Logos, the cosmos in art, & the history of science from print to textile form

This is a peak at the linocut which formed the basis for a logo I designed for a small English furniture company called Galapagos Designs. The specialize in German furniture from the 50's. My lovely customer stumbled upon my portrait of "Darwin on Galapagos" and liked the look of the tortoise. She requested a similar tortoise with a specific German chair, within a circle. The final logo has some further work I did with their name and slogan, in Photoshop. I can share that when their website is complete. I've enjoyed working with her and making this print. I like the whimsical idea!













The Etsy blog posted a great little article last Friday, called Art Scouting: The Night Sky. If you know me at all or have perused this blog more than once, you'll know that an article about the place where art intersects astronomy and a round up of representations, both representational and fanciful, of astronomical phenomena is just my thing. So, I was really pleased to see my "Imaginary Antarctic" screenprint included, especially amongst the works of so many wonderful printmakers. The author even sent me nice little note saying she thought it was a gorgeous depiction of the aurora.



















This is my linocut portrait of Mercator, famed 16th century Flemish cartographer and originator of the ubiquitous Mercator projection (the last of which just flew to Chicago with a friend... though I think I'll print a 2nd edition). You may recall, I was really pleased to be invited to submit of of these prints to the City Museum of Sint-Niklaas, in Belgium, who were hosting a year long exhibit in 2012, to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Mercator's birth. Recently, they wrote to me to say they would be sending me a knitted version of my print. Nothing could be less expected. It arrived today.






 









This is without a doubt, the single most unusual item I have received in exchange for my art. I don't know what to do with it, but I love it. (That's a metre stick for scale, by the way).

squares baby quilt

So since I was busily quilting, I went ahead a made another quilt for a friend who's expecting. This one is more free in terms of colours, but simpler in terms of design and assembly. This one includes squares with my block prints (and one screenprinted bear silhouette) and a few squares with my friend Tanis' block prints (some fabric I've been hoarding for some time).







The reverse is mainly night-themed fabric: stars, NASA imagery, imaginary constellations (along with mushrooms and Russian nesting dolls).




Here's the reverse of the Baby W's quilt:

Natural History Ornaments

I've been making more ornaments for your wunderkammer.

Monoprints

I had one final screenprinting class yesterday, so I thought, since I had only 3 hours of time, to make some monoprints. This is not a method I've used before. The word 'monoprint' can be applied to unique prints made with a variety of printmaking methods (so long as there are not multiples). In this instance, I mean screenprints made by applying a pigment directly to the screen and then lifting and disolving it and printing with the squeegee as if one were printing with ink. You can do this with, say, silk paints and screenprinting medium, or even wallpaper paste. Any sort of decent medium which can disolve water-soluble pigments, and has good printing properties (like viscosity - not too thin or too gloopy) will work. I printed all of the following on heavy weight paper with a deckle edge (moreorless 10 inches by 14 inches). I experimented with the silk paints:



There are white areas where the pigment was too thick, and actually blocked the screen - but I like them.Also, you can see the mesh, which is interesting to me. I also tried paper stencils (snowflakes) combined with a silk paint + wallpaper paste monoprint:


Then, I tried the crayons (also with cut-paper snowflake stencils). My first attempt wasn't quite what I intended (but still sort of pretty I think). The instructor pointed out that there was still pigment on the screen, and with more medium and pressure (a recurring problem for me, I feel like a weakling) that I might be able to get another print. He gave it a try and got much better results:



Lastly, I drew a discomedusa jellyfish directly onto the screen with colour pencils and crayons. This proved harder than expected. The screen itself is not an ideal medium for drawing. The mesh tends to hinder smooth, curved lines (which are sort of necessary, at least if you are me, and you are attempting to draw the least rectilinear animal in the world). Here's my first attempt, which is pale, but appeals to me:



Again, there are places where the pigment blocked the mesh, but I think it works. There is white, often, within water, and I think it helps give a sense of movement. Here's the no-nonsense instructor's 2nd attempt:



which shows hom much more can be transferred with more strength and experience. I also like the surviving snowflake stencils. The ones made from strong Japanese kozo paper survived:


I feel I should do something with the screenprinted snowflakes, but I'm not sure what.

Imaginary Antarctic

One of the most marvellous things I've seen are Pacific harbour seals at night, surfacing at night in water rich with bioluminescent bacteria. They glow in the dark! This inspired this print. I imagined glow-in-the-dark seals, a Pygmy Right Whale, a mysteriously forming submarine miniature galaxy, between two icebergs, below a starry sky and the aurora australis. This is one of a (variable) edition of 20 screenprints (22.5 cm by 33 cm/8.6 inches by 13 inches). The south polar sky does vary from print to print. The seals, stars (in the sky and the sea) and the aurora are all printed in glow-in-the-dark ink. It's very hard to take a photo in the dark... but they really do glow!

