmaking process: Relief, Linocuts, Woodcuts, Intaglio, Lithography, Serigraphy, Collograph, etc. - NO DIGITAL PRINTS OR PHOTOCOPIES -

• Paper Size: 7 inches by 9 inches. Print/image size is open. *Please use any Archival Paper or Hand made Paper. (No Exception)

• Edition: 15 identical hand-pulled, original prints, include glassine sheets or tissue paper between each print, cut to match paper size.

•Each Print must be Signed and Numbered on the front.

• Fee: $15 US or $20 International paid via PayPal to:carlosbarberenadelarocha@gmail.com or a Check made out to: Carlos Barberena (Checks from US Banks only) This Fee covers the costs of postage and promotion of the project and Exhibits. *Fee is non-refundable.

• Exhibitions: The selected prints will be exhibited at Expressions Graphics in Oak Park, IL in Nov. 2011. * A Second exhibit will be at La Casa de los Tres Mundos in Nicaragua on Nov. 2nd, 2011.

• A Portfolio of 12 randomly selected prints will be mailed to each participant early November 2011. We will keep 3 Prints from each edition submitted to the exchange: 1 print will remain at Expressions Graphics and 2 at La Calaca Press for traveling exhibitions and promotional purposes.

• All prints submitted will be put in a web gallery and may be reproduced to promote this project. Please visit http://calacapress.blogspot.com for more info.

• IMPORTANT: All prints must conform to the guidelines. Any prints that do not fit the guidelines will be returned to the artist. *Fee is not refundable.

• Please RSVP by e-mail to Carlos at calacapress@gmail.com and mail submission to:

Carlos Barberena

324 Washington Blvd.

Apt 3G Oak Park, IL, 60302

USA

La Calaca Press International Print Exchange Submission Form

WATER SOLUBLE RELIEF INKS, THEY'RE BAAACCCCK!!

2011-06-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

I really hate missing a month for blog postings, but I missed the month of May. There were a lot of reasons, but few, if any, of them were good reasons. There's been a little bit of travel, but that's not it. A few health problems, but that's not it either. We've been busy redeveloping the Water Soluble line of Relief inks, but that's not it either. No, it's just a hot muggy time of year, and I didn't feel like it.

The redevelopment thing, however, has been on the front burner for quite a long time. In all of the years that I've been at Graphic I've never had an issue that was so universally concerning to our customers. We've been very proud of the Water Soluble Relief Inks. We believe that they are the best on the market, but it doesn't matter what we think, it's what you think that matters. A number of years ago, there was a bulletin board post from someone who mentioned another manufacturer had come out with the first professional quality water soluble relief ink. It implied that ours, not mentioned by name were less than professional in quality. We were concerned that people would believe that claim, so we offered members of the bbs a free sample of our ink to try. No strings attached....and we crossed our fingers that those who sampled ours would have a positive comment or two for the board.

Almost every artist that received a sample wrote in to say it was the best that they'd ever tried. O.K. I'm editorializing a little bit, but the comments were very positive. You can imagine how upset we were (not to mention how upset many of you were) when without notice, the specialized vehicle that we used just disappeared! We'd even been buying 20 drums of the old vehicle at a time to insure that they'd make it for us, but with the economy the way it was, the manufacturer chose to discontinue the product. (20 drums, by the way, is one heck of a lot of water soluble vehicle - about 1100 gallons worth!)

The process that led to our new product was long, convoluted and arduous. We began by begging for one more kettle of the vehicle, and were told no - we could use their new product instead. If you'd seen the MSDS you'd understand why we couldn't do that. Next, we tracked down former employees of the vendor. Several of them had left to start their own businesses or to work elsewhere. That didn't pan out the way we'd hoped. We even went to a distributor that I swore I'd never do business with again. Ironically, our last effort that resulted in the new vehicle actually turned out to have a connection to a former employee of the old supplier, but we didn't know about it until we'd found the new product and learned that the salesperson that we'd would work with was our former salesperson with the old company.

The ink field is very much like printmaking in some ways. Everybody knows everybody else, within reason. The people are very close and generally are happy to help. And sometimes you just get lucky. I'll always take lucky over good...always!

What's next? Look for new colors...some Earth colors, a few bolder colors, and perhaps a couple of new modifiers. Keep looking here, we'll try to make it interesting.

LINKS

2011-04-04T14:49:00.000-07:00

I've received a few comments on the Tyler School of Art job posting. Apparently the link doesn't work. All I can tell you is that the information was copied directly from the form that was sent to us. Contact the school directly if the link doesn't work. Unfortunately, we have no control over that at all.

Best of luck to all interested in the position - and don't forget Graphic Chemical when your back-to-school orders are being sent next Fall.

CLEAN UP YOUR ACT

2011-04-01T04:20:00.000-07:00

This post comes under the heading of a public service announcement....or perhaps a "don't be stupid like I was" announcement. Take it for what it's worth. Do not assume that I'm looking for sympathy or attention, I'm not. I want you to avoid what happened to me.

When I was little, my parents made me eat whatever was on my plate...completely. It seemed to me that there was an inordinate amount of liver on that plate, and to be honest there isn't enough ketchup in the world to mask the taste of liver. Two things, however, came out of that. First, I pretty much learned to intensely dislike things that were probably reasonably good for me, and second, I learned to finish everything on my plate...everything!

When I moved away from my parents house, there is a chance that my choices of meals were perhaps not as healthy as they should have been (unless deep fried twinkies are healthy). Bad habits are a bear! Yes, when I married Susan, the quality of my choices got infinitely better, but quantity probably didn't.

Coupled with my eating habits, I started getting involved in the community (schools, planning commission, chamber of commerce etc) and stopped playing basketball and volleyball on a regular basis. I hope you can see where this is leading....I couldn't.

About a month ago, Susan and I were finishing up a two week sales trip to the West Coast. We decided to fly home from Las Vegas. We stayed there for a day and a half. On the first morning we were there we decided to go to a restaurant down the street from our hotel for breakfast. When we travel, we walk a lot, so three blocks to breakfast shouldn't have been a big deal. The operative phrase was "shouldn't have been". I had to stop twice because I was out of breath. Well, to be more honest, my chest hurt a lot, but it didn't seem to be classic heart attack symptoms. The pain didn't radiate down my left arm, there was no jaw pain, and no crushing chest pain.

Susan was sure that I needed to go to the hospital, but I convinced her that I just needed some rest (that would be mistake #1). Because I'm not entirely stupid, I called one of our daughters and asked her to make a doctor's appointment for me for when we got home. The short version of the story is that we got home Friday night (mistake #2 being getting on not one but two airplanes!).

Circumstances dictated that we drive to Ann Arbor, MI on Saturday morning and back on Sunday (mistakes #3 and 4). On Tuesday, I cheerfully went to see my doctor. I like him. I went in with the obligatory laundry list that Susan wanted me to share with him. His nurse ran an EKG while I was there and it was perfect!

Uncharacteristically, the doctor spent very little time with me. He heard my list - blah, blah, blah, chest pains, blah, blah, called the hospital, arranged for a room for me, and scheduled an angiogram for the next day.

What both he and the cardiologist expected was to find a minor blockage, remove it, put in a stent, and send me home the next day. It seemed simple enough to me..a minor blip on my health radar screen. In retrospect, I really wish it had worked that way...really!

It turns out that my life style had lined up not one minor blockage, but rather 5 blockages at 80% or more. I've come to realize that there are numerous statements that you don't want to hear in your life. Things like a dentist saying, "oops!" or the ever popular, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you", come to mind. The latest addition to this list is a conversation that begins, "Hello, Mr. Clark, I'm your surgeon."!

Coronary Artery Bypass Graft surgery (known in the medical trade as CABG or Cabbage) ain't for sissies. The problem is that we sissies don't have much choice in the matter.

I had absolutely fantastic doctors, nurses ....everyone that I came in contact with was excellent. My recovery from triple bypass surgery has gone exceedingly well. The problem is that I never should have gotten to that point. I assumed that I wasn't a risk for heart problems. We've never had heart problems in my family. There is a fair level of longevity on both sides of the family, so I thought I'd live forever (it's worked out pretty well so far).

Don't allow yourself to buy that story. My problems go back for decades. I am rapidly becoming a zealot for eating better, exercise and a healthy dose of common sense when it comes to these things. Most of my friends believed, as I did, that a good EKG and blood tests were sufficient indicators of good health. That just isn't true. The good news is that I've lost a lot of weight, seemingly have my cholesterol and blood sugar under control, blood pressure is way down and I intend to keep it that way. This operation isn't fun, and I don't want to swap cabbage stories with you, unless you've already had the surgery. Please clean up your act and stay healthy!

JOB POSTING

2011-03-04T17:10:00.000-08:00

Instructor/Assistant Professor– Printmaking

Employer: Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

Required Education: MFA or foreign equivalent

Description:

The Printmaking area invites applications for a non-tenure track, full-time position teaching all forms of printmaking including screenprinting, etching, relief, lithography, monoprint and incorporating digital/new media into the Printmaking experience. This expansive position will include teaching in the studio and the computer lab. We seek a print artist with a broad knowledge of historical and contemporary art practices, as well as a thorough understanding of technical, critical, and theoretical issues of the media. The successful applicant will carry out a large portion of the teaching load in the BFA, BA Visual Studies degree programs, and will also teach in other departments of the college according to expertise.

The appointee will work closely with the Area Head and assist with the management of the Printmaking programs. Applicants should have a broad range of technical, intellectual and cross-disciplinary skills, with wide ranging conceptual and creative interests. This position is a Full-Time Non-Tenure track Assistant Professor with a one-year appointment (renewable) beginning Fall, 2011. The teaching load is 4 courses per semester.

Requirements:

MFA (or foreign equivalent) required and minimum of four years college teaching preferred. An evidence of teaching with technology is required.

Application deadline: April 4, 2011. Please send

Cover letter detailing qualifications
CV
Sample syllabi,
Contact information for three references,
Statement of teaching philosophy and evidence of work in your field,
Detail any administrative experience in cover letter
SASE for return of materials (if desired)
20 Images of your work and 20 images of your students’ work should be uploaded to Slideroom. Please visit temple.slideroom.com to set up an account and upload your images.

Finalists must be prepared to submit course evaluations for courses taught and official transcripts. Tyler school of Art is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer committed to increasing and sustaining its diverse academic community.

Contact:

Printmaking NTT Search Committee

c/o

Nora Leva

Graphic Arts and Design Department
Tyler School of Art, Temple University
2001 N. 13^th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122

Deadline:

April 4, 2011

***NOTE: Images must be uploaded to Slideroom, CD’s and slides will not be accepted. Other materials must be mailed, hard copy to the above address. Materials such as a CV, Statement and so on sent via the College Art Association website or other electronic means will not be considered or reviewed.***

BLIZZARD OF '11

2011-02-03T06:27:00.000-08:00

Those of you who follow us on Facebook know that we anticipated being off of work on February 2nd - not in observance of Ground Hog's Day, but rather in anticipation of the Blizzard of 2011 which promised 2+ feet of snow.

Yesterday was one of those rare, stay at home days with very little to do but eat and sleep. This morning, Susan and I came to work not expecting that the Village of Villa Park was also sleeping. Our street was plowed in much the same sense that a drunk is "plowed" - a wavy strip down the middle of the street. Our snow plower's truck broke down half way through the job, and we have no parking space left for the office staff that comes in about a half hour from now.

The scene above is at the south end of our parking lot, and the pile of snow is something greater than 8 feet tall, 15 feet in depth and 30 feet wide - about 400 cubic feet of the white stuff. Please someone tell me again why I live here!

THE WORLD AS IT SHOULD BE

2011-02-02T07:18:00.001-08:00

At Graphic Chemical & Ink Company, we are painfully aware of the impact of the elements on our day-to-day operations. Excessive heat in the summertime means that certain products cannot be shipped with any certainty that they'll be usable when they get there. In the winter, the obvious problem is the cold and/or snow. As I sit here writing this entry, we have accumulated 20+" of snow since yesterday afternoon!

Those of you who know me are well aware of my overused mantra - I will never, ever complain about the heat, because I reserve the right to whine like a baby about the cold! Well, if ever there was a time to whine it is now. Actually, I've been really surprised at the news coverage of today's storm activity - for the most part the media has gone directly to full panic mode. We've had several worse storms in our recent past, and after the shellacking that the East Coast has had since the holidays, we've got very little to complain about.

In a more perfect world, Susan and I would be very much as you see us above, blissfully walking a beach in Hawaii. In this day of increased technology, who'd even know if we were there? Sadly, we can't get there in the near future. The second semester rush has, thankfully, knocked our socks off. We are shipping record numbers of packages and falling behind at the same time. It's a good place to be for a short period of time - a very short period of time.

Many of our vendors are slower to ship than they've been for years. One or two are having a tough go of it, and others are just working leaner than in the past. Rest assured that we are trying to stay on top of inventory, so you'll get what you want when you want it.

We're working six days a week, with a few of us putting in seven days to keep up. Please keep in mind, however, that we are a manufacturing plant. If you place an order online on Friday afternoon late or over the weekend, we won't even see it until Monday morning. We're not a 24/7 operation...and frankly, we couldn't keep our prices as low as they are if we did maintain those kind of hours.

So back to operating from Hawaii (or any other warm weather climate for that matter), we'll begin taking offers of free places to stay in exchange for our charming personalities for a few months. Free meals and Wi-Fi would be a plus, reasonable temperatures and minimal precipitation are important. I don't want much - I want it all. As my Mother used to say, "who more richly deserves it than me?"

I don't want this to sound one sided. I am perfectly willing - no anxious - to provide a similar experience for anyone who will invite us to share their warm weather experience. In fairness, my charming wife pointed out that my sparkling personality wouldn't be enough to swing this deal. In light of her superior knowledge in the area, I am offering a swap. How great would it be to start your Chicago experience with drinks and dinner on our deck? It just doesn't get better than this! Give it some serious thought.

2010: The Year in Review

2010-12-31T19:17:00.000-08:00

Just a short 12 months ago we were looking ahead to what 2010 would have in store for us. In many ways, it was a great year. We had a full compliment of shows - SGC in Philadelphia, NAMTA in Indianapolis and MAPC in Minneapolis. There was an opportunity for a vacation. Oh, there was some business interspersed in between some very relaxing spots, but then most of our customers are our friends as well.

Our newest catalog, after numerous delays, was published in mid-2010. This is the biggest and best offering of printmaking supplies available anywhere. The 90th anniversary issue has lots of pictures, lots of color, and lots of products.

From time to time, we've been asked how we keep track of all the items that we carry. Up until today, I would have answered - very well, thank you. Today, with the offices closed for the holiday (that would be New Years Day), I decided to blitz on re-numbering our stock shelves in some sort of logical order. The idea being that if someone couldn't find a product on their own, they could look it up on the computer and it would tell them, for example, that D/E Etching Needles were located on shelf 163, bin 1. It also should expedite our physical inventory process in late June by allowing counters to count full shelves rather than counting in product number order.

Well, I happened to get to shelf 158 and was proceeding merrily on my way when I came to bin 15 (16, 17,and 18 too) I went to find the product on the computer when what to my wondering eyes should appear - nothing! Four products that we have fair to good stock on, but they aren't in the computer anymore. Amazingly, further study shows that we haven't sold any of them in years! Hmm, I wonder why? Look for some really good pricing on some engraving tools in the near future!

I won't belabor the effects of the economy on the printmaking supply field, but suffice it to say that this would be a great time to directly support those suppliers that a) are manufacturing the materials that you use and b) support the organizations that you belong to like SGC and MAPC. I am amazed at the number of suppliers that do not actively support your organizations. At any conference, you'll see most of the same companies that are there, usually offering products at a discount. Conferences aren't a bowl of cherries for a vendor. What they are is a great opportunity to network with our friends and customers. But they are also a little difficult. Schedules and pricing aren't kind to the vendors, and most of the time, the shows are re-invented every year. So, Dean gets crabby right up until the Vendor fair opens.

I am concerned that failure to support the handful of manufacturers in the field will result, as it already has in several cases, in products disappearing from the market or in extreme cases, companies folding up their tents completely. We are already seeing some of our vendors either discontinuing products or closing down completely.

The most obvious example is the loss of the very popular Graphic Water Soluble Relief Ink line. With absolutely no advance notice, our vendor - a very large company with multiple manufacturing locations - just up and discontinued the product that we needed to make these inks. If you think that they care about us ( a customer for well over 50 years) ,or you, think again. If you think that this is the last time it will happen, wait a week or two. It can and will happen again, unless we as an industry can convince them otherwise.

The good news is that we think we're close to having the right vehicle for the Water Soluble Relief inks. Early tests are going very well, but the tests that really count are the ones our customers do when samples are ready to go.

The picture? Believe it or not this was my introduction to Rome! The teepees (or are they wigwams?) were just a short block from out hotel - right near the Spanish Steps.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US

2010-11-30T14:36:00.000-08:00

Just 10 days to go!! Actually, by the time many of you read this it will be upon us. Now, you might ask what - and you'd be justified in asking that.

On December 10, 1920, some ninety years ago. The letters of incorporation from the State of Illinois were completed, and Graphic Chemical & Ink Company came into being. We were yet to become the leader in the printmaking world that we are today. In fact printmakers took a while to find us. Originally Graphic sold primarily to letterpress printers and commercial engravers. Those of you who know the story can join in right here if you'd like. The engravers used inks that were excellent for printmakers doing intaglio work, and the letterpress inks were great for block printers.

Great story, but what does it mean for the 21st century printmaker? Mostly, the anniversary means savings. As we try to modernize our facility, it becomes necessary to create some space where none really has existed for many years. In an effort to do that we've begun the process of peaking into the scary areas where no one has ventured for quite some time.

By no means is it a definitive list, but we've come up with a number of sales that are reminiscent of what prices looked like in the '20's - well sort of what they looked like. For example, we have a stock of Flat Gravers #42 that would list today for $11.50, but we've found some old stock that is in great shape that we can offer for just $3.50! That is waaay below our cost for today's tools.

The same offer is available for the Flat Graver #44 - just $3.50 for the entire month of December. A #5 Knife Graver which currently sells for $10.50 is also $3.50. Each of these tools is as long as supplies last, but we're in good shape on all of them, so I don't expect them to disappear too fast.

Another find was some discontinued Charbonnel stocks and some overstocks of current items from our distinguished French competitor.

Lamour Black Satin Hard Ground (250 ml) lists for $15.85 is available for as long as stocks last for just $8.00. The Lamour Black Covering Ground, which is discontinued, listed for $60.00 in the one liter size but we're selling what is left in our stock for just $20.00.

How about all in-stock Createx colors available for 25% off?

