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August 22, 2007
ocac: "pushing the gocco envelope"
by gl. at 3:28 pm
last week i assisted shu-ju wang, local gocco artisté extraordinare, with a 3-day class she taught at the oregon college of art & craft, "pushing the gocco envelope."
the class was pretty packed, so in addition to handling questions, i tried to be invisibly helpful: i brought in a bunch of supplies to share when we were running low, i took pictures for shu-ju, i staggered my work/lunch times so there was always someone available to answer questions, i took half a day to spend with people in the computer lab, i pulled an extra print for the person who let us use the computer lab, i cleaned the classroom even better than it was when we started. i tried not to ask too many questions myself, and i tried not to even wince when the students voted to come to class an hour earlier, even though i live on the opposite side of the planet as ocac which made for some long days.
it definitely felt different to assist a class than to facilitate one. i kind of liked it; i could be helpful without being the ultimate authority or having as much responsibility. just like at my art events, though, i was worried that i wouldn't actually be able to finish making the art! i started off slowly as people needed more help earlier on in the process, but fortunately i caught up on the last day.
i've owned "little miss gocco" for a couple of years now but have done regrettably little with it other than note cards and poetry crepes. so beyond the altruistic desire to assist a fellow artist, i was happy to get the chance to do more goccoing! unfortunately, my computer had a fatal hard drive crash on the first day of class, so i had to create something fairly simple quickly on sven's laptop.
[letters are symbols which turn matter into spirit]
this print took two gocco screens (which was the point of the class, to create a piece bigger than the standard b6 print bed). the "a" is in gold, "the "z" is in silver. the darker parts in the middle are actually 3 different colors of green (the bottom is brown). if i was going to do it over again i'd reverse the color on the bottom screen (leaving brown as the base color).
i didn't pull any prints i thought were completely perfect, but it was good to do it with shu-ju around. for instance, i was surprised to find i wasn't using enough ink a great deal of the time, even when it felt like i had a lot. i also discovered i press too hard. i wasted several prints by not using the mylar registration technique (lesson learned!). but the marbling happened mostly the way i imagined, even if it took a lot of test prints to start the ink migration process.
at the end of the class we hosted an exchange, where we got a copy of everything everyone else made. whee! that's one of the best things about printmaking! there were some delicious prints, cute cards, and imaginative booklets.
posted by gl. | August 22, 2007 3:28 PM | comments (6) | categories: classes & workshops, printing
Comments
I think Shu-ju needs a zippy gocco-related tag line, don't you? My humble suggestions:
1) "the Giotto of Gocco"!
2) "the Gocco Gucci"!
3) "the boffo Gocco impressario"!
Posted by: michael5000 at August 23, 2007 12:16 PM
Now wait a minute, how come these fabulous suggestions ended up here and not my blog? What if I never saw them?
And thank you again, Gretchin, you were truly a lovely assistant! The place was spic and span when you were finished. I just went back this afternoon to retrieve a couple of things that I left behind; they were found, so all is well. One of these months I shall come for one of your classes. Not sure which one I'd do yet. I'm terrible at collage, so I was thinking maybe I'd try that.
Posted by: shuju at August 23, 2007 10:11 PM
shu-ju, i think it's a cross-pollination plot. michael5000 is sneaky like that. plus, i think "gocco artisté extraordinaire" sounds a mite plain to him. ;)
Posted by: gl. at August 23, 2007 10:19 PM
oh, and i'm -delighted- you would consider a collage event because you think you aren't good at it. that's a great attitude! collage night is our most casual event so there's no "instruction;" we just get together, sort through the pretty things, and glue them onto stuff. :)
Posted by: gl. at August 23, 2007 10:31 PM
I love this print. I'd hang that on my wall.
Posted by: Sundry at August 24, 2007 8:40 PM
oooo, thanks, sundry!
Posted by: gl. at August 24, 2007 10:22 PM