Linoleum Block Relief Printmaking Workshop: Forest Park, Birmingham

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: An Introduction to Alabama Printmaking

The postcard invite reads:
More than 30 Alabama artists illustrate the power and possibilities of printmaking, from woodcuts to screenprints to digital creations. Get into print with a new workshop or demonstration each week.

Visit liteboxgallery.wordpress.com for details.

The opening reception is: Friday, January 14th from 5:00pm-10:00pm and on Saturday, January 29th, I'll conduct a linoleum block print workshop.

See you there!

Happy Birthday Colonel Stone Johnson

Yesterday the Birmingham City Council celebrated Colonel Stone Johnson, civil rights activist and foot soldier, during their regularly scheduled Tuesday council meeting. Flowers, cake and greetings were shared by all. I blogged about Colonel, a few weeks ago, so you already know how special he is to me and to many, many others. I completed the linoleum block portrait of Colonel. He's 92 years young! How wonderful is that?!

BIRMINGHAM ARTWALK 2010

Take a minute and visit the ArtWalk 2010 Artist Gallery here.

If you're looking for me, jump to my entry in the Artist Gallery on page 12!

I'll be located at: Brantley Visioneering, Inc.
2401 2nd Avenue North

Stop by and say hello!

"Well, It's Not a Deal Breaker. . ."

March 13th, 14th and 15th were three phenomenal days! I participated in a Metal Arts Workshop offered at Sloss Furnaces. Sloss is one of the best kept secrets in Birmingham, if not Alabama. Take a couple of minutes to check out their website and then come back here when you're done.

Joe McCreary is the Metal Arts Education Coordinator, at Sloss, and he was my instructor for the weekend workshop. He's a laid back Mississippian whose strength is in his quiet confidence. He's intuitive. Most Mississippi natives are, you know. Oh, have I mentioned that I'm from Tupelo? Joe leads a team of iron artisians. You would have been hard pressed to find anyone in the foundry with an ego. And if they had one, they must have checked it at the shed because it was amazing to find so many creative people in one place working together, effortlessly.

One of the first things that you notice when you arrive is that everyone and everything is in constant motion. It's obvious that each individual, on the platform, follows his or her own bliss (bliss meaning that each person has tapped into the energy that makes him or her tick). But Joe is the one who points a finger with authority or quietly nods in the affirmative when questions are asked and answered; directing, shaping the day. It's an unspoken language that you would miss if you were easily distracted. And believe me, there are soooooo many distractions on the platform where the studios, lifting equipment, casting sheds, foundry and fabrication shop are located. Oh, and the trains! Locomotives are passing on either side of the foundry, all day. Throw in the deafening roar of a cupola being stoked for an iron pour and you have an exotic orchestration of craftsmen and tools and processes and sounds and music. Great music . . . blasting from speakers strategically placed near the tool shed. They had me at "hello" when someone played the roots reggae tune EXODUS sung by the legendary Bob Marley & The Wailers. Rich.


I brought several mounted linoleum blocks to the class which I had designed and cut. My goal was to see if I could create an iron casting from one of them. We decided that I shouldn't use any of the blocks that I still needed to ink, press and complete an edition of prints with. So I "sacrificed" an 8" x 10" lino block that I had made a duplicate of, last year. It took one and one half days to prepare the block for the iron pour. I, also, created two additional forms on site. The preparation was labor intensive and required more attention than I had anticipated. However, in hindsight, I understand how important it is to set up properly on the front end. If you don't focus, your project will reflect nicks, nubs and residue material which you will invariably have to reshape or correct. Prep work requires A LOT of patience!


There were moments when I felt like I just couldn't spend another minute melting, dipping and massaging wax. Joe would say, "Well, it's not a deal breaker." Then he would grin e'va so slightly. It was a grin that all Mississippians recognize. I got it.

I melted, dipped and massaged wax until the sun went down.

Great workshop!

Kudos to Joe, Remy, Bones, Heather and to all the artists at Sloss Furnaces.

Cultural Alliance (GIA): 2nd Update

I am a 2008 GIA Award Winner and acknowledge the support provided by the Grants to Individual Artists Program administered by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham.


Thanksgiving 2008!

I've finally decided to take some real vacation time away from my job. It has been an adjustment, to say the least. Two days has always been my self-imposed limit. I didn't realize how mentally exhausted I was until the fourth day! Although I had been wrestling with a terrible cold for a week, it took that long for me to feel completely rested and at peace.



I've been working on my CAGB project and I'm excited about the progress that I've made this week. A couple of weeks ago, CAGB held an evening workshop for the 2008 GIA Award Winners led by Bradford Kachelhofer and Michael Bell of The Modern Brand Company, LLC. The workshop focused on when, where and how to successfully promote yourself and your project. In other words, how to leverage your GIA Grant. It dawned on me that at some point, probably in the not too distant future, I may be asked by the media to provide an image to accompany the summary of my narrative/proposal.


My CAGB proposal: To create a series of linoleum block relief prints documenting the 1930s migration of an African-American sharecropper family from Alabama’s Black Belt region to industrial Birmingham.

The image has a WPA feel which is exactly what I was striving for. Once this block is finished I'll print, scan and then save it as a digital file. The final size of this block will be 12" x 18".

These pictures show: a) the original sketch on tracing paper and the image drawn in reverse on the surface of the lino block; b) the inked block and c) the 1st proof on newsprint.

I'll post the final print in a few days with the title.

44th Annual Bluff Park Art Festival

I really need to bring 'yall up to date on my work and my most recent art venue which took place last Saturday, October 6th . . .but I'm still too tired to think thru what I need to post. I sit at a computer all day at my "9-to-5-job-with benefits" and it's VERY difficult to come home and look at another monitor for an extended time. I'd rather sit on my den floor and cut a lino block or sketch a design. But . . .having said that, I can see that I need to make the commitment and just do it! And so I will. . .this weekend.