In screenprint class, we took some of the prints into the dark room to have a better look. I don't know how to capture this in a photo... you'll have to take my word for it.

Io, myth and moon

In this three colour (2 screen) screenprint, I combined Io, both the nympth (in cow-form) of Ancient Greek myth, and Io the large, volcanous moon of Jupiter. I'm interested in exploring the role of myth and imagination in science, and specifically here, how astronomical naming has been traditionally based on mythology. To make this screenprint, I combined my pencil drawings of cow/nymph Io and cloud with a NASA photograph of Io, which I manipulated. The screenprint is one of an edition of 10, printed in yellow (with a hint of lime), magenta and purple, on white paper, 28 cm (11 inches) square.

The story of Io is a funny one; she is one of many nymphs who caught the roving eye of notorious womanizer Zeus. As told by Ovid, in 'Metamorphoses', Io rejected Zeus' nighttime advances until the oracles lead her father to drive her into the fields. There, Zeus covered her with clouds to try and hide her from his justly jealous wife Hera, who nonetheless decuded there was something suspicious going on. Zeus then upped the ante and turned himself into a cloud and Io into a beautiful, white heifer. Hera, used to such nonsense, was not fooled and demanded the white heifer as a gift, which Zeus could not refuse. Needless to say, Hera kept this cow far from her unfaithful spouse. So, I made Io a lovely beribboned, heifer with garlands of flowers, resting on a fluffy (if lascivious) cloud.

The story goes on with more shenanigans, including Hera sending a gadfly to harass poor Io, which apparently has something (etymologically at least) to do with the oestrous cycle... but I didn't want to tell the revenge part of the tale, and no one wants to think about menses, though a relentless, vengeful, stinging gadfly does make some sense to me. Anyhow...



Io, the Jovian satellite - or moon, is the innermost of the four Galilean moons which Galileo first observed and identified (January 8, 1610 ) in orbit around Jupiter.* Galileo knew the importance of a good patron and he named them the 'Medician stars'. Io and her sister Jovian moons were important to the history of science. Their observation made it clear to Galileo that it was not possible that everything circled the earth if these moons circle Jupiter and thus, Copernicus must be right. We now know that this lovely moon is the most geologically active place in our solar system, with its more than 400 volcanoes fueled by tidal heating, as it is violently pulled in multiple directions by the strong gravity of Jupiter and the other moons. It has been beautifully photographed by a series of satelittes sent from Earth.

The Mad Scientists of Etsy challenge for this month is 'metamorphosis'. I thought I would make something related to science but with a less expected connection to the theme of 'metamorphosis'. Rather than natural, biological metamorphosis**, this print brings the mythological, metamorphosed Io (of Ovid's 'Metamorphoses') and the moon Io unexpectedly together.

*The IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature points out that Simon Marius may even have observed Io days prior, but he neither published nor necessarily realized what he saw. Nonetheless, he named the Jovian moons. (He believed in Tycho Brahe's system, which was mid-way between helio- and geo-centric, with planets circling the sun, which in turn circles the Earth. At the risk of putting a footnote on my footnote, I'll point out that this in not as illogical as it sounds, because Tycho was an excellent experimentalist and couldn't justify a heliocentric model with his data... because he couldn't observe stellar parallax. So, he was wrong, not because he avoided new ideas, but because he was conscientious and the data for parallax was not acheivable with the technology of the time. Go team Tycho! Never underestimate an honest experimentalist.).

**Butterflies may be the new pirates, but I just don't like larvae.

Giant Pacific Octopus screenprint

My friend Faunalia and I are taking a screenprinting course. It's a nice way to try out a variety of methods. Our first class, we used paper stencils. Though this is the method with which I've made most of my screenprints, mine was a complete disaster. I managed to destroy my stencil on my first attempt at pulling a print by over-doing it and getting ink everywhere. Failure is a harsh teacher sometimes, but I need to remember I am there to learn, and I did learn something. I'm happy to say my second print is much more what I had in mind.



This is my screenprint of a Giant Pacific Octopus. It's large (the sheet is 50.5 cm by 36 cm or 19.9 inches by 14.2 inches). It's printed in a dark raspberry colour on white paper. I made it using screen drawing fluid and screen filler, which allowed me to paint directly onto the screen, so it has a rather spontaneous feel. This is one of an edition of 9 prints. I was inspired by seeing some of these amazing creatures off the west coast of Vancouver Island. Sometimes we work with remotely operated vehicles (basically, submersible robots) which allow us to see what, or who is on the seafloor.



Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the Giant Pacific Octopus or North Pacific Giant Octopus, may be the largest octopus on Earth. They have been weighed at as much as 71 kg (156.5 lbs) and measured with arm-spans exceeding 6.1 m (20 ft) ! Though more typically, adults usually weigh around 15 kg (33 lbs), with an arm span of up to 4.3 m (14 ft). They are quite astounding creatures.

My former neighbour was a scuba diving instructor who had a job at certain BC tourist trap, where visitors were able to descend into a building with windows on the shallow ocean floor, where there was a small aquarium collection of creatures. More than anything, my neighbour dreaded the giant Pacific octopus, which he felt was mischievious to a frightening degree. He swore that the octopus pulled pranks. Often, the tourists would complain that there was no octopus visible in the window. So, my former neighbour D would have to enter the pen and coax the octopus into view. He said it would hide above the window, just out of sight. After the octopus tired of this game, it invented a new one. D would swim into the pen, only to find that the octopus had hidden above the door, swam out as he entered, and the latched the door behind him, locking D in the pen until he could alert his co-workers.

Cloud Chamber II

The Mad Scientists of Etsy Challenge for January 2011 is 'Particle Physics' so I listed another of the screenprints I made last spring: Cloud Chamber II.




This is a two colour screenprint I made of clouds and ionization tracks in a cloud chamber.

A Wilson cloud chamber is basically a tank of condensed, supercooled water (or alcohol) vapour. It is used to detect high energy particles - ionizing radiation. The radiation, say from cosmic rays, or radioactivity, or particle accelerators and so forth, leave their distinctive trails in the "clouds". Because of conservation laws (conservation of angular momentum, and conservation of charge, in particular) you get these wonderful spiralling trails. If you look carefully, there's a whole lot of symmetries in the image. In fact, if you look really carefully and measure angles, it's possible to get the mass to charge ratio of the particle in question. It's really a magic piece of 20th century science instrumentation.



I printed the sky in pale blue, using a digitally manipulated photograph of the sky, and the ionization trails in sunny yellow. This is an artist's proof.

cloud chamber

Yesterday, I had a screenprinting class at Open Studio. I've done a lot of screenprinting (also known as silk-screening, but these days, the screens needn't be silk) in the past, but always with a paper stencil (or, a fern leaf). I had never previously tried using a photoemulsion. This lets you make a stencil using photo-chemistry - you basically "burn" a photographic image right onto the screen. It can be of basically anything, but I choose something that would be particularly hard to represent with other printmaking techniques (because of the fine lines and the fluffly texture). I call this two-colour screenprint "Cloud Chamber".



A Wilson cloud chamber is basically a tank of condensed, supercooled water (or alcohol) vapour. It is used to detect high energy particles - ionizing radiation. The radiation, say from cosmic rays, or radioactivity, or particle accelerators and so forth, leave their distinctive trails in the "clouds". Because of conservation laws (conservation of angular momentum, and conservation of charge, in particular) you get these wonderful spiralling trails. If you look carefully, there's a whole lot of symmetries in the image. In fact, if you look really carefully and measure angles, it's possible to get the mass to charge ratio of the particle in question. It's really a magic piece of 20th century science instrumentation.



The image is made in two parts. First I found a nice photograph of clouds and I manipulated it in Corel Draw. I likewise came prepared with an image of ionization tracks from a cloud chamber found online. I "burned" these onto the photoemulsion-coated screen. First I printed the cloud-image in periwinkle-sky blue on several sheets of paper. We only had three hours, so the idea was to see what could be acheived, more than to produce a multi-coloured precision print. I did manage to also print the ionization tracks in golden-yellow on top of the sky. I was thinking of the sun, the source of most of our cosmic radiation.

My registration reflects the rushed nature of a single three-hour class; it isn't always what was intended, but I thought ahead a planned this image to be flexible. In fact, this is "Cloud Chamber II", with the ionization tracks printed 180 degrees out of phase:



I like that too. :)

Our teacher was Genevieve, whom , I think, knows. There were five in the class and in typical Toronto fashion they were from Toronto (me), Thailand, Trinidad, Pakistan and undisclosed (sounded like Southern Ontario to me). It was a good little group, which is great because we share resources. My partner's English was a bit limited, but she's clearly extremely bright, exudes competence, and is really considerate. We were using the screen as a coordinated team almost without using words, which was pretty impressive to me.

pick up the pace

{"As Fast As I Can" by Thomas De Santis via whorange.}

Aiming for rabbit, feeling like tree.