Lascaux is one of the premier manufacturers of acrylic based paints and resists, so we don't want to leave them out of our extravaganza. We'll offer all in stock Lascaux Resonance colors , Pastelground and all Lascaux Studio Acrylics at 25% off our already low list prices. In fact, I'll expand it to all Lascaux colors in stock in any line!

There will be more items offered to our sale during the month. Look for them here on my blog, or on the Graphic bulletin board. While the sales prices won't show up online, if you mention the code 90thSale when you order online. Anything that is on your order that has a sale price will be given that discount automatically (if automatically means that someone in our order entry department manually overrides the price!)

To keep the lawyers happy - all sales items are offered on in stock products only, and all sales are final.

We have truly appreciated our customers. We didn't get to be 90 years old by ourselves. It is almost cliche to say that we couldn't have done it without you, but it's also very true. Thanks

OCTOBER RECAP

2010-10-30T17:47:00.000-07:00

Where has the time gone? It's almost Halloween, and I'm still trying to figure out what happened to summer. It has been an eventful Fall, with several trade shows (MAPC in Minneapolis, and Printopolis in Toronto, ON, Canada have been the most recent). I took a chance and returned to Canada (see my earlier blogs on my last trip to Toronto). The border crossing was uneventful this time, and Printopolis was just great! We managed to watch the tail end of their steamroller printing, and caught up with our friends from Drive by Press, just a few feet apart in downtown Toronto. April Vollmer presented a Moku Hanga demonstration, along with Liz Forrest at the Japanese Paper Place. It was very well attended, and extremely well done. Congratulations to both ladies for their great presentations.

MAPC was back in Minnesota this year, and Minneapolis proved to be a fantastic location. The Product Fair had a good mix of new and old faces on the vendors. We had a chance to visit Cole Rogers and the group at Highpoint Printmaking Center. If you haven't been there - make an effort to visit. They've done an absolutely great job putting together a state of the art printmaking facility!

Our most popular product at both shows was our Vinyl Relief Plates. These two sided plates are easier to cut than more traditional linoleum, have contrasting colors which allow you to see the area you've just cut more easily. They come in just three sizes currently, but we're working on a source for rolls.

Most importantly, but just for me, I was asked to represent my Alma Mater (Maryville College, Maryville, TN) at the inauguration of the new President, Phillip Ryken, of Wheaton College, in Wheaton, IL. I was sure I was asked because of my academic achievements 40 years ago, or perhaps because of my political activities, or business successes. The College however, assures me that none of these entered into the invitation. Their choice was based on the fact that I live about a mile from the Wheaton College campus.

There were two things that impressed me with this event. Actually there were several, but I'm only going to write about two. First, delegates from other institutions enter the event in order of the date of the founding of their institutions. Out of about 110 colleges and universities, I was number 12 to enter. Maryville was founded in 1819, making this their 192nd academic year...interesting but not earth-shattering.

What was of far more interest to me was that President Ryken, who was returning to his Alma Mater to head a faculty that includes his father, was presented a portrait of himself courtesy of the Printmaking Department. This portrait was a composite wood engraving with 12-16 individual blocks cut by students. It was spectacular and Dr. Ryken was suitably moved by this gift. It was, as one would have suspected, printed with ink from Graphic Chemical & Ink. Now that impressed me!

MAKING INK WITH STYLE

2010-09-26T12:26:00.001-07:00

I saw this on Facebook and thought that I'd share it with you. There are some vague similarities to the way that printmaking inks are manufactured. The biggest difference would lie in the scale. The closest thing to what you'll see here, as far our inks go, would be the 514 Etching Bone Black. Most inks manufactured by Graphic Chemical & Ink would be in batch sizes of 100 lbs or less, although the 514 Bone Black is made in a 300+ pound batch. Testing is somewhat similar although the equipment we use isn't as high tech, but the results are the same. These are commercial inks (you can tell by the driers added), but it gives you a sense of what goes into ink making.

Ink Demo from Vepo on Vimeo.

A CAUTIONARY TALE - THE FOLLOW UP.

2010-08-14T14:38:00.000-07:00

To all who have commented on my border crossing episode....I was aiming at one person who was unpleasant. In writing the blog, Susan and I had commented that normally we have a much harder time crossing back into the U.S.!

This time, the U.S. return crossing was lengthy, due to traffic, but the actual contact was almost non-existent. I don't believe that anyone was offended by my comments (except for Officer 13089 possibly), but if anyone was put off - I love Canada and Canadians. I even know all the words to Oh Canada (I'm a hockey fan after all) and have been in Canada several times for Canada Day on July 1. We were just put off by the incredible rudeness from one person, encountered so unexpectedly. After the fact, we both recalled a conversation with an Irish cab driver. When I commented that Ireland and the Irish were incredibly friendly, he responded, "It doesn't cost you anything to be friendly." Of course, he wasn't with the Immigration office either.

We had a great time at Japanese Paper Place, which is, by the way, a truly special place. We are indebted to Nancy, Peter and their wonderful staff for a great workshop and much, much more.

A CAUTIONARY TALE

2010-08-13T10:39:00.001-07:00

The title might just say it all. I preface my remarks by saying I bear no ill will to any country mentioned in the following paragraphs, or to the people of said country.

My sad tale begins last Sunday morning, when I agreed to travel with my wife to a collage workshop in the Chicago suburbs. She had a two hour dog and pony show from 10:00am-12:00pm. There were about 20 people in attendance and they had some great questions about printmaking in general and paper specifically. It was the highlight of the day. Of course, if you read further you'll probably see that a root canal could have been the highlight of that particular day, had it not been for such a great event. Susan and Pete did a great job presenting on the papers we brought with us.

Fast forward to 10:30 pm after a long drive from Chicago to the threshold of Canada - Windsor, Ontario and the world famous Ambassador Bridge. We approached the bridge assuming that at that hour the crossing would be uneventful - well, not so much as it turns out. There were hundreds of cars, but we seemingly chose the right lane and in just a few minutes (well, maybe 20 minutes) we were at the check point. A few routine questions followed - what was the purpose of our visit? How long would we stay? Did we have any goods for sale? etc. We were, in fact, on our way to a workshop put on by the Japanese Paper Place in Toronto. We were staying for two days, and we had nothing that we would be selling. Seems pretty straight forward to me.

We were selected for a "random" inspection at the check point, which caused us to be separated from the herd and sent inside to Canadian Immigration where our car was inspected by a nice young man. After an uneventful inspection, we were given a yellow sheet of paper and instructed to go inside and have it stamped.

Up to this point, a grand total of about 15 minutes had elapsed from the check point to the completion of the inspection. We foolishly believed that we'd be on our way to Toronto in just a few minutes. Oh to be that naive again!

We were greeted eventually by 13089 (that's not her real number, we've changed it to protect the - I was going to say innocent but instead I'll go with grumpy). She started out mad before we could even say hello, and it got a lot worse. 13089 wanted to see our invitation to Canada! Surprisingly, we did not have one, thinking that a trip to visit an art workshop and visit with friends would be a fairly simple thing.

Here, however, is the cautionary part of our tale. Several days after the fact we researched Canadian Immigration standards, and in fact, an invitation can be required and 24 hour contact information for the host can be required! Don't venture across that border without documenting the daylights out of why you are going.

Two hours later, without exaggeration, we were able to find someone who could fax a printout from a web page about the workshop. Our stalwart Immigration Officer was apparently done tormenting us, and allowed that we should have told her that at the beginning...which of course we had tried to, but she didn't want to listen, she wanted to talk.

All in all, it was a particularly unpleasant first impression of Canada. We've been to Canada fairly frequently over the years - usually for some semblance of business (trade shows, workshops and sales calls) and never had even a slight problem in this regard. Could it be a backlash at the Chicago Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup? Whatever it was I will from this day forward, only visit our neighbors to the North for pleasure.

PRINTMAKERS MATERIALS 2010

2010-08-05T06:49:00.000-07:00

Q: What's new, Moss Green and 123 pages long?
A: Graphic Chemical & Ink Company's 2010 90th Anniversary Printmakers Materials Catalog.

It's been a long time coming, but we are pleased that the catalogs are finally available. This year's edition is a switch from past catalogs in a number of ways.

There is a lot more color throughout the book. In addition to color charts for most of the inks that we carry, there are color photos of products, and our favorite part - great artwork from some of our favorite artists. All artwork was used with permission of the artists.

Another change - one which will save you money in the long run - is that there are no prices in the catalog. I know that's counter-intuitive, but we save money by not having to reprint every time there was a price change. Prices are available online at www.graphicchemical.com and will be supplemented by a printed price list in the near future.

The paper section has been vastly expanded to 21 pages of papers from mills around the world. Our tools selection probably has more variety of tools than is available anywhere, and no one offers more in the way of inks than you'll find in this catalog. Every ink that we manufacture is matched by an ink from another manufacturer. I don't want to name drop (of course, I do!) but in addition to inks manufactured in our plant here in Villa Park, we carry inks from Charbonnel, Akua, Caligo, Gamblin, Hanco, Speedball, Lascaux, Createx, Faust, Pro-Line and a few others.

We have listed in the catalog, inks from Sun Chemical, which is the successor to Handschy. They purchased the line from Handschy Industries a little over a year ago. This line has gone through more twists and turns than you can believe. Just recently we were approached by a group of former Handschy employees that were offering the same product that we were all used to, made on the same equipment , at reasonable prices. It was a hard offer to pass up, so we jumped on it.

The new Hanco products are not shown in the catalog - yet, but they are listed online. Instead of a number like CS100, it will be listed as HI-100. Just to further confuse the issue, Graphic has a line available of Process colors to match the old Hanco inks too. Hey, we didn't know if the big boys were going to be able to sort it out before the back-to-school rush, so we came up with Process Yellow, Process Magenta, Process Blue, Process Black, and the big hit of the summer, our new LFP Mag Tint Base. This is an effort to get back to the older, better version of the W-1075 before formulations were changed. The LFP is an homage to our co-collaborator on the project - Landfall Press in Santa Fe, NM.

There's lots more new and improved in the catalog, but you'll have to read it to decide what's new.

The downside? It's pretty minor, but the cost for the catalog is $5. The good news is that the $5 is refunded on your first order of $50 or more.

LITHOGRAPHY

2010-07-31T13:08:00.000-07:00

Very few printmaking techniques have truly been invented. Most art medium sort of evolve over time, but lithography or "Chemical printing" as it was first called, was a conscious effort on the part of Alois Senefelder to invent a printing process. What were the odds of inventing the right process from materials in exactly the right place at probably the exact right time. Actually, as I see it the odds were pretty good. The process in all likelihood evolved to fit the materials readily available rather than the other way around. First there were Senefelder stones, and then there was Stones (as in Crayons). Twenty years ago (give or take a year or two), Craig Cornwall and his lovely wife Pam were nestled in a relatively small apartment in Albuquerque, NM. Craig was a Master Printer candidate at the prestigious Tamarind Institute. Craig's love for lithography took him on an adventure through printmaking history. He researched lithographic drawing materials, and came to the conclusion that he could build a better litho crayon.

Obviously, for the continuity of this story, he managed to find a great product that would revolutionize the lithographic field. Craig and Pam made crayons from their apartment by day and raised kids by night. Well, that's a little overly dramatic, but the kids' rooms became shipping and manufacturing spaces, and warehousing.

As they say, from these modest beginnings, they moved the whole operation to Olympia, WA where the climate was good, the schools great, and relatives abound. For most of that time, Graphic Chemical & Ink was one of their best customers. Graphic and other customers helped to spread the Stones name around the world.

Just a few years ago, Craig decided that with the average day being approximately 24 hours long, he couldn't keep up with the various irons in the fire. In addition to running Stones Crayons, Craig was an artist, a contract printer, a college professor, and oh yeah, a bishop in the Mormon church.

About 4 years ago, I received an e-mail from Craig's lawyer, also his brother-in-law David Acheson. David advised me that Craig was interested in selling Stone's Crayons. I was concerned because as is so often the case in the printmaking supply field, money was short. We had just purchased one of our buildings from my brother. Several days after the first e-mail, David was back with an amount which was reasonable and with a little financial reorganization, workable.

We cut the deal - we bought, Craig sold, and David is running for city council in Provo, UT. It seems to have worked out for everyone concerned.

WHAT I DID ON MY SUMMER VACATION

2010-06-28T05:46:00.000-07:00

I have a firm policy to write a minimum of one blog posting per month. In the month of June, it's been a bit of a strain due to travel. I generally don't travel with a computer - they're heavy and I rarely find time (or a usable network) to use them, so I remain the unrepentant troglodyte.

Susan and I did have a reasonably unique experience during our recent trip to Italy. We visited the Magnani Paper Mill in Pescia, Italy. Our host, and good friend, was Francesco Natali. The journey began from Florence. with a train trip to Pescia. Francesco met us at the station and drove us to the mill.

The mill tour is something that every printmaker should do at least once in their careers. Everything about Magnani was exactly as I expected it to be...very hands on, and very professional in every aspect. The vat of cotton linters at the left was, just seconds before a pile of what looked like blotters floating on pure spring water. With the flick of a switch, the process of making high quality printmaking paper begins.

We were able to follow the process from linters to inspection in great detail. It isn't often that you have a chance to inspect the watermark form in great detail, or handle the felts that form the paper.

We've been fans of the Magnani sheets for years, but we've developed a new found respect for what goes into these fine papers. As if that wasn't enough, we were Francesco's guests for dinner back in Florence at an absolutely superb restaurant - a place called Pandemonia. If you ever get to Florence, go there and tell them Dean sent you. It won't mean a thing to them, but I'll feel pretty good about it.

I especially want to thank everyone at Magnani for making this visit remarkable.

ARTIST BEWARE! Scammers picking on artists

2010-05-13T06:13:00.000-07:00

In the ongoing series of blog posts stolen blatantly from friends, I have (with permission) borrowed this from Maria Arango's blog www.1000woodcuts.com. As you read this, please remember the old adage...if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. As I mentioned to Maria when asking for permission to steal her words, "I hate to see artists scammed - almost as much as I hate to see art supply companies scammed".

Artist Beware!
This page is for letting artists know of various popular scams that are out there. Once you begin to get online, whether through a website or blog, you will begin to get "solicited" either through email or phone! Scammers are clever and always sound professional, often will have websites to back up their claims.
These are the most popular and come with variations but the basic elements are usually all there.

Purchase Offer Scam

The Purchase Offer scam is the simplest of all and it ALWAYS involves that the artist receive more money than the artworks are worth and the transfer of excess money from the artist to the scammer. Rule of thumb, always double check names of galleries or agents using Google and/or phone listings.

The Plot
The artist receives an email with commonly a very short offer to purchase several works of art, usually from someone from out of your country (but not always). The artworks are indicated by name and the email requests a total "without shipping". The seemingly very professional collector or gallery or person who is newly remodeling their home offers to pay with a money order.
Often the first email ends there and you simply submit your total.

Next will come an email that will indicate that you will receive the money order as soon as you give your address and the "shipping company" will contact you to make arrangements to ship the artworks. Somewhere in the email it is hinted or said outright that the money order will be for your artworks plus shipping and your help is needed to arrange the payment to the shipping company, usually but not always by cashier's check or money gram or western union transfer. Once this transfer happens the shipping company will pick up the works.

The Scam
You receive a fake money order which will initially clear your bank. Your very sound money is transferred to a non-existent shipping company (the scammer) and you are out money. The shipping company never shows up to pick up the works, of course.

Red Flags for Spotting the Scam
-Emails are usually from a free email account (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.).
-Scammer refuses to purchase through your website's shopping cart with a credit card like most customers; usually the works carefully chosen are not offered through the shopping cart or are older or larger works without purchase buttons.
-There is ALWAYS an excess of money that you will have to transfer back.
-The transfer is nearly always through wire-gram or Western Union.

Commission Offer Scam

This is simply a variation of the above, except the scammer offers you a lucrative commission. As a rule of thumb, ask for 50% down payment on any commission; if you suspect a scam, ask for the money drawn on a US Bank (you can then go to the issuing bank in person) or credit card payment. This usually suffices to flush them out.

The Plot
Same as above except much more involved in the beginning. The scammer will lure the artist into actually starting the commission with many details and involved conversations. A photo or model may even be involved where the scammer sends the artist a digital file to be reproduced or model for the commissioned piece or pieces.

The plot evolves into the "excess" money scam outlined above. Either a shipping company is involved again or some sort of business agent that has to be paid. In some cases the variation involves an "art dealer" who is demanding the finder's fee for having found you to do the commission.

The Scam and Red Flags
Same as above but with the added flag that emails often are answered with long delays; often the scammer claims to be traveling all over the world looking for fine art for their collection.

Partnership Scam

An email outlines the need for a partner needed in your country in order to process payments received in your country. You are to receive the payments in the form of money orders and wire money to your "partner" less your commission for processing.

The Plot
A variation of this email:

"Hello There,

My name is xxxxxxx, I am an artist, I live in xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, with my two kids, I have been doing artwork since I was a small child That gives me about 23 years of experience I majored in art in high school and took a few college art courses Most of my work is done in either pencil or art brush mixed with color pencils.

I have recently added designing and creating artwork on the computer, I have been selling my art for the last 3 years and have had my work featured on trading cards, prints and in magazines, I have sold in galleries and to private collectors from all around the world. I am always facing serious difficulties when it comes to selling my art works to Americans, they are always offering to pay with MONEY ORDER , which is difficult for me to cash here in xxxxxxxxx

I am looking for a representative in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA who will be working for me as a par time worker and i will be willing to pay 10% for every transaction, which wouldnt affect your present state of work, someone who would help me receive payments from my customers in the states, I mean someone that is responsible and reliable, because the cost of coming to the state and getting payments is very expensive, I am working on setting up a branch in the state, so for now i need a representative in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA who will be handling the payment aspect for our company.These payments are in MONEY ORDERS and they would come to you in your name if you are willing to assist as a representative, so all you need do is cash the money order deduct your percentage and WESTERN UNION Charges then wire the rest back.

But the problem i have is trust, i have made arrangement with the FBI in Washington and they will get any body who tries to get away with my money, you are to receive the MONEY ORDERS which will be sent to you by the FEDEX or UPS from my business partners, which would come in form of a MONEY ORDER then you are to take it to your bank account to enable you cash it and send the money cashed for the MONEY ORDERS to me via WESTERN UNION OR MONEY GRAM.

N.b: All charges of the WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER will be deducted from the money, so you are rest assured that you wouldnt spend a dime out of your personal money.

if you are interested in helping me out i will like you to get back to me with the required informations in the format:

#Your full name..............................

#Your full home address................................

#Your age.................................

#Occupation............................

#marital status.....................

,#direct contact telephone number...............................

....and also your email address.

Thanks for your assistant and God bless,

As for my artworks,i am still creating my website as i have some new works yet to be updated,,i will get you updated once the
website is ready.

