Neither rain, nor sleet nor hail nor snow . . .

When I took my time yesterday morning making my way to MOMA to be there when the doors opened at 11 AM, I had no idea I was going to have to stand in a line that wrapped clear around the big city block and stand in the pouring rain.  But I did it.  And once I got inside and had my ticket and walked into the Picasso print exhibition it was the last thing on my mind despite the fact that my shoes squeaked and sloshed when I walked and I was frozen to the bone.   It was incredible and I spent so much time with my nose as close as it could get to the prints without breaking any museum protocol.

And then of course there were other galleries filled with  Rothkos and Rauschenbergs and Warhols and Motherwells and a good dose of all the art that was ever in any second survey class's section on 20th century art and the Gardner text right before my eyes -  not to mention the Wm. Kentridge exhibition and all of those prints.  Exhausted and overloaded I took a cab to the Neue Museum to see the Otto Dix exhibition including his entire Der Krieg series of prints which was devastatingly riveting!  A few Klimts and my favorite Egon Shiele brightened the sullen mood. Then a late, but delicious lunch in the  Neue's Viennese Cafe  and with an hour and a half to spare, I  dashed to the Guggenheim, braved another queue in the rain and squeaked into this modern ziggerat's exhibitions and then dragged my you know what and about 150 pounds of books to Grand Central to meet my niece.

So, I was wondering . . . do you think Picasso, Dix or Kentridge were ever in a print exchange?

No Room for Leftovers

I didn't have any more room or I would've inhaled the last one  like I did the first three.

See these lovely, luscious little caramels sitting on my laptop? Well, I should say caramel.  About 7 minutes ago there were four of them - 2 dark - 2 milk all for only $10.   But then you should've seen the bag they came in (maybe another post)  I have two hours to spare at O'Hare.  I'm on my way to NYC to see our mini-exhibition of Immigrant Shadows at Ellis Island and an exhibition at MAD entitled Slash: Paper Under the Knife along with as many museums and galleries I can pack in  to 60 some hours.   Gee, when you put it that way, I should probably finish the last one so I have the energy I'll need to hoof it through the city.   I'm staying with my niece, Kimberly, in the East Village.   It's been 10 years since I've been there - I can remember because my sister took me on a cruise for my fiftieth and a that was 10 years ago.

Yikes I'm old!

Here's the scoop

I am just so blown away by the quality of the prints that are landing in the leftover pile.  Yesterday I picked up two sets of prints from two Boise artists that would not call themselves printmakers.  Well, they ARE printmakers, according to the work that has just been added to the LEFTOVER collection, but if you asked them if they were printmakers, they might twist their face a bit . . . cock their head a little and then manage a slight nod.   But gosh and golly, jeepers creepers, holy moly when you see these entries your socks will be flying off, too.

So, when your LEFTOVERS arrive, hold on!

Knocked my socks off!

Here's the deal . . .

I wasn't really sure if this print exchange would take off.  I mean, I liked the idea and pushed it on a lot of people.  I mean I pushed it on a lot of people.  There are some really great artists in Boize'wah and I was assertive.  (Not my usual style, but I stepped up) And, boy oh boy, am I glad I did.

Interested?  I'll fill you in later - you see the hot tub is waiting and that's a whole nother story for a  whole nother day.

Trust me, okay????

(PS - is that a great photo or what?  This is what happens when you google image "knock your socks off")  Serious.  I'm not kidding . . .

Oh Lucy, I'm home!

This is the magnet that graces my refrigerator door!

And this is the leftover packaging that graces my studio floor!

All I can say is, we have the best looking leftovers around.  Still waiting for a few more, but boy oh boy, are they sumpin!

Rumors of a different kind of leftover exchange

I think I mentioned that Matt Bodett and I stopped by Crown Point Press yesterday, but what I forgot to mention was that we each picked up an original sketchbook/journal made out of Crown Point leftovers.  We witnessed one of the master printmakers printing an edition of a small plate on full sized sheets of paper. The print is eventually trimmed down - leaving several strips of blank leftovers.   And those leftovers?  Well, they eventually make their way into sketchbook/journals.   And the covers of the sketchbook/journals are actually rejected prints that get torn down, too.    As we both "oohed" and "aahed" and selected our favorite to purchase, Matt looked at me and said, " Amy, this would be a great exchange idea."   So, I'm just throwing this out there.  Let's just say participants agreed to create 4, maybe 5 small blank books with leftover prints as covers - along with a few signatures of blank paper and they in return would get back that same number of books.   Would anyone be interested?

This, I think,  is the very table that held the stack of sketchbooks! And here's  a crummy  cell phone photo of my book made with beautiful leftover printmaking papers.

It's about 7" square, cost me $20.00 and probably has 30 individual sheets of assorted papers in it.  If you know Matt Bodett, ask to see his.

Today's my last day in SF and I can't wait to get back to all your leftovers.

Taking Home Leftovers

It's true.  I will be taking Leftovers  home with me from San Francisco.  Three of our exchange participants live in the greater Bay Area and we met for dinner last night.  No, I'm not taking leftovers from our dinner back to Boiz-wah, I'm taking their Leftover prints back to Boiz-wah.  And here's a wonderful fact that most of you have probably realized already.
Some of our best friends in life will turn out to be printmakers!  How do I know this?  I know this from experience.  You see, my dinner companions last night all took the same printmaking workshop in Florence with me back in the summer of 2004.   The same workshop that made me decide to go back to school to study printmaking.  And we've all kept in touch.  Of course, the Bay Area gals get to run into each other a bit more often, but nevertheless we've all stayed in touch  because of that common connection.  Don't you just love it??

Now, I'm sorry to say I won't be able to personally pick up everybody's prints - and they are due today.   But, I won't be back in Boise until late tomorrow night, and if I don't have your prints yet, we will figure it all out.   Meanwhile, have a great day and bask in the strength of our wonderful connection to one another!