Mezzotint Rocking Deck

Posted on by under Art

I’ve been working on an apparatus to help me streamline and control my mezzotint copper plate preparation. In moving toward the incarnation you see in this post I built 3 other models, each one becoming more and more refined and tweaking elements that didn’t seem to work.

Ultimately what I wanted was a rotating deck that would keep the copper plate stable and offer ease of movement through the different angles one has to use to rock the plate properly.

The rocking deck would also need a secure place for the rocker itself, and a place to keep the blade protected when not in use. The sheath I built on the forward end of the deck holds the rocking blade without contacting the serrated edge of the blade at all.

Learn more about mezzotint here. See some of my mezzotint work here. Two really great mezzotint artists are Michelle Rozic and Stewart Duffin. Check them out.

New Lamentations Mezzotints on the Way

Posted on by under Art

I’ve got a show coming up next Spring at Gordon College in Wenham, MA. Though I’ll be presenting 50 or more works, a good portion of them will consist of mezzotint prints. I’m well on my way to completing the group I want to exhibit; the prints will follow the imagery from Lamentations chapter 3, verses 1 – 20. Below I’m posting some shots of the newer plates – click the title to read the verse.

Verse 1

Verse 7

Verse 9

Francis Bacon

Posted on by under Life, Teaching

“How are you gonna remake that in another art?” – Francis Bacon, 1985.

“What modern man wants is sensation without the boredom of its conveyance.” – Bacon, quoting Valery, 1985.

“I’m optimistic about nothing. Absolutely nothing.” – Bacon, 1985.

“CHEEERIO!” – Bacon, to Melvyn Bragg, 1985.

The South Bank Show profile of Francis Bacon, filmed in 1985, is a classic document of 20th century art.

You should watch it right now.

Some Interesting Sculpture

Posted on by under Art, Life, Teaching

Michael Johansson

Vincent Fecteau

Didier Vermeiren and here…

Barry Le Va

I think this (and some other stuff) has been influencing me in various ways…

In the forms I make for students to work from (drawing above, painting below)…

…and in the forms that make their way into my own work. Below, an experimental brick-based sculpture and a mezzotint featuring an invented pentagonally-based structure.

Current Shows, Catalogs, Essays

Posted on by under Art, Life, Updates, Writing

A lot going on these days.

The show I’m in at MANIFEST in Cincinnati has just released the catalog (cover below, click it to order one – it’s volume 43, bottom of the page).

Also, I’m included in a show at McNeese State University. Click here for more info. If you’re near Lake Charles, LA, go check it out!

I’ve got an article in the Columbia Daily Tribune up as well (and keep on the lookout over at Neoteric Art for my upcoming essay on Art and Subjectivity!). Click here to check out the Tribune piece. Below is one of the pieces I talk about (click it to see more about the image at the Brooklyn Museum):