Pls endeavour to send your reply to xxxxxxxxxxx@yahooxxxxx

Thanks for your assistant and God bless,
signed....

The Scam
Again, you receive fake money and dish out real money.

Red Flags for Spotting the Scam
-Email address free (Yahoo, Hotmail)
-Exchange of money your way is by Money Orders (easy to fake); exchange of money the other way always money-grams or wire-grams or Western Union
-Friendly tone and mention of FBI
-Website under construction (no way to double check on this artist, although some may have a rudimentary website set up for the purpose of the scam)

In re-reading Maria's post - I noticed something that has occurred to me in some of the e-mail scams that I've received over the years. Simply put, if there is frequent, excessive or bizarre capitalization, IT"S PROBABLY A SCAM!

Dean

SUMMER ART FAIRS - MIDWEST

2010-05-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

As a public service - and a great way to add a blog post, I have added here the listing of art fairs held in the Midwest during the month of June. This list is courtesy of ArtFairCalendar.com. Visit their website to get more information on shows outside of the Midwest, or shows later (or earlier) in the year.

June 4-6*
Prairie Village, KS
Prairie Village Art Fair
100 Exhibitors
For more info: www.prairievillageshops.com

June 4-6*
Edina, MN
Edina Art Fair
50th & France
Presented by 50th & France Assn.
400 Exhibitors
For more info: www.edinaartfair.com

June 5*
Liberty, MO
Liberty Arts Squared - new event!
Historic Liberty Downtown Square
100 Exhibitors
Expect visual fine arts and crafts, literary, performing, children’s interactive arts) as well as two stages

June 5 & 6*
Omaha, NE
Countryside Village Art Fair
Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm; Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm
140 Exhibitors

June 5 & 6*
Junction City, IL
Junction City Art Fair
Junction City Shopping Center
10 am to 4 pm
65 Exhibitors

June 5 & 6*
Columbia, MO
Art in the Park
Stephens Lake Park
105 Artists
Sponsored by the Columbia Art League
For more info: www.artinthepark.missouri.org

June 10-13* Salina, KS
Smoky Hill River Festival
A nationally award winning Arts Festival sponsored by the Salina Arts & Humanities Commission.

What you will find:

Four Rivers Craft Market Show, June 11-13 (50 Artists)
The Fine Art/Fine Craft Show, June 12 & 13 (90 Artists)
Commissioned large-scale art installations throughout the Festival grounds
Entertainment from the finest in the region, nation, and beyond
Four stages including a Children’s Stage and Storytellers Stage

For more info: www.riverfestival.com

June 11-13*
St. Louis, MO
Central West End Art & Taste Fest
For more info: www.thecwe.com

June 11-13*
Peculiar, MO
Clara Brierly Festival of the Arts
Sponsored by the Downtown Peculiar Arts & Culture District
35 artists
A Chautauqua-type event that focuses on all art forms as well as art workshops and demonstrations.

June 11-13*
St. Louis, MO
Festival of Arts at Westport Plaza
100 Exhibitors

June 12 & 13*
Racine, WI
Monument Square Art Fair on the Lake
Racine Civic Centre Festival Park
Sat 10am - 5pm, Sun 10am - 4pm
120 Exhibitors

June 12 & 13*
Indianapolis, IN
Talbot Street Art Fair
on Talbot Street, downtown
250 Exhibitors

June 18-20*
Leawood, KS
Town Art Show
Town Center Plaza, 119th and Roe
Fri. 1-8 pm; Sat. 10-8; Sun. 11-5
For more info: www.townart.org

June 18-20*
Milwaukee, WI
Lakefront Festival of the Arts
Milwaukee Art Museum grounds
170 Exhibitors

June 19 & 20*
Minneapolis
Stone Arch Festival
Minneapolis Riverfront
250 Exhibitors
For more info: www.stonearchfestival.com

June 19 & 20*
South Bend, IN
Leeper Park Art Festival
200 Exhibitors

June 20*
Burlington, IA
Snake Alley Art Fair
Presented by the Art Guild of Burlington
100 exhibitors

June 25-27*
Des Moines, IA
Des Moines Arts Festival
Western Gateway Park, downtown
Saturday, 10 am to 10 pm; Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm
185 Exhibitors
For more info: www.desmoinesartsfestival.org

June 25-27*
Omaha, NE
Omaha Summer Arts Festival
Gene Leahy Mall, Downtown
10th to 15th on Farnam Street
135 Exhibitors

Artists' Market: Friday & Saturday 11 a.m.–8 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Visitors will have the opportunity to browse and buy the beautiful artwork of 135 juried artists from across the country. Selected from among hundreds of applicants the artists represent over twenty states in the U.S.

World Music Pavilion Stage: Friday & Saturday 11 a.m.–11 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m.–5 p.m.The musical presentations will entertain visitors of all ages in a fun, comfortable and convenient atmosphere on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Renowned artists and a wide range of musical genres including blues, jazz, Latin, folk, acoustic and many more concerts with broad appeal.

Children's Fair & Family Stage: Saturday 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Families and children will discover a world of art at the Children's Fair. Presented at the heart of the Festival, the Children's Fair will offer dozens of hands-on activities and art projects for children ages three to 10. Don't miss the TasteFest and Festival Cafes where visitors can sit and relax in the shade and enjoy some of the Festival's healthier food options or try the traditional Festival fare.

For more info: www.summerarts.org

June 25-27*
Quincy, IL
Midsummer Arts Faire
Washington Park in historic Quincy Business District
Friday 5 pm to 9 pm; Saturday 10 am to 5 pm; Sunday 11 am to 4 pm
50 Exhibitors
For more info: www.artsfaire.org

June 26 & 27*
Des Moines, IA
ArtFest Midwest 'The Other Art Show'
Iowa State Fairgrounds (primarily indoors), Varied Industries Building
presented by Stookey Companies
235 artists
For more info: www.artfestmidwest.com

June 26 & 27*
Duluth, MN
40th annual Park Point Art Fair
Park Point Recreation Area
10 am to 5 pm
120 Exhibitors

June 26 & 27*
Ft. Wayne, IN
Covington Art Fair
at the Covington Shopping Plaza
75 Exhibitors

June 26 & 27*
Bartlett, IL
Bartlett Festival of the Art
Bartlett Park
10 am to 5 pm daily

FOLLOW UP - PHILLY

2010-04-03T16:24:00.000-07:00

Southern Graphics has come and gone, and after my tirade earlier about the planning for the show, I humbly admit that it went fairly well. The allotted time was pretty slim, but the vendors, as always, were pretty inventive . Simply put, we just stayed until close to 5 pm the second day.

I don't know the total registration for the conference, but it was fairly substantial - probably less than Chicago last year, but given the economy, it was better than expected. There were a few new vendors, some who returned for the first time in years, and the old standbys. Once again, the number of students in attendance was fantastic. I think the longest travel involved was from Argentina, but I saw delegates from England, Alaska and Italy - and I wasn't looking too hard.

I want to extend my thanks to the Philadelphia organizing committee for a well run show and a great facility.

SGC - AROUND THE CORNER

2010-03-19T05:08:00.000-07:00

The thoughts expressed below are only those of the author, and have no input from anyone else, except proof reading and a cool demeanor from my wife.

Contrary to popular belief, the first sign of Spring isn't the arrival of the first robin or the beginning of baseball's Spring Training. It is, in fact, the Southern Graphics Council's annual meeting.

This year we are headed for historical Philadelphia, PA and the Loew's Hotel for what promises to be another hopefully stellar conference. As always, the Product Fair is our personal favorite - probably selfishly so. Unfortunately, the organizers of the show don't seem to hold the Product Fair in as high esteem as we do. For reasons known only to them, the organizers cut Product Fair hours down rather significantly.

The vendors that I've talked to are clearly unhappy about the turn of events. From an economic point of view, it is a hardship. In general, little thought is given to the expenses incurred by vendors at this show: travel expense, 3-4 days of hotels, meals and shipping costs to and from the conference. Even the smallest of vendors will spend upwards of $1000. For the record, press suppliers and others bringing in equipment will pay significantly more, due to certain union rules.

I dislike bringing up problems unless I can suggest a solution to it. Only one conference in recent years has had a vendor on the committee as decisions are made that affect the Product Fair. That was last year's extremely successful Chicago show. Most other conferences have had input from a representative of the vendors - Ed O'Neill. Ed's involvement has been invaluable, and exceedingly appreciated by the vendors. Up to this point this year, Ed has not been involved by the outside organizers. Not surprisingly, information has been spotty at best.

To the SGC Board of Directors: The vendors came to you several years ago with a similar request to which you agreed - have a vendor involved from the beginning in conference planning. Consider having at least one vendor on the Board either as a full member or at least in an advisory role. (For the record, I am not interested in the job!). But most importantly, start treating those vendors who have been involved regularly with SGC as partners, not as a necessary evil. You need us as much as we need you.

WAYNE MIYAMOTO

2010-02-28T10:06:00.000-08:00

Susan and I, and all of us at Graphic Chemical & Ink Company, are deeply saddened to have received the following notice from HI Art Magazine:

....... (we are) sad to announce the sudden passing of our friend Wayne Miyamoto, professor and chair of the Art Department at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, on February 20th due to complications arising from emergency heart surgery. Professor Miyamoto was in Mexico conducting sabbatical research at the time.

At this moment the family is requesting privacy. Please direct any questions you may have to Michael Marshall who can be reached via email at mdmarsha@hawaii.edu or at 959-3266.

Wayne will be greatly missed by his family, friends and the arts community.

The family has requested all condolences be forwarded to: alohawayne.miyamoto@gmail.com

In lieu of flowers, individuals are encouraged to make a donation In Memory of Wayne Miyamoto through Friends of UHHART to support the program to which he dedicated his life:

"The purpose of UHHART shall be to enhance the educational mission of the Art Discipline of the University of Hawaii at Hilo as well as the cultural environment of the Island of Hawaii; encourage interaction between community members, faculty, and students in the interest of artistic and cultural development; and to solicit the active support of the community in the sustenance of a vigorous Art Discipline at the University of Hawaii at Hilo so that the program will better serve students and residents of the Island."

Wayne Miyamoto, Visiting Assistant Professor, UH Hilo, 1982

www.uhf.hawaii.edu/InMemoryofWayneMiyamoto

Wayne was a great customer, a great educator, and most importantly, a great friend. He will be missed.

NOTICE TO PROSPECTIVE GRAD STUDENTS

2010-01-27T11:02:00.000-08:00

At the request of our friends at Ohio University in Athens, OH:

GRADUATE PRINTMAKING
@ OHIO UNIVERSITY
ATHENS, OHIO

The Graduate Printmaking Program at Ohio University usually has between 8 -12 graduate students, as part of approximately 55 - 75 total within all disciplines in the School of Art. Students have the opportunity to work with 30 full-time artists/professors and a considerable number of visiting artists to OU. The faculty/printmakers are comprised of five active artists working in a variety of media: Art Werger, Melissa Haviland, Mary Manusos, Robert Lazuka and Karla Hackenmiller. Facilities in Seigfred Hall include separate studio spaces for etching, lithography, serigraphy, papermaking, photo processes, and digital. Among the shop equipment are four etching presses, three litho presses, a large-scale relief press, large format digital printers, and a Hollander-style beater. The School also has a woodshop available to all students with a well-versed technician for student projects. We have a great relationship with a new, leading-edge facility on campus - the Aesthetic Technology Lab (http://www.ohiou.edu/atlab/) where our students have access to state of the art digital equipment including a 3-D Motion Capture suit, green screen, 42" digital printer and 42" plotter, 3-D Scanner, and high-end software programs. The School of Interior Architecture will soon be integrated into the School of Art, which will also provide extended possibilities for students.

Our graduates have personal space next to the printshops and also have the opportunity to apply for an individual studio at the Ridges complex, about a mile away from Seigfred Hall. Within this complex is the new ³PrintSpace² a shop reserved for grads and art faculty. Next to this facility is the Kennedy Museum of Art (http://www.ohiou.edu/museum), which has a well-regarded print collection and rotating exhibitions. The School of Art maintains three galleries on campus and has ties to additional space at Majestic Galleries in Nelsonville. We have regular visiting artists (within Printmaking, as well as in the School); and the printmakers, as a group, attend the Southern Graphics Council and Mid America Print Council conferences each year. In the fall of 2008 our graduates presented a panel presentation at MAPC in Fargo; and in 2006, our program hosted a successful MAPC conference in Athens. In the spring of 2010 we will present our third "Inkahoots" event, a large outdoor printing activity on campus that involves visiting artists as well as the local community.

While we hold traditional printing in high regard, we allow our grad students a great deal of flexibility in the materials and processes that they use to create their work. Our current grads are working in various media, including three-dimensional handmade paper pieces, installation, mixed media print & drawing collage, video, and painting -- in addition to more traditional methods in intaglio, litho, screen, monotype and relief.
The School of Art encourages experimentation, research and collaboration across disciplines. Students can also earn academic credit through Service Learning opportunities in the community; and also through our Travel Abroad programs in Great Britain, Hungary and Italy.
(http://www.finearts.ohio.edu/educationabroad/GreatBritain/art_and_art_histo
ry_summer.htm)

This is a three-year MFA program during which graduates take a variety of studio, art history, and theory courses in the first two years. The third year is the "Thesis Year", and involves independent, focused studio work without regular coursework obligations. This work culminates in a Thesis Exhibition. To get to this point, the student must pass through a series of rigorous reviews by their graduate committee, beginning in the second quarter of their first year. We have scholarship and assistantship money available on a competitive basis. Currently all of our Print Grads have a full tuition waiver and are receiving full or half stipend funding. Our TA's usually gain teaching experience in both Foundations and Printmaking classes during the second and third years of the their program.

We invite interested applicants to schedule a visit to our Program to meet the faculty and current grads, as well as to see the facilities. Please take a look at our website:
http://www.finearts.ohio.edu/art/programs/grad-mfa-ma/printmaking/index.htm,
and feel free to contact us for any questions that you might have.

giusto!studio
athens, ohio 45701
http://www.karlahackenmiller.com

YEAR'S END

2010-01-24T02:36:00.000-08:00

The calendar year is behind us, and in many ways it's a good thing. 2009 probably won't go down in the business Hall of Fame as a bright star, but it was a pretty good year all things considered. Graphic Chemical sells to a lot of schools - a lot of state schools, and and in case you missed it in all the papers - most states are bordering on bankruptcy.

Our own fine state - Illinois - is only $9 Billion in debt (or $12 Billion if you believe the loyal opposition). Our sainted Senator from the '50's and '60's, Everett McKinley Dirksen, fondly known as "old liver lips", was once quoted as saying, "a million here and a million there and pretty soon you're talking about real money!" So, we've established that states are woefully lacking in disposable income. We all know that in the grand scheme of things, art programs tend to be on the low end of the totem pole. So, one could safely assume that art material suppliers, like say Graphic Chemical, might not be having the best of years.

Interestingly enough, 2009 was our best year ever in one important category...total invoices processed. Now a lesser man than I would claim great personal involvement in that number. Realistically, however, we had little to do with it. The total number of invoices is a direct reflection on you as customers, and to a lesser extend the fact that we care a great deal about earning and keeping your business. For that we extend our heartfelt thanks to each of you.

Like most printmaking suppliers, we are a small operation - a family oriented company. Like most families, we have our eccentrics - me for example. I was, for all intents and purposes, raised in the printmaking world. During spring and summer breaks from grade school, I canned, labeled and shipped Sureset Compound. I made Dutch Mordant when I was still in high school. I learned that there was a right way and a wrong way to cut zinc and copper plates between high school and college and I learned during all of that period that sodas were free at Graphic (which accounts for a good portion of my weight gain during that time).

This has been a great industry to grow up in, and while I never assumed that I'd stay here, I've never regretted spending the past 38 years working in Villa Park. You and the rest of our customers have made it a great ride, and I look forward every day to new challenges. I'm not going anywhere, at least I hope I'm not, but don't be surprised if you get other family members on the phone more often than me - I'll be too busy planning the next business trip or maybe even a vacation or two.

Oh yeah, the picture at the top of the page. One of our customers, a lithographer among other talents, recently got married. His wedding ring, pictured above is a nice gold band with a black stripe recessed in the center of the ring. That black stripe is made from Senefelder's Crayon Black litho ink! Now that's one dedicated lithographer!

IS IT TWENTY TEN OR TWO THOUSAND TEN?

2010-01-04T06:50:00.000-08:00

For reasons known only to the liberal media, the new debate is what we will call this year, and by extension all years remaining in the century. In the past three days, I've heard no less than half a dozen talking heads going on about the proper terminology. While I have an opinion, the real answer is...who cares?

As we enter into the second decade of the 21st century, we also begin a year long celebration of the 90th birthday of Graphic Chemical & Ink Company You all probably know the story by now - founded by my grandfather in 1920, fast forward to 1948 (is that nineteen forty eight or one thousand nine hundred forty eight?) when my father began working here, fast forward again to modern times and either 1968 or 1972 depending upon how one calculates when I began my tenure here. I suspect that in 10 or more years someone will be going on at great length about the 100th anniversary and choose to gloss over the years from 1968 or 1972 until whenever I get around to retiring, but for now you get the history of the company from my point of view.

As many of our baby boomers will recall, the sixties were a turbulent era highlighted by sex, drugs and rock and roll. Fortunately where I was during the sixties was still mired deep in the fifties. Graphic on the other hand was expanding into a complete line of litho products. For many years we had produced excellent inks for litho, but the availability of high quality stones was somewhat limited. During 1968, the first of many trips to the quarries in Solnhofen, Germany was completed and a strong working relationship with the quarry directors was begun. This relationship is as strong today as it was over forty years ago.

Screen Printing supplies were available prior to that watershed year, but the selection was pretty weak. My recollection of the storage shelf was that it contained 5 or 6 quarts of ink, one of which was a pretty pathetic pink that ultimately was given away. In late 1968, we began expanding that line, and that expansion continues today.

Photo Intaglio was effectively non-existent - we sold almost a full case of presensitized zinc in 1968 - that was less than 30 sheets. Today, with the advent of numerous types of plates and techniques we sell more in a week than we used to in a quarter. Instead of being limited to one type of zinc, we now offer positive and negative working zinc and copper, as well as positive working steel, Photopolymer plates including Solar plates, polyester Pronto Plates, and ImagOn HD film which can turn any plate (or surface) into a presensitized surface.

Papers have changes in so many ways over this period. In 1968 we probably offered 20-30 different types of paper. Today, the number is in the hundreds. Our most recent effort in the paper world is the addition of relief papers from the Far East - Japanese, Thai, Bhutanese, Napalese, Vietnamese and many more. We have attempted to fill the gap left when one of the top paper purveyors in the country - Aiko's - closed its doors a few years ago.

