My New Website

I am so happy to report I have completed creating my new website. It is www.wswillis.com. The process was so easy and whenever I hit a snag, my "guy" at Photobiz was able to magically make it go away!  I have a guy!

I am really not a techie person. I believe it is important to try to keep up with the changing world and the technology that keeps evolving.  But I am far from comfortable with it. So I have spent over a week's time pulling images, updating my resume, and all the other decisions I needed to make about how I wanted it to look.  I am eternally grateful to have had Diana Hartley's assistance in funtionality and helping me think it all through.  I guess I have a "gal" too!  

So please check out my new website and tell me what you think. I hope you find it easy to navigate. I learned about Photobiz from Sam Dahl, who created an easy to update website for us at Five15 Arts Gallery.  Check it out too, at five15arts.com

Monosilkscreen Process

I enjoyed another monosilkscreen workshop at the Mesa Arts Center, the past 2 Saturdays. The workshop is offered every quarter and since there is so much time between classes, I feel pressure to be ready and take advantage of the time available.  So for the week or more before each session, I plan what I want to print and cut stencils and pull color chips for each concept.

So with the stencil on the right I printed 3 backgrounds of a solid yellow/green. When that dried I mixed up a darker green and put the stencil down arcing from bottom left to to top right.  For fun I pulled a 4th print of the stencil and the yellow/green over a plain white paper.

 When those dried I reversed the stencil putting it on the right side and tried to mix a transparent blue/green.  But my first two efforts were not transparent enough and covered the first stencil more than I wanted. So I kept adding more transparent base until I got to this point on the last two:

Not satisfied but that's what I had to work with.  After the first Saturday class, I decided to print with a stencil I had used for diffused relief on these two prints.

I mixed up a very transparent (finally) blue and printed them both today.  I was very happy with the result.  I am not sure these are the final versions of these prints but so far so good.

As always I want to thank Nieves Manje and Jeremy Yocum for all their help and expertise.  The size of these images are 25" x 17.5".

Stars are in Alignment

I am having a bit of a lucky streak.  You can see why I might feel that way: 

My print, Native Son, was included in the Family Matters exhibition at the ASU Art Museum this summer. Rossi Todorova organized the print exchange SB 1070 which was donated to ASU's art museum.  From that donation, they pulled my print and used it in the exhibition which ended July 31st.  Someone saw my work and told me about it.  What a thrill, to have my work in an Art Museum exhibition!  

I was contacted, as per my last post, by someone wanting to feature my work in a blogpost about Family Art Collecting.  It appeared in Phoenix Magazine.  

Then Kim Larkin contacted me about participating in a show at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort for the National Swimming Pool Federation conference.  I was one of 7 artists and all four of my prints sold from that 3 day show! 

I finished my print for the Mesa Arts Center calendar at Santo Press last week.  Here is the final version.

And then today I got a routine email from the NAU Art Museum announcing a new show - NAU Art Museum:  Collecting in the Twenty-First Century.  I clicked on the link to see if I could see whose work was in the show and lo and behold, there I am again!!!  The museum is using many prints from the Passport Required print exchange I helped organize for the Arizona Print Group.

I mentioned how lucky I felt to another artist and she pointed out to me that luck didn't have anything to do with it.  She said that I have produced a consistent body of work and that I work hard at getting my work out there.  It is so difficult for an unrepresented artist to get their work seen and this is something I have worked diligently at over the years.  And I keep producing new work.  But it is hard not to feel lucky and much gratitude that my work is noticed and appreciated.  I want to thank all the good people who have included my prints in their shows or writings.  And for featuring printmaking!

 I can't wait to see what happens next!

  

Artwork in Progress/Phoenix Magazine Blogpost

SANTO PRESS - COLOR 1

                            

It is such a luxury to have your reduction relief printed for you. Brent Bond at Santo Press is a joy to work with. I love the Mesa Arts Center - it's where I learned I was a printmaker! - and I'm grateful for their facilities and galleries. So supporting their annual fundraising effort is important to me. Each year artists donate prints to be included in the MAC calendar. A buyer can get 12 original fine art prints for $200. Such a deal! But carving out the time (a little printmaker pun) to print 50 2 color reductions, just isn't available to me right now. So with much gratitude, Brent printed the first color of my print yesterday.  This photo is a test proof, not the final color but close.

