Don't follow the shadows

For the final project in my printmaking class, we had to make an artist’s book that reflects the previous work we presented in class as well as who we are as artists. I didn’t want to keep beating my poor classmates over the head with intense symbolism and mythology, so I decided to keep it simple and illustrate an excerpt from one of my favorite poems. I also chose to tone it down a bit because we would be trading two of our books with two other classmates, and I wanted it to be something they could relate to and take something away from in the end. (I’ll post pictures of the two books I received soon because they’re really neat!) I also have to say that I hate the entire concept of the artist’s book. I had to make one a few years ago for an assignment, and I didn’t do so well on it. The whole idea of it is so pretentious (even for myself!) and abstract, and it’s more craft-oriented than fine art. Like I mentioned before, art is about communication, and if you can’t successfully portray your idea to your audience, you’ve failed as an artist in my opinion. The only way to make it bearable for myself while fulfilling the project’s requirements was to illustrate a story, so I naturally chose one by my favorite author. Tolkien’s nature and mythological themes in his works also reflect my previous prints this semester. I actually had a lot of fun making it once I found a balance between the book as literature and art, so I hope you guys enjoy it!

I designed it all in Adobe PhotoShop CS3, added a dot print to the image, and printed it on a pronto plate with toner-based ink. For those who don’t know what lithography is, it requires the ink on your plate to have an oily surface. You take a wet sponge and wipe the plate down and immediate roll printing ink over it before the water evaporates (which takes only about five seconds, as I found out the hard way). After you do this several times, wiping with the sponge in between every roll, you run it through a printing press. Unfortunately, you don’t get as much detail with this process as other methods, so my prints aren’t nearly as clear as my digital images. I’m still kind of miffed about this because they would have been if I had increased the contrast, but I’ve never done this before and didn’t have a clue how much detail you could get with this method of printmaking. My printmaking teacher told me my prints would be fine after I sent her a concerned e-mail and they turned out just as I had dreaded. Luckily I don’t think you really need to see all the images perfectly to be able to understand the piece. I’m thinking about making a few more books but with prints directly printed on paper from PhotoShop instead of lithographs. The books were constructed by hand using three pieces of matboard, decorative paper, and a bit of glue mixed with water.

( + 7 original digital images )

( + 7 pictures of the book )

I’ve put off updating this journal for so long I don’t even know where to start.

Now that summer has come to an end, here’s the abridged version of what I was up to this past season:

Besides the festivals, concerts, and mini-vacation, all I did this summer was work. I only saw my best friend once before school started. What was supposed to be a part-time job turned out to be full time, but at least I made well over two thousand dollars and am still working one day on the weekends. Many times I’ve wanted to post a huge rant about all the reverse racism I experience at work, but it won’t change the fact that every issue in Milwaukee is always about social class or race because the city is ridiculously segregated in terms of living space. Although I technically work in Brookfield, which is known for its uppity white residents, the store is on the border of Milwaukee and just down the road from the north side. Until another employee transferred from another store a few weeks ago, I was the only white person there out of all the cashiers and customer service associates. Needless to say, I was not welcome. After a few months, most of them have accepted me, but the customers sure as hell don’t. For some reason, all the blacks living in the ghetto of Milwaukee think all the white people around here are racist. I still have yet to meet one, so I’m not sure where they’re getting this mentality, but I am so sick of it. If I ever get around to typing up the dialogue, I’ve got a top 10 worst customers of the summer list that could be entertaining depending on your sense of humor. And trust me, it was very difficult narrowing it down to just ten. I honestly don’t mind working customer service in retail. It’s just the customers and coworkers that are insufferable.

The good news is I have enough money to continue financing my tattoo and study abroad in Ireland this summer (if I still want to when the time comes). Gaelic isn’t too difficult so far and the grammar has been a lot nicer than German. It’s actually the easiest out of all my classes. I would’ve loved to study abroad in Germany, but all the programs are for business, engineering and mathematics majors.

I’m also back in the dorms again this year, since my sister needs my car for the hour-long commute to community college. The only bus I can take goes through the ghetto. In fact, the very place I’d pick it up is the parking lot outside my work where people get robbed on a daily basis. I’ve ridden it before, and you guessed it, I was the only white person on it. At least my suitemates this year are rather quiet and keep to themselves. The girls next door to me have been dating each other for three years, and there have already been some nasty arguments between the two, but at least they make an effort to be friendly when they see me. We never see the girls in the other room because one is usually off with her douchebag boyfriend and the other is from a very rural area and seems frightened of us. But if that’s the worst of it, I can deal.

This semester I’m going to make an effort to post more of my artwork on here, since I’m taking figure drawing and printmaking. Unfortunately, my professors still have all the work I planned on posting here on display, so that’s going to have to be pushed back a week or so. I’m just relieved I’m still one of the top students in my class after not having had the time to draw anything in over a year. I really don’t feel like I accomplished much at all this summer except catching up on movies I’d been meaning to see and rereading Tolkien’s trilogy. (I actually only got through the first two, but I’m starting RotK tonight as today marks Frodo & Bilbo Baggins’ birthdays and the day they both left the Shire.) Speaking of birthdays, I also turned 21 earlier this month and ended up embarrassingly tipsy at Houlihan's over an orange juice glass-sized amount of Bailey's.