The list of innovations and changes goes on. We are very proud of the place we have carved out for ourselves in the printmaking world. The one thing that we can never be, however, is complacent. Every year we research, test and market new products to make your work easier or more productive. A good percentage of our new product ideas come from printmakers. We listen pretty carefully, and while we don't add every product suggested, quite a few do make the cut.

GRAPHIC DESIGN POSITION

2009-12-30T10:35:00.000-08:00

Clarke College is seeking qualified candidates for a full-time tenure track teaching position in Graphic Design. The BFA Graphic Design Program is part of a thriving Studio Art and Art History Department. The successful candidate will have expertise in print and interactive media design and the ability to teach all levels in a comprehensive Graphic Design Program. The current program has very strong regional reputation.

Ideal candidate will be able to consistently assess the current program and adapt it to market needs of graduating students. Coursework includes: Intro to Visual Language, Exploring Typography and Layout, Publication Design, Corporate Design Systems, Web Site Design and Multimedia Design. Additional responsibilities include supervision of student internships and independent senior capstone projects as well as maintenance of Graphic Design Studio with 14 workstations.

MFA or terminal degree in Graphic Design, Visual Communications, Communications Design or related field. Prior successful teaching experience at the college level required and professional design studio experience a plus. Ongoing professional/creative activities, research and scholarship expected.

Clarke College is a Catholic liberal arts institution with an enrollment of approximately 1,200 students located in Dubuque, Iowa. Founded in 1843 by the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVMs). At Clarke College, we do things a bit differently – a difference that we say is “By Clarke.” For students, it means a place where more than facts are studied – it means new ways of thinking are explored. For faculty and staff, it means more than just coming to work every day – it means truly collaborating across the college to put student success first. It also means living and working in a thriving city named one of the “most livable” small cities in the country and one of “Best Green Places” in the country.

Applications are being accepted immediately and the position will remain open until filled. Applicants should send cover letter, curriculum vitae, teaching philosophy, digital portfolio (CD or website) of professional and student work, and names with contact information of three references to humanresources@clarke.edu or to 1550 Clarke Drive, Dubuque, IA 52001 Attn: Human Resources/Graphic Design Faculty.

Questions may be directed to the Chair of the Department, Louise Kames, at louise.kames@clarke.edu. Qualified applicants may arrange to meet with Clarke College Art and Art History faculty at CAA Chicago if desired. AA/EOE

L O U I S E K A M E S
Chair and Professor of Art
Clarke College
1550 Clarke Drive
Dubuque, IA 52001

NEW BOOKS FOR THE NEW YEAR

2009-12-23T11:59:00.000-08:00

It's the day before Christmas Eve, and I got to thinking about Christmas presents - specifically that I should buy some before it's too late. I'm thinking that the time may be a little late for that, but I'm the eternal optimist.

What it's not too late for is some new books from Graphic Chemical. The latest additions to the Graphic Library are a series of books from Crown Point Press in the "Magical Secrets" line. They include, the photo at the left, Magical Secrets about Aquatint by Emily York, Magical Secrets About Thinking Creatively, The Art of Etching and the Truth of Life by Kathan Brown, Magical Secrets About Line Etching & Engraving by Catherine Brooks, and Magical Secrets About Chine Colle by Brian Shure.

Each of these books provides a tremendous amount of information on the subject. The pricing ranges from $35 to $60 for the hard cover books. Each book comes with a "how to" CD to demonstrate the techniques explained in the book.

These are some of best new books available to printmakers, and while it's probably too late to get them in time for Christmas, they'll be in stock hopefully for a long time, so don't be shy order them for your favorite printmaker's birthday, anniversary, graduation or any other festive occasion that you want.

END PLUGS

2009-12-17T08:43:00.000-08:00

When we first came out with inks in cartridges, there were some spiffy caps that insured the the ink in the nozzle didn't dry out too fast. There were two problems with them, however. They didn't fit very well, so they were constantly getting lost, and we had to order huge numbers of them from the manufacturer.

They resolved both problems quite easily - they stopped making the product. While it wasn't a resolution that we would have chosen, it did allow us (or is it "force us"?) to begin a search for a better product. After years of searching and coming up dry, I stumbled across a perfect solution, shown above. Called a Caulk Saver, it can be used to a.) puncture the seal on a fresh cartridge, and b.) plug the end to help insure that the ink doesn't dry out between uses. After the seal is punctured, you can trim this off to better fit the cartridge if you like.

If you are a fan of Graphic Chemical on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Graphic-Chemical-Ink-Company/198706769147), you will probably have seen this puppy recently. It sells for around $1.00.

ARE YOU A FAN?

2009-11-15T08:39:00.000-08:00

I have mentioned from time to time that I am at best, challenged when it comes to technology. Frankly, that's giving me the benefit of an enormous doubt, but hey, it's my blog afterall!

I have just recently become aware of social networks like Facebook and Inkteraction. Somehow I find it weird to have to write to someone and ask them to be my friend. It kind of takes me back to first grade (I didn't go to Kindergarten because in the tiny town that I grew up in, only the private school had Kindergarten).

The social networks are humbling to say the least. I like to think that everybody knows Graphic Chemical & Ink Company and, by extension, me. That just ain't the case! Every once in a while, a friend request comes back with a message along the lines of, " who in the world are you?"

I recently returned from a trip that was mostly vacation. Vacations in the Clark family are trips where you see fewer customers than usual, but always find some printmakers. I was lucky enough to run into an art fair at our hotel, the day we left. Most of the art was made of local crafts...very well made, but for the most part, not my style. There was one artist, however, that had some truly amazing woodcuts. We had an opportunity to chat for a few minutes about her work...and of course, I saw it as an opportunity to suggest that we knew a little something about inks and papers as well.

Her artwork was truly incredible, but what most impressed me (or maybe it was depressed me) was that not only that she didn't know anything about Graphic Chemical, but that she was buying someone else's ink from one of our distributors.

So, we've still got a long way to go. But, for those of you who have heard of us (and I assume that means anyone reading this blog), I have a suggestion that should benefit you in the long run. Go to the following address: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Graphic-Chemical-Ink-Company/198706769147?v=wall and become a fan of Graphic Chemical & Ink Company.

We've had a great response so far, and hope that it will continue. Fans of GC&I will be eligible for special offers (there's one in place right now!) and more.

STUDENT SHOW - Art as Activism

2009-11-02T08:49:00.000-08:00

Murray State University student Stacey Reason received a fellowship to curate a national juried exhibition of student (undergrad & grad) work related to art as activism. More information can be found at the project website (below). If you are a student making work related to activism and social change, please enter. If you teach, please encourage students to enter. There is no entry fee!!

If you have questions, please contact Stacey directly. Her contact info can be found here:

www.processimpact.blogspot.com

MFA PRINTMAKING at Illinois State University

2009-10-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

MASTER OF FINE ARTS DEGREE IN

PRINTMAKING

ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY

NORMAL, ILLINOIS

PROGRAM

The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Printmaking at Illinois State University (ISU) is a professional degree program consisting of sixty hours and it emphasizes both theory and practice in the production, history, and teaching of the visual arts. Participation in internship or apprenticeship experience is expected, and the exhibition and demonstration of the student’s competency and intellectual maturity are requirements for graduation. A written project and an oral examination of the intellectual implications of the candidate’s work are also required.

A typical program of sixty hours of graduate work beyond the bachelor’s degree will include courses in the studio arts, art history, internship / apprenticeship, electives and culminating experience (comprehensive exhibition of studio work, oral examination, and written project).

PHILOSOPHY

Candidates will be expected to demonstrate artistic proficiency in printmaking as they are encouraged to explore conceptual directions in the other media. In addition to the students’ concentration in printmaking, a broad range of technical and aesthetic criticism is provided by faculty members in the two-dimensional area of the School of Art. Expertise in printmaking, drawing, painting, photography, and video is provided by this area, which coordinates its efforts with the four other areas in the School (3-D [sculpture, glass, metal, clay, wood], Graphic Design, Art History [including Visual Culture], and Art Education).

The printmaking faculty is committed to individual artistic development and we direct our teaching methodology toward nurturing artists who learn to explore personal experiences, studies, and directions in their work. The faculty believes in providing a facility, an environment, and experiences that will encourage the student’s artistic development. The faculty strives to maintain a professional atmosphere in the organization and maintenance of the studios.

Visiting artists with diverse artistic backgrounds interact with the students through individual and group critiques, lectures, demonstrations, publishing, and research print projects. Visiting artist programs provide continuing interchange between the disciplines in the School of Art at ISU.

FACILITIES

The intaglio studio is approximately 2,500 square feet in size. There are a 36" × 62" Brand etching press, a 16" × 30" Brand etching press, a 25" × 48" Takach etching press, an 18" × 36" Takach etching press, and a 43" × 84" Takach etching press. There are complete etching and aquatint facilities, adequate storage, and several glass-covered printing stations built into the shop. Substantial space and equipment, including a good selection of large rollers, are provided for experimental work as well as traditional approaches. The studio is equipped for copper and zinc etching, photo etching (using solar plates and Image-on film), monotype, and relief printing.

The lithography studio is approximately 2,500 square feet in size. There are a 36" × 60" Brand lithography press and two 34" × 60" Takach lithography presses, all with counter-weighted tympans for proofing and editioning. There are nearly two hundred lithographic stones available, ranging in sizes from 9" × 12" to 30" × 40". There is a 4' × 18' graining sink and six levigators. There are two stone / aluminum plate processing tables in the press room and another in the ventilation / exposure room. There are small and large diameter rollers, leather rollers, lightweight Takach platebases (30" × 40") and a wide variety of color inks available. Negative and positive working photo-litho plates are used. There is a special room for ventilating fumes during processing, which also includes an enlarger and a 33" × 42 ½" Nu Arc vacuum frame.

There is a complete letterpress facility with an electric Vandercook press, housed in its own room for student use. It is capable of printing 18" × 24" with type in a variety of styles and sizes available. The print area is currently developing its own computer facility and has an Epson Stylus Pro 3800 printer (which accommodates paper 17” wide) and an Epson Expression 10000 XL scanner (with a 12” X 17” bed) for graduate use. There is an additional computer facility just down the hall, which includes state of the art computers and software. There are black and white and color printers, 11" × 17".

The Graduate Studio Building is off campus, and it was created for all of the MFA students in the School of Art. This space has electric tools, a wood shop, and two large rooms set aside for installations and critique spaces. This situation allows the 2D and 3D students to interact with each other and the faculty.

The gallery space in the School of Art is unique. There are specially curated exhibitions by the director, Barry Blinderman and his staff, usually in Gallery I—the main gallery. Every other year there is a graduate exhibition in that space. The alternate year is the faculty exhibition. Every spring, Gallery I showcases the annual all student exhibition, and Galleries II and III have many student exhibitions during the year. All BFA and MFA students have one-person exhibitions to complete their degree requirements. An annual student exhibition in the spring calls for entries from all students in the studio and graphic design areas, with works selected by nationally known guest jurors.

There are other opportunities to exhibit in the community as well. The McLean County Arts Center and the Transpace Gallery (the latter is exclusive to ISU students) have regularly scheduled exhibitions. Also, Illinois Wesleyan University has a gallery and guest artists.

There are numerous major universities in the area. Chicago and St. Louis are about 2 ½ hours away and there are group trips arranged for special exhibitions.

NORMAL EDITIONS WORKSHOP:

PUBLISHING AND RESEARCH IN PRINTMAKING

The Normal Editions Workshop (NEW) is a non-profit printmaking workshop and research facility founded in Illinois State University in September 1976. This is an enrichment program for the education of our students. It augments the educational goals of the University and:

1. provides students an opportunity to work with and observe visiting artists within a professional workshop situation;

2. provides works of art for study collections and traveling exhibitions to promote visual dialogue among a variety of audiences;

3. provides custom printing services for artists throughout the United States (Kiki Smith, David Wojnarowicz, Arturo Herrera, Julia Fish, Sidney Goodman, Keith Jacobshagen, Donald Lipski, Dennis Oppenheim, Richard Rezac, John Himmelfarb, Hector Duarte, Rodney Carswell, and others);

4. provides advanced printmaking students the opportunity to participate in the NEW special projects class in addition to the Graduate Assistantship for NEW.

NEW has a 34" × 60" Takach motorized lithography press, preparation and printing areas, office space, print storage files, and a general work area.

NEW staff and student interns assist with the organization of the printmaking area’s annual print sale and exhibition, which includes prints by students and faculty in the School of Art. Faculty and student participation—and community involvement—are key elements in the ongoing success of the event. Most of the sales, which can total $5,000 or more, are paid to the artists / participants and some of the proceeds are donated to the program.

CURRENT FACULTY AND STAFF

Richard D. Finch, Professor of Art (teaches drawing) and Director of NEW

MFA, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, 1976

National Endowment for the Arts Artists’ Fellowship (1983-84)

Illinois Arts Council: Co-Director Program Grants (FY97-10)

Illinois Arts Council: Artist Fellowship / Finalist Award (1993)

Veda Rives, Associate Director of NEW

MA, Illinois State University, 1992

BFA, Illinois Wesleyan University, 1981

Illinois Arts Council: Co-Director Program Grants (FY97-10)

Sarah Smelser, Associate Professor of Art (teaches intaglio)

MFA, University of Iowa, 1997

MA, University of Iowa, 1996

Mid-America Print Council President (2006-08)

Tim Van Ginkel, Visiting Assistant Professor (teaches lithography)

MA, University of Iowa, 2007

MFA, University of Iowa, 2008

GRADUATE ASSISTANTSHIPS, SCHOLARSHIPS, WORK STUDIES, AND TUITION WAIVERS

A limited number of graduate assistantships are available in the printmaking area and in other areas of the School of Art. Graduate assistants maintain the printmaking studios and assist in teaching introductory courses in printmaking. Currently, the assistantship includes a stipend of $850/month plus a full tuition waiver. In addition, a limited amount of work-study funding is available for qualified applicants.

Scholarships and talent grants in the School of Art, which can total $65,000-$85,000 per year, are awarded to graduate and undergraduate students who exemplify the highest artistic and scholastic achievements. These scholarships and grants are awarded in the spring during the ISU Student Annual exhibition. The NEW Scholarship for outstanding artistic ability and performance in printmaking—based on portfolio review—is awarded also at that time.

ADMISSION PROCEDURE

Applicants should contact the Graduate School for admission procedures and requirements. Access information on the web at: http://www.ilstu.edu and http://www.cfa.ilstu.edu/art/mfa. Email: gradart@ilstu.edu.

Address correspondence to:

The Graduate School

Campus Box 4040

Hovey 309

Illinois State University

Normal, IL 61790-4040

Telephone (309) 438-2583

Specific inquiries related to the MFA in printmaking can be directed to:

Richard D. Finch (309) 438-7530 rdfinch@ilstu.edu

Veda Rives (309) 438-7530 vrives@ilstu.edu

Sarah Smelser (309) 438-8535 ssmelse@ilstu.edu

Tim Van Ginkel (309) 438-7837 tvangin@ilstu.edu

Becky Fisher, School of Art (309) 438-2728 gradart@ilstu.edu

WHAT A YEAR

2009-10-27T07:06:00.001-07:00

2009 has been quite a year, and while it's not over yet, I feel compelled to at least begin a retrospective.

Susan and I have been traveling more than usual, and some of it was actually vacation for a change. It's not that we're workaholics, but in this industry, it's almost impossible to travel somewhere without running into printmakers, usually without trying too hard.

January saw a last minute trip with friends to Orlando - and no, we didn't go to Disney World. Our friends are avid golfers and saw Orlando as heaven on earth. I, personally, think that golf is a four letter word. I was impressed with the fact that even the golf carts have GPS's on them. It's sad that my golf balls didn't have one too.

Later in the month, we were off to Frankfurt, Germany for the Paperworld show. This is likely the largest art materials show in the world, coupled with a larger office supply show, a beauty show and a Christmas show...it's just huge. We managed to find several new products which you will (or in some cases, already have) find very interesting. New products include two lines of brayers from England along with several safety supplies, and a remarkable 3 in 1 tool set that serves as a plastic baren, cutting tool set, and hand stamper.

March brought the Southern Graphics Council show in Chicago, which had the best attendance of any SGC show ever.

May represnted a personal milestone, but one which many of you are probably grateful for. I decided to retire from the Illinois State Board of Education after almost 6 1/2 years. Served with three Governors (1 in jail, 1 headed that way, and 1 still with a clean reputation), three State Superintendents and 16 different colleagues on the Board.

Never one to let too much grass grow under my feet, I have already added two activities to fill the gap. I agreed to be appointed by the current Governor to the Education Funding Advisory Board, a board I served on from 2000-2003, and I have agreed to serve on the Midwest Regional Board for a non-profit group called Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic.

It's just never dull around here. September took us back to the IMPACT show in Bristol, England. This was the 6th show that they've had, and we've attended 5. In two years we'll be in Melbourne, Australia and two years after that it looks like Dundee, Scotland is slated for IMPACT 8.

The Fall has been busy for the family with weddings (my niece), births (nephew's wife) and a trip around the World (another nephew) We've got one more trip planned for November, and then by golly, we're staying home - at least for a little while.

Oh, I almost forgot the picture at the top. That's my youngest grandson. This fearless mountain climber got up on the counters in Mom & Dad's kitchen, got into the cinnamon, and then posed for the picture!

IMPACT 6 RECAP

2009-09-23T07:07:00.001-07:00

What a show, you should have been there! IMPACT 6 was everything that we expected and more. The attendance was pegged at 410 artists and about a dozen vendors, over the two days of the Product Fair.

To add to the excitement, it was the weekend that students arrived on campus at the University of the West of England (UWE). "Fresher" events were numerous for the first year students. The City of Bristol, has undergone numerous changes in the 10 years since we last visited. It's a very vibrant modern city clothed in a medieval architecture.

We were fortunate enough to visit our good friends from Caligo on Friday evening. Joining us for a truly wonderful evening were representatives from our two UK distributors (T.N. Lawrence and Intaglio Printmaker) and family and staff of the gang at Caligo.

During the show, we introduced some stunning new German brayers that were really a hit with the artists at the show. We're still awaiting delivery to our shop, but we sold several in Bristol from the manufacturer's stock.

We also had an opportunity to travel for the first time to Scotland. One of the highlights was visiting with our friends Robert Adam and Carol Robertson, co-authors of two very successful books on printmaking: Screenprinting and Intaglio. These books are the definitive sources on some of the new less toxic printmaking techniques. We spent two days in the Edinburgh area followed by a day in Glasgow touring the brand new Glasgow Printmakers Co-op facilities and those at the Glasgow College of Art. What great facilities and staff that were generous with their time and proud of the places they work.

All in all, we had a very successful show and can't wait for Impact 7 in Melbourne, Australia - you should join us.

