“Bridge Over Brooklyn” 2007 Photogravure

The Johnny Appleseed of photogravure, Lothar Osterburg arrives this week to give a lecture and do graduate critiques. Lothar will be lecturing on Tuesday February 16th and will give grad crits on Wednesday morning.

Lothar Osterburg makes photogravures of small, sculpted models of windmills, lighthouses, sailboats among others, staged in evocative settings. Built from memory of readily available materials, the models have a dreamlike quality which is enhanced by the placement of the camera within their world; the perspective is that of a person within the set, obscuring the actual size of the objects. The viewer, drawn into the scene, fills the gap created by the absence of people. The smallest models are photographed through a magnifying glass or with a macro lens. With this extremely short focal range, the scenes become ambiguous, mysterious, or even ominous while somehow retaining the playful quality typical of Osterburg’s hand.

Whether in his studio, or against the rocky coast of Maine’s Mount Desert Island, or in a microcosm of frozen tire tracks at the MacDowell Colony, the staged settings enhance the textures of theartist’s eccentrically diverse materials, creating a tension between the representational and the realistic. A downed mulberry tree from his Brooklyn backyard spawned an entire rough-hewn coastal village. Tall ships made of firewood, twigs and toilet paper, a translucent glycerin lighthouse on a potato island, recycled plumbing supplies, glass doorknobs, soap and a stormy sea made of peanut butter all appear in this delightful, buoyant world.

I wanted to make you aware of some print exchanges coming up soon.  First off look out for the Iowa State postcard exchange, these are due February 20th.  Information can be found on their website: http://www.design.iastate.edu/gallery.php

The second one is the Eastern Oregon University ink spot exchange.  Their website is:          http://www.eou.edu/inkspot/

Thanks for the heads up Ashley!

Radhakrishna at work.

A shaped and deeply etched plate from Radhakrishna

Krishna Reddy’s work.

Thanks everyone for coming out for the Drive by Press lecture and demonstration! We had over 100 people for the demo and more than 30 for the lecture. The Drive by boys will be at the dialog days in November so lets all support the final tour.

To get your printy ghost story published drop by Robert’s office.

A rough looking crew!

The first ever Print Club (soon to be re-named) was a resounding success. Over 20 scrappy young printmakers met and decided to change our name! and other things.

We will be naming beast and planning our fun.  Don’t miss out!

Come out! Come out! Support your fellow printmakers at the Summer print show! Opening Thursday October 8th from 6-8 at Gallery 100 located directly across the hall from the ACA Gallery in the Woodruff center. The Show will be included on the Gallery Hop and feature the work of Nate Dash, Eric Mason, Michele Strickland, Robin Alvanos, Chasity West, Kelly Gilmore and Yee Gyung Yoo.

Chasity West “Lost Identity” one of over 18 prints in the show.