Here are two exciting new lino cut additions that donors get to choose from for this year's Muscular Dystrophy Association's fundraiser.
The plates can be seen on the Relief page under Printmaking.
Sewing Shop
This isn't very far from the real sewing machines used at Taylor Art House. The depiction is of an Singer 29K patch machine and a very robust Juki 1508NH, a heavy duty industrial machine used for multi-layer sewing of leather and nylon webbing and other hard to sew materials. The Juki has a modern synchro motor with electronic controls. - it is very precise and user-friendly. The Singer is a classic design that is over a hundred years old. It has a new motor, although many leather shops used this with the wheel moved to the front face of the machine to do very fine machine work without a motor, feeding the piece through the machine by turning the wheel by hand. The top-only feed dogs rotate 360 degrees so sewing can be accomplished in tight places. This machine is on a modern sewing stand that rests on a mobile steel dolley.
Photo Studio
The Photo Studio proofs are a depiction about a sitting model and a photographer using a large format camera, some lighting from a side window and supplemental lighting from studio lights in an small space, maybe as small as 8 x 8 x 8 or 9 feet tall. I have thought I might pick up one of the smallest used box vans from UHaul and/or build a little room off the plaza to the north of the Taylor Art House printmaking and painting studio. This idea started from the fledgling Double Exposure Project. This as well as the Sewing Shop cut are studies in light and composition and use white and black to a greater extent than used before in the linos. They were cut thinking they would be rolled up with black ink and the results are very pleasing. The pattern of the cuts in this print are economical to give the composition the right balance of objects, pattern and amount of black and white.
Relief Prints and Muscular Dystrophy Association
Both of these prints work well as a pair, I can see a series of this type of composition and light in the future. Both images depict part of the art process at Taylor Art House and some pieces of the real art produced have and will use both photography and sewing. The Factory Quilt made for the Print Paint Flow show at Johnston Architects used both instant film, film packaging and the final piece was assembled with a couple of sewing machines.
Read the previous MDA Linocut post for more process information on the printing of linocuts in general and for this great fund-rraisiung effort for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
If you are reading this post before October 18, 2012 feel free to donate.
(Go to http://www2.mda.org/goto/