POSITIONS IN NORTHERN IRELAND

2009-09-23T06:50:00.001-07:00

This posting is a little bit late, but I just got it. It's a interesting opportunity for those of you with an adventuresome spirit.

From Ray Henshaw, Belfast Printmaking Workshop:

Please spread the word about these job offers, its important that we in BPW encourage people from outside to apply for the jobs. best wishes Raymond

Event Description:
belfastprintworkshop
Workshop Technical Manager

Purpose of post: To provide technical support and advise to all workshop members and work closely in collaboration with visiting artists in all areas of printmaking. To manage, maintain and develop the Workshop area with particular attention to Health & Safety legislation. To edition artists work through the expansion of the BPW editioning service. To assist in widening the workshop international reputation through exhibitions, residencies and opportunities for artists. And to manage the BPW archive of prints.

Salary: £20,000 Details from www.belfastprintworkshop.org.uk
Deadline 25th September 2009 4pm

Workshop Director Maternity Cover
(Secondments considered)
Purpose of post:
Maintain BPW programme for 2010, manage staff and volunteers, budget and finances, project manage activities, monitor the BPW Gallery, assist in fundraising and the ability to maintain/build on BPW reputation and programme.

Salary: £25,000-28,000 based on experience
6 months initial contract with possible extension
Details from www.belfastprintworkshop.org.uk
Deadline 25th September 2009 4pm

Administration Assistant
Purpose of post:
To assist the Belfast Print Workshop Director in administration duties to include finances, income & expenditure management, invoicing systems, stock control, report writing, research, evaluation and data management. An assist in exhibition preparation.
8 hours per week - in the first instance with possible extension throughout the year for specific activities. Flexible working hours available. Salary £7/hr
Details: www.belfastprintworkshop.org.uk
Deadline 18th September 2009 4pm
(Belfast Print Workshop is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community)

See more details and RSVP on INKTERACTION!:
http://inkteraction.ning.com/events/event/show?id=2282011%3AEvent%3A152357&xgi=1V2zNV4YBxnFmc

ARTIST IN RESIDENCY

2009-09-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

2010 Artist-In-Residence Application As a courtesy to our good friends at Anchor Graphics, I am posting their recent e-mail in it's entirety. This program has been very well accepted and appreciated in recent years.

Anchor Graphics at Columbia College Chicago
2010 Artist-In-Residence Application
Deadline: October 18, 2009

Each year Anchor Graphics welcomes 6 Artists-In-Residence into our printshop for 3 week residencies. This program is offered to artists who are proficient in printmaking and who want an uninterrupted stretch of time to develop a body of print-based work. Anchor will provide residents with basic materials, shop access, the technical assistance of our master printers, editioning assistance from our interns, and a small honorarium. In exchange, resident artists are expected to interact with students in Anchor Graphics and Columbia College printmaking classes, present a public lecture on their work, and donate a few prints created during their residency to the Anchor Graphics archives. This program was started as a service to emerging and established artists who have demonstrated a strong interest in printmaking and might not otherwise have regular access to professional presses and equipment. It is open to all experienced printmakers including those living in the Chicago area.

Please note: Anchor Graphics' ability to provide housing and the amount of honorariums is dependent on a constantly changing funding situation and may vary from year to year. Anchor Graphics does not cover travel expenses.

To apply please email:
-10 digital images (please send JPEGs, no Power Point presentations or PDFs, and make sure your images can be opened on a Mac.)
-image list
-curriculum vitae (with contact info: email, phone number, and mailing address)
-artist's statement
-a brief narrative about the project you will be working on during your residency

additional materials will not be reviewed

email required items to:
anchorgraphics@colum.edu

Applications for 2010 residencies must be received by midnight on October 18, 2009.
A review committee will select artist in November. Notifications will be set out through email in December.

James Iannaccone
Assistant to the Director
Anchor Graphics at Columbia College Chicago
623 S. Wabash Ave., Room 201
Chicago, IL 60605
312-369-6864
www.colum.edu/anchorgraphics

KEYS AND OTHER WORDS

2009-08-09T06:45:00.000-07:00

Wow! I am so rarely stunned into silence, but they got to me today. The phone call started out like the possible solution to a problem that has plagued us for several years. This nice young man was willing, for a fee, to insure top of the page placement on internet searches for Graphic Chemical. We know that we are a world leader in printmaking supplies, and probably the majority of printmakers in the US do too.

Internationally, printmakers recognize our name as a manufacturer of inks etc, but they tend to purchase from local distributors. In order to grow our business, the internet exposure seemed like just the ticket. Then reality reared its ugly head.

I sent the list of key words off to this nice young man named Joe. The list was kind of a no-brainer, terms like:

                                  
 Japanese paper                            printmaking supplies
 paper                                         handmade paper
specialty paper                            ink rollers
 printmaking paper                       plastic plates
screen printing ink                       etching ink
 Graphic Chemical                        Stones Crayons
 hand made paper                        intaglio
litho plates                                 litho stones
 collograph                                  zinc plates
copper plates                             Speedball
Akua Kolor                                 Akua Intaglio
Charbonnel                                etching tools
  ImagOn Film

and so on. We could have come up with a hundred words easily. The problem is
that the cost involved with this was along the lines of the cost of another
employee! Here's the rub... if I do that we'll get great placement for whatever
period of time we choose. As a lawyer friend of mine once told me, he defends
his clients until their last dime. Joe would have pushed our placements right up
to my last dime. Well, guess who ends up paying for our indulgence? That's right
 ....you do!

Don't worry we won't go that route, we'll have to find a better way to let our
customers know what a great deal we can offer them. Any suggestions?

ART IN NEW ZEALAND

2009-08-05T07:23:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wanted to be an internationally acclaimed artist? Well, here's your chance to start down that road. I am posting this, pretty much as it was received in hopes that some of you will consider submitting prints to Art at Wharepuke.

Kerikeri
Bay of Islands
New Zealand

Art at Wharepuke

Open Submission International Print Show

Details>

Open Submission NZ Print Show/USA Exchange

Entry Form Link>

Selected works will feature in a representative exhibition of New Zealand printmaking at Art at Wharepuke Gallery, Kerikeri, New Zealand and will then be sent as part of an exchange exhibition to The Gallery at Zea Mays Printmaking, Massachusetts, U.S.A. http://www.zeamaysprintmaking.com

The Wharepuke Print Studio and Zea Mays Printmaking are dedicated to non toxic and safer, green printmaking respectively. Whilst submitted work can be made with any recognised printmaking technique non toxic processes are encouraged.

Exhibition dates:
Art at Wharepuke, NZ – 18th December 2009 – 18th January 2010
The Gallery at Zea Mays Printmaking, USA – early 2010

Entry Requirements:
Send:

Images of 3 works, in any recognised printmaking technique (intaglio, relief, planographic, digital) – no giclée reproductions - as Jpegs on CD

Paper size (210 x 297 mm) to fit A4 frame (work will be floated)

Completed application form and CV/Bio

Entry fee of NZ$50.00. (This covers both exhibitions - framing, postage to USA, return of works, advertising and admin)

Cheques Payable to: Wharepuke Print Studio
or by direct credit to: ANZ Kerikeri 010382-0082741-00 (please include NZ OPEN PRINT as reference)

If accepted for exhibition 6 of each selected work will be required to be sent flat packed by Monday December 7th; framing will be undertaken by the galleries.

DEADLINE FOR CD ENTRIES: October 31st 2009

Entry Form Link>

Art in New Zealand
Art at Wharepuke
190 Kerikeri Road Kerikeri, Bay of Islands, Northland, New Zealand 0230
From overseas Ph +64 9 407 8933 within New Zealand Ph 09 407 8933
e-mail us

KICKING & SCREAMING ....

2009-07-22T08:12:00.001-07:00

Years ago, I had frequent discussions with my father that usually ended with me threatening to drag him, kicking and screaming into the 19th century. He'd always say, "you mean the 20th century." My usual response was that I had, indeed meant the 19th!

Well, there are those around Graphic these days that believe that I'm need to follow my own advice. They're wrong, of course, but I decided to offer at least one product that I'd sworn I wouldn't. At the right you see a Badger Air Brush and Compressor which is a top of the line product. We talked with the folks at Badger for a couple of months to insure that this was what our customers needed.

So what possible reason would a printmaker have to purchase an air brush? The first thing that comes to mind would be to apply the Lascaux A.R.E. products - specifically the Aquatint Spray Resist. The very first time I used an air brush was in the studio at Lascaux, learning to do just that. You might be tempted to ask, "How difficult is it?". Funny you should ask, because one of the least artistic people I know (that would be yours truly) picked it up like a duck to water.

This airbrush is a joy to work with. All of the guesswork is gone, plug it in and away you go. Even I had a hard time screwing it up...o.k. one minor flaw figuring out how to make the trigger work, but one of my kids showed me how to do it.

While I'm waxing poetic about products, the 2009-10 Graphic Chemical & Ink Company catalog should be ready to hit the streets fairly soon - probably in August. We expect to have many new items, a slightly changed format. more pictures, more color, and all for the same low price - free.

Since we've hired outside help to help us with the catalog, we anxious to get feedback from customers about what they like and, heaven forbid, don't like. Next step will be to update the website in similar fashion. Like I said, they're dragging me kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

2009-10 CATALOG

2009-07-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

We are in the final stages of production for the next edition of Graphic Chemical & Ink Co's Printmakers Materials catalog.

I am usually surprised at the list of new items that have found their way into the catalog. It shouldn't be a surprise because we spend a lot of time actively searching for new items. Just in the past year we have attended numerous trade shows looking for things to tempt you...things that aren't found in too many printmaking supply catalogs.

As the logo above attests, we have added several complete lines of Lascaux products, including the Studio Colors and the Resonance Gouache. Both lines have a great range of colors. These are remarkably high quality acrylic colors worthy of any studio.

In a conscious effort on our part, we continue to add significant numbers of Oriental papers from several sources. Our goal is to provide as many types of papers as possible. Actually, more to the point, our goal is to sell more types of papers than anyone. Our paper specialists have really gotten into these thin papers, and are obsessed with packaging them so that there will be no damage in transit. We have a handful of limited supply high end papers. They aren't inexpensive, but they're really great sheets.

Another area that we like to think we excel in is brayers. We've added a new source of brayers that run from 50 mm to 300 mm. These EAC Brayers come in a standard and a deluxe style, and brayers 200 mm and smaller come with a standard single handle, while 250 and 300 mm are a double handled tool.

In addition to the brayers, we have numerous other materials from the same source. Unique products include a combination bench hook and hand guard. We've showed this at a couple of trade shows recently, and people really like them. There is also a 3 in 1 tool set. It is a carving set with 5 blades , a baren for printing your carved block, and it also serves as a stamper. You get round disks that are adhesive backed. These will fit on the baren surface of this tool. The material itself is similar to the Speedy-Cut blocks.

IMPACT VI

2009-06-07T18:21:00.001-07:00

Wow! I had this really amazing post written about the upcoming IMPACT show in Bristol, England. In all likelihood, it was my best writing to date, but you'll have to take my word for it, because I forgot to save it!

The picture above is Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge, which is the longest suspension bridge in some place or the first one somewhere. Obviously I don't know anything about it but I've traveled across it and under it by car and train. It's very impressive.

Welcome to the Clifton Suspension Bridge

The Clifton Suspension Bridge, spanning the beautiful Avon Gorge, is the symbol of the city of Bristol. For almost 150 years this Grade I listed structure has attracted visitors from all over the world. Its story began in 1754 with the dream of a Bristol wine merchant who left a legacy to build a bridge over the Gorge.

The first competition in 1829 was judged by Thomas Telford, the leading civil engineer of the day. Telford rejected all the designs and submitted his own but the decision to declare him the winner was unpopular and a second competition was held in 1830. 24 year old Isambard Kingdom Brunel was eventually declared the winner and appointed project engineer – his first major commission.

The foundation stone was laid in 1831 but the project was dogged with political and financial difficulties and by 1843, with only the towers completed, the project was abandoned.
Brunel died prematurely aged 53 yrs in 1859 but the Bridge was completed as his memorial and finally opened in 1864. Designed in the early 19th century for light horse drawn traffic it still meets the demands of 21st century commuter traffic with 11-12,000 motor vehicles crossing it every day.

An Interpretation Centre is situated at the Leigh Woods end of the bridge. It contains information and images of the plans in the competition, the construction and completion of the bridge, and how it is maintained today.
Books, postcards and souvenirs are on sale. Open 10am - 5pm daily throughout the year.

The IMPACT show itself is once again at the University of the West of England (UWE), were it started 10 years ago. Steve Hoskins and Richard Anderton are again hosting what I believe is Europe's premier printmaking conference. The dates are September 16-19, 2009, and we'll be happy to put you in touch with the organizers if you are interested in attending

NAMTA 2009

2009-05-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

The NAMTA (National Art Materials Trade Association) show has stepped down to cities in what is considered Tier 2. We no longer go to New York, LA, Boston or Chicago. but now we travel to Reno, Louisville, Indianapolis and Orlando.

This year's show in Louisville was no step down in my mind. Whether it's the economy or the difficulty in getting to Louisville, the show was not very well attended, but those who were there were buying. As with any NAMTA show, the highlight was the President's Reception. The reception was held at world-famous Churchill Downs, less than a week after the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby. It could have been the 136th, but I don't think so.

Most of these fine horses are expected to carry 126 pounds (including the saddle). This poor baby drew the short straw and had the equivalent of two jockeys on his back, but it didn't slow him up even a step - in fact he hardly broke a sweat!

It is entirely likely that if this printmaking supply gig doesn't work out, I may consider a career change. The silks that I'm wearing in the picture aren't the most colorful, but they could improve. Hey if the Derby winner went off at 50:1 how much worse could it get with me on the nag?

There were a number of new items that we are looking at based on conversations at NAMTA. We'll have more on those as testing proves them top be viable or not. More to the point, there were several of our new products were quite the hit in Louisville. The biggest hit of the new products would have to be either the Baren Kit (with 5 or 10 blades) or the Safety Hand Guard which serves as a bench hook, and safety guard all in one.!

Both products are featured on or web site: the safety guard is product #24162 and the Baren Kit is items #24143 or 24144 for the 5 blade and 10 blade kits respectively.

There were numerous encounters at the show, most good, and one really strange one, but I'll need to have more than a little Kentucky Bourbon to reveal the strange one. Don't you just hate it when I do something like this?

SGC CHICAGO 2009

2009-04-06T08:43:00.000-07:00

It came and went so rapidly that we almost missed it, but it certainly left a mark before it was gone. The long anticipated SGC show in Chicago was spectacular to say the least.

While the final numbers aren't in yet, the attendance was off the charts. Over 1800 printmakers registered for the 3 day event, far and away the largest attendance ever for Southern Graphics. The 35 vendors in attendance was another record, and a like number of publishers helped to make the Product Fair the best ever.

I'd like to offer a special thanks to the tireless volunteers on the Organizing Committee led by David Jones from Anchor Graphics. For a year and a half this group met to plan and execute a great show, and that's exactly what they produced. Chicago is always a great place for a trade show.

I'm biased, but the city is a true gem that lends itself to showing visiors a great time. Our restaurants are second to none, and the city's committmentto the arts is unrivaled anywhere. Yes, there were a few glitches - the City that Works decided to do sidewalk repair outside of the main entrance to one of our venues just days before the show started.

A huge last minute registration left many of the demonstrations seriously over crowded. As a vendor, give me a crowd like this any time. The picture at the left was honestly taken during a lull in the Product Fair.

Next year, SGC visits another of my favorite cities...Philadelphia for the 2010 show. With the Chicago show to build from, I expect that this will be another great show. And, about the only thing that comes close to topping a great Italian Beef sandwich from Chicago could be an authentic Philly Cheese Steak!

2ND CENTURY - BETTER THAN THE FIRST

2009-04-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, this begins the second century - not of Graphic Chemical & Ink (we're only 89 years old), but rather the second hundred posts on the Printmaking Materials Blog. And, what better way to start post #101 than with a recap on the recent Southern Graphics Conference meeting in Chicago last week?

First and foremost, this show was staggeringly successful. I want to extend a special thanks to David Jones of Anchor Graphics who was the guy in charge of everything. Additionally thanks need to go to Andrew Whatley from host school Columbia College. Andrew and David were instrumental in minimizing the problems that always happen with anything this large.
Speaking of large, the registration numbers aren't final yet, but we anticipate about 1800 printmakers registered for SGC! We also had a record number of vendors and publishers. This just serves to prove what many of us already knew - Chicago is a great city, particularly for artists.

As the show ended, we began final preparations for the Graphic Open House. Mother Nature also began final preparations for a nasty late winter storm. We were told to expect 6" of wet, heavy snow, and we probably got 2" at Graphic, but we also got an additional 2" of water inside our production department, too. It was hardly noticed by the 3-4 dozen die hards who braved the elements. Hopefully they appreciated the effort that was displayed by our staff to get everyhting ready.

Thanks also to Gary and Sherril Owens from E.C. Lyons and Walt and Ginny Glazer from Speedball Art for helping out. Lascaux, our Swiss supplier of Etching, Screen Printing and Painting supplies provided Swiss chocolate and free samples of some of their products.

Our hit products at SGC included the Lascaux paints, and the brand new brayers from England. Of course, the Graphic Chemical inks were almost sold out by the end of the show. Everyone that we talked to at the show was similarly impressed with the SGC Conference, and rightly so.

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE

2009-03-22T08:23:00.000-07:00

After 18 months of planning, it's go time!

The organizing committee for the upcoming Southern Graphics Conference has done all that they can do in preparation for the best ever SGC meeting. Like any effort of this scale, there have been problems... the Hilton Hotel seems to be trying to get out of this economic situation by charging SGC through the nose for everything. The City of Chicago has chosen this week to do major construction work in front of one of the main venues at Columbia College. No matter, we're ready. There are dozens of galleries in Chicago that are having shows coordinated to the SGC conference.

An original performance, written by Warrington Colescott, will be performed by a Columbia College troupe. And, of course, there is my personal favorite...the Product Fair.

This year, we have 1550 preregistered for the show, over 30 vendors, including several new faces. The Open Portfolio, on Saturday, will once again be in the same general area as the Product Fair in the Northwest Exhibit Hall at the Hilton.

Last, and I hope certainly not least, on Sunday, March 29 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm we will host an Open House at Graphic Chemical & Ink. We'll have the nickel tour, door prizes, refreshments and much more.

So here's the facts:

SGC Conference, March 26-29 at Columbia College, 623 South Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL
Product Fair, March 27, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Chicago Hilton and Towers, 800 S Michigan
March 28 8:30 am to 4:00 pm
Graphic Open House, March 29, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, 728 North Yale Avenue, Villa Park, IL

See you in Chicago - soon.