PHOENIX MAGAZINE BLOGPOST

Deborah Lewis freelanced a blogpost for Phoenix Magazine about family art collecting.  It is a wonderful idea and I encourage one and all to start with their kids today.  Most artists welcome inquiries about their art, process and prices from those who are sincere in their interest.  Artists I know like to give small prints as baby presents so the baby owns original art from the get go.  Birthdays are perfect opportunity to grow a collection.  Let me know if you have any questions about my work.  My email is listed on my Facebook badge on the right column of this blog.  Or make a comment with your contact info and I will reach out to you. Here is a link to the Phoenix Magazine post. 

Register now for Fall Printmaking Classes

My summer classes are over and the schedule for Spring 2016 is due Monday.(!!!) I don't have any classes until September 1st so I plan to spend the month artmaking and refilling my creative well.  I have enjoyed and learned from all the students I had this summer and appreciate each and everyone.  I am hoping to add some new students to the fall roster so if you have a friend who always wanted to try an art class or printmaking in particular, then send them my way!

MONDAY = WHAT A RELIEF AND 2 COLOR REDUCTION RELIEF

There is one 6 weeks section for What a Relief in the afternoon and Reduction Relief in the evening.

TUESDAY - SOLARPLATE

Come explore the new solarplates and see what magic you can create in intaglio or relief!  Play with inking "a la poupee" as in the wagon print below, or learn chine colle,..  Classes are afternoon or evening for 5 weeks.  Classes start September 1st with a second section starting October 13th.  

This medium also works great for artists who can draw...create editions of a single drawing.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

Mix things up with a weekend Monotype class November 14 and 15.  No experience required.

With the holidays approaching I have scheduled opportunities to print or make art to give as gifts.  Check out the schedule and register at this link.  Click on the Printmaking tab to see class details.

Have a great August everyone!

Transitions and Traditions

It's been a long time since I posted.  As I noted in my last post in January, we have transitioned the Printmaking classes from their Phoenix Center home campus at 3rd Street and Moreland to the Xico, Inc facility at 1008 E. Buckeye Road.  I am not sure why but enrollment is off and it has been a bit disappointing.  I am hoping that as the word gets out that the space is great and it isn't that far away, that things will pickup.  One of the classes that has succeeded is the Wednesday afternoon Solarplate class and we are experimenting with new timings and new ways to print and ink the plates.  Joyce printed a relief/etching combo with two colors that we all loved!

 

Then Paulette inked ala poupee a print of Tony in South Africa.  It is so fun and exciting to see people drawing and experimenting with the diverse possibililties that solarplate allows.

The clearly most positive outcome of the move to a new facility was I was able to bring my Takach press home.  After much reorganization and with many thanks to Diana Hartley for her assistance,  I am thrilled with my luxurious home studio.

So in this cozy space I am now working on a new body of work to be presented in my next show at Five15 Arts Gallery in May 2016.  It feels good to have a year to prepare and time to experiment and learn new processes.  My printmaking buds and I will be experimenting with screen printing, diffused relief and with a stencil cutting machine.  So many exciting experiences to come and in my own home studio makes it all pretty perfect.  LIfe is good. 

Besides the work on my new show, I will be taking my third summer printmaking class at Glendale Community College for fun, community and feedback. I'm looking forward to working on projects that will also expand my printmaking vocabulary.  

Steve and I are heading to San Diego for our traditional anniversary trip and visits with the best California friends a person could want.  Also in June my brother, Jeff, is coming for a visit from North Carolina.  While his artistic pursuit is mostly musical, he will end up a pretty good printmaker too while he's in my clutches, er, care.

 If you would like to try a printmaking class, check out the offerings at phoenixcenterforthearts.org or give me a call.

New Phoenix Center Classes at Xico

We are all moved in.  It still will take some time to really settle in but the space is beautiful, storage is adequate and there is lots of room!  There is currently space available in the What a Relief weekend workshop next weekend - January 24 and 25.  This class was selected as one of the 10 Cool Art Classes in Metro Phoenix by New Times/Jackalope Ranch.  See the articles here.

 

New classes are starting in February:

What a Relief! - 4 weeks on Wednesdays, 6-9pm, Feb 4 - 25
Painterly Monotype - Feb 21 & 22
2-Color Reduction Relief - 4 wks on Thursdays, 10-2pm, Feb 5-26

Collagraph with Marlys Kubicek - 3 weeks, Mondays, Feb 23- Mar 9 10-3:30pm

To register for classes click here. Then click on the Printmaking tab to see the classes offered.  Remember all printmaking classes are located at 1008 E. Buckeye Road, at Xico, Inc.   Take 7th Street south of the Diamondbacks ballpark two traffic signals and turn left.  Look for the yellow painted building on the left.  Second floor.

View from Xico patio