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QUEST: 1,000 Woodcuts Update
November 2001 -  142 completed
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Predictably, it has been a while since my last update. Much going on these days.
As life goes on, so does art and really I have been surprised at the turnout in recent art festivals. I guess art makes people feel good and consequently gives us artists a reason to keep going.
In any case, I'm already booking for next year and proudly got accepted in an exhibition in Wyoming.
http://www.1000woodcuts.com/exhibits/exhibit.html

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New Stuff:
A series of small new woodpeople prints:
http://www.1000woodcuts.com/outwood/owgallery3.html
Something about sisters, brothers, friends...
http://www.1000woodcuts.com/fullsize/asone.html
http://www.1000woodcuts.com/fullsize/fusion.html
A second print in the architectural terms theme:
http://www.printmakingstudio.com/fullsize/oculus.html

I also did a print to benefit the firemen of the WTC, but it is just too darned depressing to put up on the web. Maybe next time...

Quotes and Diary entries:
http://www.1000woodcuts.com/1000woodcuts/quotes.html
http://www.1000woodcuts.com/1000woodcuts/diary.html

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Thoughts and Ramblings

Not much thinking going on these days, I am beginning to slowly dust off selected original carved blocks and making them available to collectors. Some mixed feelings about letting go of them, but eventually there just will not be enough room to stack all these and I'm beginning to run out of closets. In any case, I am working on finishing the editions (no small task) and then the blocks go for sale.  This finishing of editions, a mechanical task requiring no creativity, is engaging and enchanting. The actions required are physical and repetitive as a mantra and give me the rest I need to begin anew.

Some fellow printmakers have expressed emotions about this decision, all the way from encouragement to horror.  Most keep their blocks for posterity. Really, all my thoughts came down to a single question:

What is an artist without an audience?

Let's say I keep my blocks for posterity (all 1,000+ of them). My husband is 10 years older than I am so he will not benefit from the treasury of blocks of a dead artist. We have no children and presumably will outlive all our present pets.
So! I let my blocks sit in the garage until I die, at which point some shrewd collector sees the value in these jewels and...makes money off me and my work AFTER I'm dead. I don't like that too much.
Another scenario--the art world collects them and they sit in the basement of the Woodblock Museum (there is such a place!) until long after I'm dead, at which point the same art world that wouldn't recognize my talents while I was alive sees the value in these jewels and makes money off me and my work AFTER I'm dead. I don't like that either.
How about this? My collectors, who support me today while I'm a "nobody," collect my blocks TODAY. After I die, the people that fed me while I was a schmuck can profit all they want from my little treasures. I like that a lot. I like to take good care of my collectors and as far as I'm concerned, I would like them to keep my blocks.
Now let's say I do, against all odds, become famous while I'm still alive. My blocks are now worth 100 times what they sold for. The beauty, of course, is that I can carve more. Not only that but my prints are now worth what my blocks used to sell for while I was a schmuck. My collectors benefit even sooner, everyone is rich. I like that a whole lot.
So I tag'em and get rid of them as fast as I can print the editions. The procedure is no different than an oil painter getting rid of his oil paintings; carved blocks are just much more beautiful of course.

What is an artist without an audience?

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Quote(s) of the Day

"Arrange whatever pieces come your way."
--Virginia Woolf

Thanks for listening and health to all,
Maria

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Maria Arango, Printmaker
Las Vegas  Nevada  USA
http://www.1000woodcuts.com
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maria(AT)mariarango.com
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