OPEN HOUSE - MARCH 29th

2009-03-03T15:08:00.000-08:00

I have been announcing this in numerous ways, but lo and behold not here. What was I thinking?

In conjunction with the Southern Graphics Council conference in Chicago (March 25-29, 2009), Graphic Chemical & Ink is planning on hosting an Open House at World Headquarters on March 29th from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.

For those of you not familiar with our facilities, World Headquarters are located at 728 North Yale Avenue, Villa Park, IL 60181. Lest you get the wrong idea, we aren't exactly a 100,000 square foot building. We don't have multiple floors. In fact we could lie our way to about 11,000 square feet - roughly the size of the 8 Track Tape Department at Best Buy.

Not to cast aspersions on software manufacturers, but some commonly used software isn't too clear about our location. Yale avenue is 1 1/2 blocks long where we are located. You can only get to our building by turning off of eastbound North Avenue (Illinois Route 64), or by turning off of Ardmore Avenue onto Shiller , which dead ends at Yale. Should you have problems with directions, call us at 630-832-6004, and someone will talk you in.

Villa Park is actually pretty close to O'Hare Airport for those of you headed out that way. Public transportation is available on the Union Pacific West Line which takes about 40 minutes to get out from the Ogilvie Transportation Center (Madison and Canal) in Chicago to the Villa Park station. The Villa Park station is about a mile or less from Graphic.

We expect to have refreshments, possibly raffle prizes, and who knows what else we can think of between now and the 29th. Remember that you get a twofer when you come out here - you also get the new headquarters of Stones Crayons in the bargain.

We really look forward to seeing you out here on March 29th.

ARTIST IN RESIDENCY - LINCOLN, NE

2009-03-02T07:13:00.000-08:00

Artist-in-Residence Opportunities at Lux Center for the Arts, Lincoln, NE

Postmark Deadline: March 15

Residencies available in ceramics, printmaking, painting, and fibers. Residency is available for 3 months or up to 2 years scheduled to begin May 1, 2009 for most areas. An MFA is preferred but not necessary. Residency is granted based on quality of work and community-mindedness. Residents are provided with private or share studio spaces and most materials necessary to produce work. Year-long residents receive a solo show at the end of their residency and all residents receive representation in the Lux Center's sales gallery throughout their residency. Residents have 24 hour access to facilities. Residents are responsible for studio management and maintenance, approximately 10-12 hours per week. Residents are expected to assist with opening receptions and special events. No stipend is offered but residents with MFA have the opportunity to teach for Doane College at an average of $300 per month and all residents have opportunities to teach community classes for adults and youth for pay. Contact the Education Director at 402-466-8692 for more info or visit www.luxcenter.org.

Jenni Brant

Education Director

brant@luxcenter.org

Lux Center for the Arts

2601 N 48th Street

Lincoln, NE 68504

402-466-8692

www.luxcenter.org

The mission of Lux Center for the Arts is to enhance the lives of a diverse public through the visual arts by providing exceptional learning opportunities in contemporary art, craft, and design. These opportunities, honoring the legacy of arts educator Gladys M. Lux, include art classes, residence programs, gallery exhibitions, and community outreach.

12th NATIONAL SMALL WORKS SHOW

2009-02-25T13:20:00.000-08:00

I have posted the information below as a service to our friends at Washington Printmakers Gallery. Questions can be directed to Ellen Winkler

Calling all printmakers

Washington Printmakers Gallery announces its 12th National Small Works Show This year's juror is Jane Haslem - Director of Jane Haslem Gallery & a nationally known print dealer. First prize is a solo show at Washington Printmakers Gallery, located in Washington DC's renowned Dupont Circle gallery district. Deadline is May 25. A prospectus is attached* and also may be downloaded at www.washingtonprintmakers.com.

* It's supposed to be attached, but I can't figure out how to do it! Dean

PRINTMAKING IN FLORENCE

2009-02-16T13:36:00.001-08:00

I have posted this as is for any of you who would be interested in a good reason to go to Florence...like there's a bad reason to go.

Summer Class in Florence, Italy
Syracuse University

Experimental Printmaking and the Artist's Book
(PRT 300/500, 3 credits, undergraduate or graduate)
May 28 – July 11, 2009
Prof. Holly Greenberg

This is a hands-on studio for art students interested in exploring new ways of image-making through experimental methods of printmaking and the artist's book. Demonstrations include: monotype, collagraph, photo-collagraph, Pronto plates, gum printing, chine colle, eastern and western bookbinding, and marbleizing paper. Studio work is complemented with field trips to the Uffizi Gallery and area artisans working in book arts, printmaking, and fine art papers.

http://suabroad.syr.edu/programs/summer/view/391
DEADLINE: MARCH 1

Dusty Herbig
Assistant Professor of Art-Printmaking
Syracuse University
School of Visual & Performing Art
Comstock Art Building
Syracuse, NY 13210

315.559.3206

PAPERWORLD RECAP

2009-02-08T16:32:00.000-08:00

Susan and I just returned from what I believe was a fairly

successful trip to the Paperworld Trade Show in Frankfurt, Germany. This show is about a lot more than paper, and it's huge! The best part of the show, other than renewing acquaintances with many of our friends and customers, is the variety of new products we've planned to add to our inventory - soon.

For the paper connoisseur, we've seen some amazing papers that will soon grace our shelves - and your studios. Our freinds Nancy and Peter from the Japanese Paper Place have introduced us toMr. Moriki of the world famous Moriki Paper Company. The pride that he shows in his product is remarkable, and rightly so. Moriki has been making fine relief papers for generations. We have ordered some remarkable sheets that hopefully we'll have to show at the upcoming Southern Graphics Conference in Chicago (mark your calendars - it's just around the corner).

Some of these new papers are limited availability, but they are well worth the effort.

We also visited with Barbara from Lascaux Colors in Switzerland. After a lengthy and very productive meeting, we're adding a couple of color ranges to our already large inventory of these products. In addition to the Sirius Acrylic, Sirius Watercolors, and Gouache lines already on our shelves, we're adding the Studio Acrylics and the Resonance Gouaches. These products are great for painting, monoprintinhg and screen printing.The Resonance line is also ideally suited for art therapy applications. Lascaux refers to this range as "a colour filled with lifew impulses.These colors support and encourage the soul's expressive potential and have a harmonic effect on both the individual and his or her environment."

These unique colors with 28 hues can be used in all applications in which color should be realized as a sensuous quality beyound its visual presence. Look for these also at SGC. We'll be offering a special on the 85 ml Studio Acrylic set buy three colors and get a fourth one free!

We weren't done yet, however. We stumbled across a new source for brayers, barens, carving tools and much more. This source from the U.K. has safety cutters, innovative hand guards,and bench hooks. These products are affordable - especially with the Dollar showing some signs of strength right now.

It wasn't all work, we were able to sleep on the plane - sort of. In the middle of all this, the great State of Illinois chose that exact moment to throw the Governor out of office! We couldn't get much in the way of news from the U.S. but they all know about Blagojevich (even if they couldn't pronounce his name!)

Finally, I've talked a lot about showcasing all of the new products at SGC, but the other thing that we fully expect to do is to host an Open House following the conference on Sunday, March 29 at Graphic Chemical & Ink Company.

Come on out and join us for a few minutes or a few hours between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm. We're located at 728 North Yale Avenue, in Villa Park. Just 17 miles west of downtown Chicago, convenient to major highways and public transportation, and if we get enough people willing to commit to the trip, we'll look into hiring a bus to make the trip easier for you.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR JOB SEARCH

2009-02-06T16:39:00.000-08:00

The following was received from Roxanne Sexauer, announcing an opening as described below:

Executive Director Job Search

Self Help Graphics is seeking to hire an executive director who will be responsible for the day-to-day management of operations and execution of long-term artistic vision to ensure the organization fulfills its mission. The ideal candidate will have sensitivity to, knowledge of and respect for the special needs of Chicano and Latino artists in Los Angeles and beyond. He/she will have experience working with diverse stakeholders including artists, volunteers, community members, funders, peer organizations and elected officials. The executive director will also have a proven track record in business management and fund development. The Executive Director reports directly to the SHG Board of Directors.

The executive director will supervise the activities of the master printmaker, printer's apprentice and the printmaking facility. Under the direction of the SHG Board of Directors, the executive director will develop job descriptions for and hire new staff members as needed.

POSITION REQUIREMENTS

Education:
· Bachelor's Degree
· Masters Degree or MFA preferred

Experience:
· Desired 10+ years of management experience with supervisory responsibility
· Finance, accounting and business management experience
· Fund development, grant making and/or management experience
· Experience in the arts, preferably visual arts
· Deep knowledge of Chicano and Latino art history
· Significant experience in the non-profit or public sector
· Command of Chicano and/or Latino history, culture and current issues
· Strong communication and interpersonal skills
· Experience with accounting software a plus
· Proficiency using Microsoft Word and Excel

Compensation: Salary commensurate with experience plus benefits

APPLICATION
All applicants should submit a cover letter, resume and salary requirements to the attention of Rose Ramirez atrose.ramirez@selfhelpgraphics.com by February 28, 2009.

TRADE SHOWS 2009

2009-01-18T18:36:00.001-08:00

I like to think that I'm smarter than the average bear, of course
there are those who would argue the point, and after reading this you'll probably agree. I believe fervently in backing up computers, at least when it comes to Graphic Chemical. We actually subscribe to a service that backs up something like every six minutes!

I'm not quite as good about backing up my personal computer, which also serves as my PC workstation at Graphic. Why should I back up? Nothing could happen, right? Well, it did, and apparently it was catastrophic. Everything on my hard drive ceased to exist right around the Holidays. Mostly, I lost most of, but not all of my pictures. I also lost most of the forms used for export shipments, but they can be replaced. I believe that I've learned my lesson this time.

So, what's this got to do with the title, " TRADE SHOWS 2009"? Pretty much nothing, but I felt like venting. There are a number of important trade shows coming up this year, that I feel compelled to make note of.

January-February 2009- The Paperworld Show in Frankfurt, Germany. This is a huge show, open to dealers, manufacturers etc. in a variety of industries. The art materials part is in all likelihood the largest art materials show in the World. We're going this year to touch base with some of our distributors and several suppliers, plus if we're lucky we'll find a few new ones in each category.

March 2009 - Southern Graphics Conference in Chicago. This is the most impportant show in the printmaking world, and it'sin our backyard this year. We've been working hard to get the show organized and for us to be ready for our best show yet.

May 2009 - National Art Materials Traade Association - Louisville, KY. This is an annual show for dealers of art materials. It's a fair sized show that will influence what your local art supply store will end up stocking in the next year.

September 2008 - Impact VI in Bristol, England. This show runs every other year in odd-numbered years (Mid America Print Council runs in the even numbered years). While this is a smaller show for exhibitors, the turn out of printmakers - especially those from the US and Europe is pretty impressive.

Finally, the pictures at the top - we've already established that I'm limited in the number of pictures I have available, but these are two "new" products. Actually they are acid dropping bottles, an item discontinued several years ago. We have found a source and have added them to the website. Hope you enjoy them.

FREE SHIPPING, OR PLAYING THE PERCENTAGES

2008-12-10T07:01:00.000-08:00

I have recently joined a printmakers group called INKTERACTION (http://inkteraction.ning.com/) that is quite amazing to me. at last count almost 2000 printmakers were members, exchanging ideas, imagery and for all I know cookie recipes.

I did come across in a period of 24 hours a disturbing aspect to the world of printmaking supply. Graphic Chemical & Ink has always been straightforward with our customers when it comes to terms and pricing. The old line has always been that we don't offer free shipping because we can't find the truck line that will ship for free,

In an exchange with a relief artist, I mentioned that we have an alternative product that might be of interest to her - the Vinyl Relief Plates from Japan. She was quite interested because the cost of unmounted linoleum from her supplier was very expensive. In her response, however, she mentioned that she used that source because they were somewhat local and they offered free shipping!

At that point the antenna went up, and I began researching the issue. In the same vein as the old saying that "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch" there is equally no such thing as free shipping. Oh sure, somebody could cut a deal to win a bid or something, but in case you haven't noticed shipping charges from all carriers have been going through the roof lately, and they weren't that great to start with!

In this young lady's case, her "free shipping" cost her approximately $80, on a shipment of 50 feet of 36" wide lino. Her source charges $21.25 per running foot of 36" wide material, while Graphic charges $16.50 per running foot of the same lino. So, her neighborhood supplier charges $237.50 more for the same material - but the shipping is free. Shipping charges from Villa Park to that location would be about $150 or so.

Then, because I was wound up about how people look at pricing, I was checking out a website for one of our distributors. I noticed that this dealer sells our 514C Bone Black for a reasonable price - good for them. Unfortunately, they felt compelled to mislead the customer about the savings involved. Their site shows the list price at $ 24.99 for the one pound can of Bone Black. I have to assume that it's their list price because ours is $12,50!

There is an entire industry out there that preys on the fact that page placement is everything. If your website isn't in the first 3-4 in a category, your chances of someone stumbling onto your site is almost nil. The problem is that it all costs money - and where do you suppose the money comes from - from you. Small manufacturers cannot compete well in that kind of market. I hope it doesn't sound like whining. It's just a fact of life. but consider who the companies are that actually make the materials that you buy. Most of them are small - even smaller than Graphic Chemical if that's possible. Many are struggling with the economic situation and several have closed their door within the past few years. I urge you to give some consideration to supporting the little guys, while they're still around.

WEDDING BELL BLUES

2008-11-28T14:38:00.000-08:00

So, after almost a year of planning, the first ever wedding of two Graphic Chemical employees has happened. Oh, it's not the first time that two GC employees were married (e.g Susan and me, my parents, Sarah and Pete, the Snyders and a few others), but the first time that two employees got married.

Liz and Josh managed, despite a few obstacles, to tie the knot on November 8th. It was a glorious affair marred only by the inconsiderate boor who not only left his cell phone on in Church, but actually had a call during the service! He had a very distinctive ring tone, so the assignment of blame was immediate and conclusive. The ring tone was a tune called Suicide is Painless which as many of you know as the theme song to M*A*S*H.

What makes the story even better, the father of the bride (that would be me for those of you operating without a genealogy chart) is addicted to M*A*S*H - possibly being the world's foremost expert thereof - and actually has the theme song as his ring tone!

That's right, my blasted phone rang twice during the service because I couldn't get it turned off quickly enough! It actually rang six more times before we left Church, but at least by then I had it on vibrate. Afterwards, a friend asked me who had called since everyone I knew was at the wedding. It turns out that I have made some unsavory acquaintances in my years of quasi-politics. The most unsavory would not be the obvious politicians currently in jail, or headed there, but rather the reporters who helped put them there. It was, in fact a reporter, who was actually just looking for someone else to confirm a story! She did, by the way, get the story wrong anyway.

During the father-of-the-bride speech later in the afternoon, no fewer than three of my friends tried calling me. My story (and I'm sticking with it) is that the phone was on as a courtesy to President-elect Obama. If he called offering me a post like Secretary of Education or Defense, I didn't want him to have to deal with voice mail.

In about five years or so, I expect that Susan will begin to see the humor of the situation ...maybe.

THE LAST WORD - for now

2008-10-20T09:33:00.000-07:00

I have received the following letter from Suellen Bock, President of Rembrandt Graphic Arts. While I appreciate the sentiment and kind words about Graphic Chemical & Ink, I am truly sorry that Rembrandt came to this end.

Dear Friends and Customers of Rembrandt Graphic Arts,

After 61 years of service to the graphic arts community Rembrandt Graphic Arts has closed its doors. We are truly proud to have been of service and deeply grateful for your support.

We would like your to draw your attention to and recommend Graphic Chemical and Ink Company www.graphicchemical.com who have be serving the graphic arts community reliably and courteously for the past 88 years. They have a superb knowledge base, reputation for the quality, variety and comprehensiveness of their inks, papers, tools, chemicals and equipment.

We wish everyone well and happy printmaking for many years to come.

Once again, many thanks for your support.
Yours truly,

Suellen Bock

LAPS 20th NATIONAL EXHIBITION

2008-10-20T07:26:00.000-07:00

We received the following notice from the Los Angeles Printmaking Society, and have chosen to pass this along as a service to printmakers in the US and Canada

CALL FOR ENTRIES
LOS ANGELES PRINTMAKING SOCIETY 20th NATIONAL EXHIBITION

Entry deadline: February 1, 2009

Open to: USA and Canadian printmakers

Location: Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery

Dates: October 30 to December 29, 2009

Opening reception: November 1, 2009, 2-5 PM

Media: Original works in all Printmaking media
including monotypes, monoprints and
3-dimensional work. LAPS will not
consider traditional photography, offset
reproductions or reproductions of art
originally produced in another medium.

Juror: Peter Frank, Senior Curator at the Riverside
Art Museum and critic for Angelino
magazine and LA Weekly, Associate Editor at
THE magazine LA.

Fees: $30 non-refundable for three entries and $35 for
five entries in US currency (members in good
standing: $25 and $30).

Awards: The 19th National yielded over $4,000 in cash and
purchase awards. $3.000 minimum is
guaranteed.

Catalog: Will be distributed to each participating artist.
Additional copies will be available in the
gallery.

For prospectus: SAS legal sized envelope to:
LAPS 20th National Exhibition c/o Cathy Weiss
1947 Weepah Way,
L.A., CA 90046
(213) 891- 4468
email: LAPS20thNational@gmail.com
Or visit the LAPS website,

www.LAPrintmakers.com

MAPC - FARGO, ND

2008-09-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

I don't want to give short shrift to the Mid-America Print Council's (MAPC) show coming up this week, but with the back-to-school rush, it's sometimes hard to remember what day it is, let alone when the next show is coming up. For the record, the dates are October 1-4, 2008.

As always, Graphic Chemical will be represented there, but this time we're only going to be there for the first two days (Thursday and Friday, October 2nd & 3rd). Due to previous, wedding-related commitments, the half day on Saturday will have to get along without us.

I'm looking forward to the show for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, we have a chance to network with many of our customers that we don't get to see all that often. We have a number of newer items that we will highlight at the Product Fair, and finally I have never been to North Dakota before. So, why is that a big deal? Well, when I land at the Fargo airport, I will have landed in my fiftieth state. It's been a goal I've had since I first set foot outside of Illinois.

In fairness, I should revise that statement so as not to get caught in a lie! It's been my revised goal for 49 years (ever since we first had 50 states. Some states haven't gotten the full treatment - Alaska, for example, has been visited twice for a total of 2 hours and Maine once for about a half hour. I'm going to get back to both soon because there are way too many customers that I haven't visited with in places like that.

Anyway, look out North Dakota, because I'm on my way - see you Wednesday evening.

COLLOTYPE INKS - The Mystery Revealed

2008-08-29T07:33:00.000-07:00

I have prevailed upon my friend Michael Craine, managing director of the company that makes, among other products, the Caligo Safe Wash inks, to enlighten printmakers about the Collotype process. I appreciate his efforts to help all of us understand the medium a little better.

Never one to miss an opportunity, I have added Caligo's Collotype Inks to the selection offered by Graphic Chemical & Ink. We have a small but loyal following of collotype artists using our Senefelder's Crayon Black Litho Ink, but now the possibilities are significantly expanded. Enjoy....

The one thing I can’t claim for collotype printing is that it is easy, cheap or ready to become the next big thing in printmaking! If truth be told, it’s laboriously slow, extremely complex, technically demanding, specialized and expensive… but it can produce the most staggeringly beautiful, fine and accurate prints imaginable.

The underlying theory is similar to the same mad idea behind lithography: Oil and water don’t mix! With collotype, the science is pushed to a higher plane. Rather than having areas on the printing plate that are simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ in that they either print or don’t print, collotype has found a way of printing the in-betweens! Ink does not simply print or not print, it is applied to the paper in varying film thickness, to give a genuine continuous tone. Historically the process has understandably been interwoven with photography and is normally used with this kind of original.

The way it works in practice is like this: A glass plate is coated with sensitized gelatin solution which is ‘oven cooked’ to leave a wrinkled or ‘reticulated’ surface. The plate is then exposed under a reversed photographic negative. Light passes through the negative to harden the gelatin on the glass plate. However the areas of gelatin that are unexposed, remain soft and will later absorb water when washed. It is the hardened exposed areas that will repel the water and remain dry and become the ‘image areas’.

The differing hardness of the gelatin controls the water absorbency of the various tones across the plate. The washed glass plate can then be ‘inked’ with an oil based ink that will adhere in varying film weight commensurate with how soggy the gelatin is underfoot… so to speak.

Having gone through this amount of stress simply to get ink onto the plate, the printer then needs to take care on whatever press is available, providing sufficient pressure to ‘bottom the paper’ without breaking the glass!

The current state of collotype is that it is loved, admired and cherished, but rarely undertaken by individual printmakers. Often the preserve of universities or historic organizations with access to the required plant; collotype printers are a mutually supportive bunch. A recent collotype conference at the University of the West of England in Bristol gave encouragement by bringing together both active and interested printers from the USA, the UK, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.

Where no alternative inks are available, lithographic inks act as a first reserve, however they are commonly too weak and too soft. A genuine collotype ink has greatly increased pigment content and as a consequence is of far higher viscosity. It is our understanding that a sizeable proportion of Caligo Collotype Inks may not in fact be used by collotype printers, but by lithographers and other printmakers who simply want to experiment or use a very viscous ink!

Collotype is a temperamental process requiring great patience and skill. Results appear to differ dependent on temperature, humidity, the number of Thursdays in the month and the price of fish in Lapland.

Even a collotype enthusiast admitted that ‘it is hard work considering sometimes you get a print and maybe sometimes you don’t’!

SIGN OF THE TIMES

2008-08-02T06:27:00.000-07:00

I've done a few posts on people you should know in the printmaking community over the past couple of years. One of these pieces that I had intended to write was about Brice and Suellen Bock, the brother and sister act that ran Rembrandt Graphic Arts.

Over the past several years, Rembrandt has struggled with issues that affect all of us, and some that were unique to their operation. In June of this year, we began to suspect that things were going south more quickly than we suspected for RGA. On Thursday, I received confirmation that after 61 years of providing for the printmaking needs of a very loyal customer base, Rembrandt Graphic Arts had closed their doors for good.

Like many others in this industry, I consider Brice and Suellen as friends. We have worked with them for well over 30 years, and tried to help where we could. Sure, we were competitors on one level, but the one thing I really like about this industry is the way that even competitors get along well.

I first met Brice in 1975 in Philadelphia at the NAEA convention. The exhibit area was an unused parking garage, and wasn't anywhere near as nice as you'd expect. Up to this point, each company would find a way to get a catalog from their competitors to keep up with products and pricing. I walked into their booth, introduced myself and announced that my Aunt May wanted to free herself from annually asking for Rembrandt's catalog to be sent to her Francisville, IN home. I was sure that whomever Rembrandt's "Aunt May" was, they probably wanted out of the arrangement too.

I handed Brice my catalog and asked if they'd sent me theirs. Within a few months, I managed to convince them that Graphic's products would be a great addition to their catalog, and the rest, as they say, was history.

I visited Rembrandt, along with my wife Susan, about 5 years ago. We spent a pleasant day with Brice and Suellen, including lunch a some little historic inn over on the Pennsylvania side of the river (the Delaware, if I'm any judge of rivers). Their offices were in a unique building - physically larger than Graphic Chemical by about 1000 square feet. The building was very long and fairly narrow. In fact it was so long that they kept a bicycle at the front of the warehouse so they could ride to the back of the building when necessary! It turns out the in another life the building had served as a chicken coop on what I assume was a commercial farm.

We're now working with some of Rembrandt's customers to help insure that their source of supply will be uninterrupted. I can't guarantee that we'll be able to fill every gap, but I've had discussions with them to help continue their legacy. We will work with any of you that have unique products from Rembrandt - just let me know what it is, and we'll find the source.

RELIEF PAPER HEADQUARTERS

2008-07-07T13:48:00.000-07:00

Some time ago, I wrote, with regret, about the demise of Aiko's Paper in Chicago. Well, it has come to pass that they have shut their doors, and it is a loss to the paper purchasing world. The folks at Aiko's were very generous in helping Graphic Chemical to fill the void left by their closing. They shared with us a tremendous amount of information regarding papers that were popular with their customers, who their suppliers were, and much more.

Last month a contingent from Graphic traveled to an oriental paper summit. No it wasn't in Japan - if it had been I'd have found a way to attend. This one was held in Toronto, and our crew told me they found it not only interesting but highly invigorating. They are really psyched up to make us a major player in papers for relief printing techniques.

To that end, I did a quick count on how many papers have been added to our supply list in the past 2-3 months, and I was staggered to see that the number was 110 new papers. The interesting part of this is that they aren't done yet by a long shot.

Packaging papers is an art form in and of itself, and thin papers such as most of these is significantly more difficult. Our paper specialist, Pete, was really impressed with the training that he received relative to handling and packaging.

I've asked the boss - Susan - to do a guest piece here with more information about the specific papers, characteristics and strengths. She, as I expected gave me that look. You know the one that means, yeah, right! Eventually I'll get her to at least give me the information, but in the meantime, look at our web site for information, or call us, we're happy to talk to you about these new products.

SGC CHICAGO

2008-06-25T10:03:00.000-07:00

We aren't too far away - hard as that is to believe - from the Southern Graphics Council conference in Chicago. The show ndates are March 25-29, 2009. The theme of the conference is Global Connections, and the committee is hard at work to put on one of the best conferences that SGC has ever had.

First of all, we're in Chicago, one of the great cities in the World (of course I'm biased). For the record - no cowboys and Indians, no Al Capone, and very few buffalo roaming the plains of the city, although we did have a cougar last Spring. Chicago is world class in every sense of the phrase - world class art & music, world class museums and galleries, world class architecture and world class sports...well that's a little bit of a stretch particularly with Winter sports.

Secondly, we're hosted by Columbia College a great school noted for its arts programs. Columbia is the home of Anchor Graphics, Columbia Book & Paper and some of the finest technology programs anywhere.

And finally, Chicago is just a scant 17 miles from the world headquarters of Graphic Chemical & Ink Company! If there is sufficient interest, we may try to organize a tour of our facilities for a group of attendees. You can always arrange for a private tour while you are in town, but we're hoping to jazz it up a little bit with a bus from the city, snacks and soft drinks etc. We have already begun the cleaning process so that when March rolls around we'll be ready for the onslaught.

CHICAGO AREA ART EXPO

2008-06-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

Come and visit Graphic Chemical & Ink Company in Lisle, IL for the Learning & Product Expo 2008, July 11-13th. For those of you from out of the area, Lisle is about 25 miles west of downtown Chicago.

We'll be at the Hickory Ridge Mariott along with many other art supply vendors.

Classes and demonstrations are being presented in a variety of areas including printmaking, oils, wayter colors, ceramics and many more. Go to the show website - www.learningproductexpo.com/chi - for a show preview and registration information. While pre-registration isn't required, the earlier you sign up the better chance you have to get into the classes or demos you want.

Our good friend Teresa Parker is teaching a class on linoleum block printing on Friday, a Collage/Monotype class on Saturday, and classes on both techniques on Sunday. She will be highlighting the Caligo Safe Wash Relief Inks that are handled by Graphic Chemical. These inks, as many of you know, are oil based inks with all of the positive qualities of that medium, with the added bonus of cleaning up with soap and water!

Caligo Inks along with a wide selection of our product line will be available in Graphic's booth at the show. Hope we'll see you there.

AIN'T IT THE TRUTH

2008-05-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

There is a great controversy today regarding the No Child Left Behind act. The act was due for reauthorization in 2007, but given the political climate, it could be several years before reauthorization occurs, if it ever does.

What that means is not that the law goes away, but rather it continues in its present form until 2014. The present form is probably more of a problem than many people think because, in my opinion, it takes a great idea, and lets the government deternmine how it is implemented.

A couple of years ago, a good friend from college that now teaches in Tennessee sent me a great e-mail called "NCLB football" explaining how the concept of No Child Left Behind would affect the game of football. For example, all kids would play football, but coaches would only work with the kids who weren't as skilled as their teammates. Football would be played year-round, but scores would only be kept in 3rd, 5th, 8th and 11th grades.

The end of this e-mail was a somewhat somber statement that I have stolen repeatedly for speaking engagements. It is," Remember that if no child is left behind, it's because no child is getting ahead."

Now, a colleague of mine has forwarded a new, far more timely e-mail regarding the subject. Tom Chapin, a well known recording artist has come up with a presentation on the fate of the arts under NCLB.

Please click on the following link to access the performance of Not On the Test. http://www.notonthetest.com/index.html

SCHOOL GOVERNANCE

2008-05-14T07:22:00.000-07:00

The following was blatantly stolen from my good friend Brenda Welburn, the executive director of NASBE, the National Association of State Bords of Education. It has nothing to do with printmaking specifically, but the topic affects the quality of our education system nationwide.

Horace Mann, the father of public education in America, chaired the first State Board of Education in the United States in Massachusetts. He believed the “common school” would be the true equalizer for all Americans and used his service on the State Board of Education to focus the attention of state leaders on the intrinsic value of public schools. In 1839 he presided over the establishment of the nation’s first public school in Lexington, Massachusetts. During his tenure, fifty high schools were established across the state; not because he had the power of the governor or the budgeting authority of the legislature, but because he had a passion for educating all students.

I wonder what Mr. Mann would think today about the legislation that is making its way through the Vermont assembly to abolish the State Boards of Education, or for that matter the countless efforts by several governors to eliminate or diminish the public’s participation in public education governance. There are proposals in at least 10 states to reduce the authority of Boards, if not to eliminate them all together. The arguments are as inevitable as the proposals; “accountability should be in the hands of the governor”; “business leaders are dissatisfied with the slow progress of education reform”; “the majority of the Board was appointed by someone from another party, someone who doesn’t share the political views of the current governor.”Interesting how this line of reasoning focuses on power, influence and authority, not on the zeal embraced by Horace Mann for determining first what is good for all students, and then how providing a quality education of those students would benefit the country. We are inundated by state leaders with the challenges of global competitiveness and the importance of rigor, less frequently do we hear about academic relevancy or why students are disengaged.

The model of independent lay boards was developed to insulate education to the extent possible from politics. It had merit in 1837 when Horace Mann became the first State Board Chairman and it has merit today. The variety of views and perspectives from across a state informing the policymaking process benefits every child in the state. Four years before the Wallace Foundation identified school leadership and the role of the principal as a cornerstone for educational reform, State Board Members identified this as a critical issue and requested a NASBE Study Group on the topic. Before Governor Warner successfully led the National Governors’ Association’s initiative on high schools, State Board Members participated on a NASBE Study Group on the crisis state of the American high school.

As institutions State Boards are not perfect, as individuals State Board Members have flaws, but the same can be said for governors and legislatures and the solution is not to abolish them to improve the quality of governance at the state level. Governors and legislators should concentrate on how to strengthen and improve State Boards of Education, not eliminate them. Least we forget, it was a State Board Member who had the vision for public schools for all.

Brenda Lilienthal Welburn
Executive Director

NAMTA 2008

2008-05-06T19:27:00.000-07:00

For over 40 years, almost without exception, Graphic Chemical & Ink has exhibited at the National Art Materials Trade Association (NAMTA) show. For reasons that I'll probably never understand, I chose not to get a booth this year, choosing rather to walk the show floor rather than exhibit.

NAMTA is an organization that is geared to the art supply retailer. Most of the exhibitors, including Graphic Chemical, are manufacturers of quality art materials. The show is only open to the trade, so most artists cannot get in the door. I can go on at great length about that particular situation, but suffice it to say that the majority of the members of this group would disagree with my position regarding allowing artists/educators to walk the show and provide manufacturers with input about new products.

Several years ago, I chaired the Art Educators committee of NAMTA. Our charge was to find ways to improve the interaction and communication between manufacturers, retail stores and artists. A number of suggestions were made and rejected as too risky to the industry, and the committee no longer exists.

Anyway, this year's show was held in Reno, NV, and while it seemed smaller than past years shows, I have no doubt that it was quite successful for most of the attendees. We have actually identified several new suppliers and a number of new offerings from some of our existing suppliers. Watch the blog for information on these products in the next few weeks. One product that I am excited about is a new size lino block - a 10 x 20" size that promises to be very popular.

Renewing acquaintances with our friends in the industry is always great fun. At the President's Reception, Susan and I were joined by Gary & Sherrill Owens of EC Lyons, and Martin Lawrence of TN Lawrence in England at the Reno Antique Car Museum. Unfortunately, the kind gentleman that we asked to take the picture below, was apparently visually impaired or so it would seem from the cut off heads of all the men.

SGC '08 WRAP UP

2008-04-04T10:23:00.000-07:00

The Southern Graphics Conference is history for another year, and with it comes the need to recap what took place in Richmond, VA this year.

While we had a great turnout, the event was a little spread out for the tastes of the vendors. We had, I believe, 27 companies represented, including a few newcomers and a few of the old standbys.

Graphic's booth was supplemented this year by our good friends from Caligo Inks. Michael and Joy Craine (above right) brought lots of samples of both the Safe Wash Relief and Etching inks. These inks, as many of you recall, are top notch oil based inks that wash up with soap and water! Graphic Chemical is the exclusive agent of Caligo in North America.

Susan and I visited their plant (second time for me) in March, got to know some of their staff and got a handful of ideas that may well help us to serve your needs better in the future.

The Caligo ink room is a marvel of technology, their products are excellent, and the staff is wonderful. I was particularly taken by a sign as one entered the shop. Translated into American English, it says, "Ask your host for a lab coat as you tour the plant. Fine printmaking ink is, by nature, very permanent.

Back to the SGC show... it was a very successful show for introducing new products, especially the new Double End Carbide Tipped Tool. We sold out of this on the first day. German brayers, Oriental papers and books were among the more popular items.

We have added a large number of Oriental papers to help fill the gap left with the demise of Aiko's in Chicago. Check the website (http://www.graphicchemical.com/) for a complete listing of the papers that we've added - it's pretty extensive.

Finally, SGC makes its way to Chicago next year, hosted by Columbia College. The organizing committee has been active for 4-5 months already, and will now kick it into gear to get ready for next March 25-28, 2009. We're aiming to have the finest SGC show ever. You can do your part by planning on being there. It'll be well worth the effort.

WOVEN BLANKETS

2008-03-21T16:46:00.000-07:00

One of the common threads, if you'll pardon the pun, in intaglio is the blankets. Now, we've all seen blankets, we understand that they're felt, but have you ever thought about the process to manufacture these essential components of the craft?

In fairness, I'd never given it a thought until I visited the mill where we have our Pusher blankets (and the new Swanskin blankets) made. Starting with bags of wool - a lot more than 3 bagsful required in the nursery rhyme - the wool is spun into thread based on a complex formula using many different types of wool.

The threads are stretched across huge frames to create the warp and weft elements of the blanket, and placed into weaving machinery (as in the video above) and the weaving gods go to it. It is a slow process but the quality of the finished product is the best available anywhere in the world.

The next time you print an etching, look a little more closely at that top blanket. The quality of that blanket, which so affects the quality of your finished print, may have begun in the fields of America, Britain or Australia. Somewhere a sheep is running around without a coat - the price paid for a quality pusher blanket.

IT'S THE ECONOMY ....

2008-02-26T06:07:00.000-08:00

This year has been a roller coaster...and it's only two months old. We have, thankfully, been very busy with second semester back to school orders. Unfortunately, we have had numerous suppliers either raising prices or eliminating products - or both.

Possibly the most notable of these is the entire Litho-Sketch product line manufactured by AMACO. Most of the products in this line are available from other sources, but the two key products - Litho Sketch Paper Masters and the Litho-Sketch Plate Solution - are not.

Other products are the victims of the world economy, specifically the weakness of the dollar compared to other currencies. Products which we began carrying for the primary advantage of price are now approaching being prohibitively expensive. European equipment is noticeably higher today, with no prospects of coming down unless the Euro comes down in relationship to the dollar.

The good news side of the equation is that U.S. products are more attractive to European and Asian buyers because of the currency situation.

All that being said, we are still expanding the product line in ways that we believe you'll find helpful. For example, we are anticipating a void in the Oriental Paper market due to the loss of a key supplier. We have already added more than a dozen new sheets in that area, with more to come.

Other products which will be affected by price changes will include most inks, zinc and copper plates and tools. We always try to hold prices as long as possible, but some of the increases are on us before we can react to them. Recently we entered into a blanket order for Economy Copper plates. In the 3 weeks since we did that, the price on that grade of copper is up almost 25%!

We will survive the storm, but as always, we'll need your help to insure that printmakers' needs will continue to be met efficiently and professionally.

NAMTA 2008 - LOOK OUT RENO

2008-01-05T08:07:00.000-08:00

While I have focused on materials aimed at the artist, I've probably done a disservice to another part of our business - art supply stores. The oversight was not intentional, but one that I will endeavor to correct immediately.

NAMTA is the National Art Materials Trade Association. Graphic Chemical has been a member since 1966, and has exhibited at the annual Convention almost every year since then. The membership of NAMTA includes art supply stores from the largest chain to the smallest mom and pop operation. On the exhibitor side, you see the same range of members from the largest to the smallest. This year over 100 exhibitors of all types of art materials will strut their stuff. Exhibitors come from all over the world including Japan, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, France, Canada and the U.S.

Due to scheduling problems this year, we won't be exhibiting, but we'll be there, walking the aisles looking for new products and ideas. Because of the nature of the art materials business, we have many customers attending from the art store group, and several of the vendors are also customers. To complete the trifecta - several of the vendors are also vendors of ours.

Plus! It's in Reno, NV - The biggest little city in the World. April 30 - May 3. Sadly, NAMTA is only open to the trade. Unless you work for a store, you probably can't get in, but this is when new products make their debut. You'll start to see new materials in just a matter of weeks after the show ends. I'll try to post my impressions of this year's show as soon as we get back.

SOUTHERN GRAPHICS COUNCIL 2008

2008-01-02T13:23:00.000-08:00

This year's edition of the SGC conference is scheduled for March 26-29 at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, VA. As always the conference schedule is a great one.

For all of the details as they become available, check out the show website at http://www.sgc.vcu.edu/. As always, the Product Fair will be quite a draw, running from Thursday afternoon to Saturday afternoon (3/27-29).

One of the highlights of the conference will be the Open Portfolio event and there will also be a trip to the University of Richmond to take in the opening of the 2008 Harnett Biennial of Anerican Prints on Thursday evening.

As we get closer to the event, look for additional information here.

AIKO'S ART MATERIALS - CHICAGO LEGEND

2007-12-31T08:07:00.000-08:00

I have borrowed the following from the website of Aiko's Art Materials of Chicago. It was announced recently that Aiko's will be ceasing operations in the very near future. Although Aiko's is technically a competitor, we have both referred customers to each other for years. It is with true sadness that we bid farewell to this remarkable company, and wish their staff the best in the future.

Mrs. Aiko Nakane (1908-2004), the founder of Aiko’s Art Materials, was instrumental in bringing handmade Japanese paper and it’s aesthetic to the United States. Born in Seattle in 1908, Mrs. Nakane attended high school in Japan and was exposed to such traditional crafts as shodo (calligraphy) and ikebana (flower arranging.) She recalled the daily household use of Japanese paper whether to simply wrap a gift or to present an item of food at a meal. She liked to tell of the time her mother tightly rolled a piece of paper to tie her daughter’s hair back when a ribbon or hair band could not be found.

In the early 1950’s, back in the United States as a student at the Art Institute of Chicago, Mrs. Nakane would give Japanese art supplies and papers as omiyage (gifts) to fellow students and friends in the art community upon returning from trips to Japan. Her friends loved the items and clamored for more – thus the beginning of her store, Aiko’s Art Materials.

Since the mid-1950’s Aiko’s Art Materials has provided both supplies and services to its customers. What began as a small concern for a select few in the Midwest has gradually evolved into a global business with orders routinely shipped out to distant destinations in Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. Yet, in spite of this expansion, Aiko’s still provides that personal, distinctive style that has been a hallmark of the store since its inception.

Specializing in washi (handmade Japanese paper), Aiko’s carries hundreds of Japanese papers, plain and decorated, which make up over ninety-five percent of the inventory. An infinite variety of colors, textures and designs is displayed – enough to tempt every imagination with endless possibilities. The shop serves artists, bookbinders, painters and crafters and those in book and art restoration and conservation.Brushes are another important aspect of Aiko’s Art Materials. Over one hundred different types of brushes can be found in the shop. They are made up of materials ranging from badger and horsehair to sheep and weasel hair. All shapes and sizes specially formulated for use, be it calligraphy, brush painting, stencil dyeing or painting can be found at Aiko’s. The majority of the brushes are handmade and produced in Japan.

WHAT'S NEXT

2007-12-20T16:32:00.000-08:00

Wow! I looked at my backlog of articles waiting to be published on the blog, and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but.....no it wasn't Santa and eight tiny reindeer. It was absolutely nothing, I've run out of pithy little pieces about the printmaking community, Graphic Chemical, or the world in general.

I asked myself, whatever can I talk about that won't bore the socks off of my friends? Then I said, who cares, I'll regale them with vacation stories. Well, since I rarely take a true vacation, how about the latest business trip with a little vacation mixed in? I am blessed with having a remarkable wife - she tolerates me most of the time, and she loves to travel. Not only that, but she usually makes all of the arrangements from booking flights and hotels to contacting the appropriate customers that we're going to call on.

People tend to like her, which gets me in a lot of doors that might otherwise be closed to me. She spend months getting everything in order for the Estonian trip in October. Everything went without a hitch - or at least we thought is was going without a hitch until the nice police officer In Brugge, Belgium suggested that I should find somewhere else to drive. When I tried to get out of his way, I managed to find another street that was closed to me. For the record, cops yelling in Flemish sound very similar to cops yelling in English!

It has been suggested to me that I dispense with the travelogue and cut to the chase. We truly appreciate all of you who read this blog, and even more, we appreciate our customers. Without you, we are nothing. Our mission is to serve your printmaking needs in any way that we can. During the Holiday Season, it is appropriate to take time to thank each and every one of you, and wish you the happiest of Holiday Seasons, no matter which holidays you celebrate.

So, from everyone at Graphic Chemical & Ink, Stones Crayons and Printmakers Machine Company, we wish you happy holidays and a safe and prosperous New Year.

INKS AND THOSE WHO MAKE THEM

2007-12-03T06:48:00.000-08:00

There is a certain fraternity between ink makers in this country, probably in part due to the fact that the number of U.S. owned ink companies is relatively low.

When it comes to printmaking inks, that number drops even lower - to almost scary proportions. One of the reasons that there are so few ink manufacturers for this important field is that the total volume of business is relatively small comparatively speaking. The commercial side of the business is a substantial market with billions of dollars per year in sales.

One of the things about printmaking inks that always seems to need explaining is what is meant by an "oil based ink". Apparently this congers up a mental image of an oil well pumping black gold from the ground. I'm not sure why that is, but inks used by printmakers use linseed oils not petroleum products as their base. During an OSHA inspection years ago, a misguided federal employee believed that she had stumbled on the mother-lode of safety violations when she saw some of the names of materials that we use. Of particular interest was the oil used in the inks - she had visions of citations running through her head. Needless to say she was disappointed to learn of the safety procedures that we go through to insure the safety of the products we sell. Many of the products she was preparing to cite turned out to be food-grade materials!

The point of all of this is that the materials that you purchase either from Graphic or from most other manufacturers specializing in printmaking materials are safe, and they generally carry the ACMI Seal to prove it. That seal insures that an independent toxicologist has reviewed the formulas of the inks, and certifies that they are safe to use and non-toxic. In the case of a handful of products (grounds, stop outs etc), the certification is that the product is labeled properly for the hazard involved.

Trust the ACMI label as your assurance that your materials have the highest level of quality and safety.

REMEMBER WHEN

2007-11-26T11:52:00.000-08:00

Most of you have heard me say many times that our roots go back 1920, and my grandfather, Robert P. Faulkner. He did, indeed begin the company and help it to survive the Great Depression and World War II, but the most notable thing he did was probably hiring my father, Vernon Clark.

Dad was a biochemist by training and an engineer by direction of the U.S. Army and Congress, but he was an ink maker by God! He learned the industry from his father-in-law, his customers and even from his suppliers.

When Dad started working at Graphic Chemical he had just finished his studies at the University of Chicago, was married with two young sons, and from what I understand, was broke. He had retained his Army Reserve commission (not a great decision given that Korea was just around the corner) and he probably saw Graphic Chemical as a short-term employment opportunity. He was here, for the record, for 53 years

While Graphic was not directly involved in printmaking at the time, it did sell to printmakers - engraver's plate inks to etchers, and letterpress inks to block printers. Lithography wouldn't really be a viable medium until June Wayne started the Tamarind Institute in Los Angeles (yes, Los Angeles!) in the '50's.

One of his jobs was to travel around the Midwest calling on commercial engravers. One circuit was driving from Chicago to Indianapolis to Cincinnati, then on to Knoxville, Nashville, Memphis and finally St. Louis - and this, I hasten to point out, was well before the Interstate system.

As the story goes, he got out of sync between Indy and Cincinnati, and had a little time to kill in Oxford, OH, the home of Miami University. He walked in, told them he sold printmaking supplies. In view of the fact that at that time nobody sold printmaking supplies, the staff at Miami figured they'd stumbled unto either a godsend or a real nut case. They took a chance and placed an order with him.

Dad was so confidant that he began making calls at other Universities in the circuit: the Universities of Kentucky and Tennessee, Austin Peay, Vanderbilt and several others. The confidence allowed him to convince my grandfather, who was clearly skeptical, to purchase an advertisement in American Artist Magazine, an ad which in 1949 cost $12.50. The ad offered a catalog (which by the way didn't exist until after the ad appeared) at no charge. Dad fired up the old Gordon Letterpress and printed catalogs at night and sold ink by day. After a few weeks the number of catalog requests was in the hundreds and we were on our way to becoming printmaking suppliers.

A couple of years later, my grandfather died unexpectedly and Dad was left to run the day to day operation, now working for his mother-in-law. He probably learned as much about business from her as he did from his father-in-law. Sadly, much of that learning curve was trial and error.

By 1962, he'd bought the business from her (in fact, he bought it twice because she wasn't happy with the first sale amount!). moved the business to our current location two blocks west of the previous location, doubled the space (it's now almost six times the space we originally had in Villa Park) and began focusing predominately on printmaking. In the late '70's, we closed the original product lines for commercial engravers, making us exclusively printmaking suppliers.

The rest, as they say, is history

LASCAUX ACRYLICS AND MORE

2007-11-26T07:44:00.000-08:00

One of the best moves that we've made in the past couple of years was that of adding the Lascaux line of products to our catalog. It was a fairly long process from start to finish, but well worth the effort.

Graphic had approached one of our suppliers about handling a few specific Lascaux products, and it was clear from the beginning that this supplier did not want handle these products, because it didn't match their customer base. They graciously suggested to Lascaux that we might be a potential distributor of the new Lascaux A.R.E. products.

A.R.E., or acrylic resist etching, products are an innovative approach to the concerns that are persistent in printmaking about the safety of the materials used. With acrylic grounds becoming a viable starting point, Lascaux, with the help of Scottish artists Robert Adam and Carol Robertson, put together a system of acrylic etching resists that has expanded the possibilities for those doing intaglio techniques.

In addition to the obligatory Hard Ground, Lascaux has introduced Soft Ground, Stop Out, Plate Backing resist, Etching Tusches and much more. Susan and I had the privilege of attending a two day workshop on the A.R.E. system put on by Robert and Carol at the Lascaux manufacturing plant about two years ago. (If you hunt around in the archives of this blog, you'll see about two years ago, the plate that we made during the workshop - great art it ain't, but it taught us a lot about the products.)

To me, however, the wonder was at all of the other products that Lascaux manufactures that are appropriate for printmakers. We've added numerous screen printing paints and sundries, both water based and acrylic based, many at the request of individual customers, and most very well received. Now if we could just get the cost of the Euro to come down to reasonable levels....well, that's another blog entry for later.

IMPACT WRAP UP

2007-11-05T09:33:00.000-08:00

Another IMPACT show is, as they say, in the can. Our journey to Tallinn, Estonia was interesting, to say the least, eventful, and enjoyable. Our trip began with a flight from Chicago to Copenhagen, Denmark followed immediately with a four hour train trip to the city of Aarhus on the Jutland peninsula. By the time that we arrived in Aarhus, we were pretty well exhausted, but fortunately our hotel was across the street from the train station. This was not a coincidence. SWMBO (pronounced Swimbo which stands for She Who Must be Obeyed) makes the arrangements, and does a great job in making my life easier.

The following day we began the process of calling on our European distributors, starting with our good friends Aart & Kari at Aart de Vos Aps in Aarhus. After a great visit with them, we rented a car and drove to Leiden, Holland to visit Hugo Bos and his wife Marit at Polymetaal. By the time we got to the hotel in Amsterdam, we were thoroughly whipped. Traffic in the Dutch city was nightmarish even after midnight when we arrived. Bicycles have the right of way, they know it and use it with impunity!

Additional stops included Rotterdam, Brussels, and Aartsellar (the current home of our oldest European distributor - J.M. Lesaffre PVBA) A quick drive back to Copenhagen, and a flight to Stockholm and on to Tallinn, Estonia.

We arrived in the capital of Estonia in the late afternoon before the show started. A frenetic drive from the airport was provided by the Hotel Reval Central - a delightful and surprisingly affordable hotel in the center of town. Susan and I hooked up with a couple of the other vendors for dinner in the Old Town. Estonian food, for the record, was quite good. On Friday morning, we set up at the Kumu museum, a very modern museum a stone's throw from the former czar's palace and the current home of the President of Estonia. Over 200 artists were registered for the show, and all of them seemed to make their way to the product fair. The number of vendors was disappointing, but the quality was great. The five of us included three Brits, a Finn and me.

The following morning, Susan and I were off to Lithuania to visit relatives for a week. We also met with printmakers at the Academy of Art in Vilnius, and a number of independent printmakers at a nearby atelier. If you noticed the picture at the top of this post, this was a 200+ year old painting that was being restored by a dedicated group of Lithuanians trying to restore the myriad of churches in the capital that were left to decay by the former rulers from the Soviet Union. You see there the picture as it was when restoration began.

Here you see the master restorer (a phrase I have just made up) at work on the delicate masterpiece. This picture is what I like to refer to as the "After" photo. I have professed for a number of years that I wasn't a talented artist, but of course, you can tell from the after photo that I was just being modest. Of course if you looked really closely, you might observe that the brushes actually have no paint on them. It's a new technique for restoration that I call "don't screw up what the professionals have done", and it works really well in my opinion! This will hang in a cathedral in Kaunas, Lithuania in the relatively near future.

Finally, the trip home was incredibly long (almost 10 hours from Zurich, Switzerland to Chicago), and was highlighted by sitting next to a 14 year old Russian hockey player with what appeared to be a severe case of ADD. I felt like I had played a game against him and lost - badly. His team was coming to Chicago for a series of matches against U.S. youth teams. So, we're back and happy to be so - until the next trip.

RANDOM MUSINGS OF AN INSOMNIAC

2007-10-02T02:39:00.000-07:00

Some nights it just doesn't pay to go to bed. When I was in college, pulling an all-nighter was no big deal. Sometimes there was even studying involved - no really, once there was definite studying - books, reading, note taking - it was all very Hollywoodish.

In the Navy, all nighters were pretty standard fare. I flew as a crew member on a Douglas A-3 Skywarrior, I was young and stupid, and it was an adventure. My standard mission was from midnight to 6:00 am flying over what the Navy referred to as "extreme western South Vietnam". I know that lots of people believe that kids today are geographically challenged. Well this was the whole government that couldn't get it right. Let's just say that it was another country that rhymed with Taos.

When I got back to the States, I worked for the Armed Forces Police in Washington, DC (and no we weren't MP's or Shore Patrol, we were much higher up the food chain. That's my story and I.n sticking with it). And, you guessed it all-nighters, three days out of six.

Married with kids - all nighters. School Board meetings - only half the night, but it seemed like all night sometimes, especially during negotiations,

So why am I up all night tonight? There are a number of reasons, none of them good.. waiting for an e-mail from a foreign customer that is very time sensitive, pressures of running a business and the likely winner, trying to keep up with the spam on our Discussion Forum.

After polling a number of people about how to keep the junk, we made some changes a few weeks ago. From the user point of view, it is almost completely without spam. From my point of view it still takes several hours a day to scan those who have registered and dump the spammers. We had one slip through tonight mostly because he had one semi-legitimate post early on, then a few questionable ones and tonight he was pushing prescription drugs, and now he's gone.

We're going to do whatever it takes to keep the Forum clean and useful. Please join us at

www.graphicchemical.com and click on the Discussion Forum buttons at the bottom of the home page. I look forward to chatting with you.

PRODUCT HISTORY

2007-09-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

There are a variety of products that I should have thought of first, but someone beat me to them. There are even a few that I did think of first and brought to market first. It always amazes me when I hear the story about how a product got to the point of being in our catalog. Sometimes the story is even true!

One such product - or actually a group of products came about during a consumer show in Washington, DC back in the late '80's. We were demonstrating a wiping technique as we always did at the consumer shows, Typically at a show like this we would print anywhere from 300-1000 etchings (approximately 7 x 11") in three days.

During this particular show I was stressed to the maximum when another vendor came by and flipped a bar of soap unto the table. He suggested that when I cleaned up I should try his soap. I patiently (o.k. I was patronizing, but it had been a long day!) explained that these were oil based inks and would not clean up with ordinary soap and water.

He told me quite bluntly, " Son, if you don't try it you'll never know if it works, now will you?" I was quite young back then, but not really in the mood for a lecture on washing my hands.

I decided that I would clean up right then, find his booth and if my luck held, I'd tell him in front of lots of customers that his lousy product didn't work. I marched to the restroom pulled out his soap and a hand towel and proceeded to wash my hands. A few minutes later I stumbled to his booth, with close to 15 people standing there, and announced that I'd just washed with his soap. Jim listened to me for a few seconds and said, "And....?" And, I said it's really great stuff!

We've sold The Masters Hand Soap in two sizes for years, and to my knowledge never had anyone complain about it not working. One customer on the West Coast, thought that she'd need to give up printmaking altogether because of allergies to many solvents. When she tried The Masters for all of her clean up she was thrilled.

In addition to the hand soap, they make a spot cleaner called Kiss-Off that does for clothing what the hand soap does for your hands. There are numerous other products like brush cleaners etc that don't fit with our product line as well.

Sometimes you just gotta try something before you make up your mind about it. It's hardly a radical idea, but a gentle reminder every once in a while is helpful, at least for me.

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM

2007-09-11T14:51:00.000-07:00

Just as an informational piece, we received this notice via e-mail this morning.
If you are interested, please contact Anchor directly.

Anchor Graphics @ Columbia College Chicago
Now Accepting Applications for our 2008 Artist-In-Residence

Each year, Anchor Graphics welcomes six Artists-In-Residence into our printshop for 2 to 3 week residencies. This program is offered to artists who are proficient in printmaking and who want an uninterrupted stretch of time to develop a body of print-based work.

Anchor will provide residents with unlimited access to the shop during building hours, the technical assistance of our Master Printers, and a stipend to assist with materials, travel and housing expenses. In exchange, resident artists are expected to work with Anchor's interns on the completion of their projects, interact with students in Columbia College’s printmaking classes, and present a lecture about their work to the general public.

This program is open to all experienced printmakers including those living in the Chicago area.

To become an Artist-In-Residence at Anchor Graphics please send:

10 digital images on a CD (JPEG's preferred)
CV
artist's statement
a brief narrative about the project you will be working on during your residency

additional materials will not be reviewed and materials will not be returned

Send required items to:

Anchor Graphics @ Columbia College Chicago

Artist-In-Residence Program

623 S. Wabash Ave., 2nd Floor

Chicago, IL 60605