Barbara Putnam donates etching
All posts by Linda Alvarez '13
Day Five
Today is the last day of the project, and Barbara, Peter, and Caitlin are still working on finding the perfect shade of blue gray for the series.
Day 4
Peter, Caitlin and Barbara are still trying out different color combinations for the print. The walls of the studio are filling up with more and more proofs.
After all the hard work this week, printmakers deserve a relaxed pizza dinner with Barbara’s students in the studio.
Day Three
After the proofs were printed, everyone gathered upstairs to compare them.
Day Two
Peter and Caitlin gave a printing demonstration for the students at the studio. Anyone who is interested in printmaking is welcome to join as well. It’s great to watch Peter and Caitlin, who have been printing for so long, work. Their movements are efficient and graceful.
All of the printmaking classes went to the Bowdoin College Museum of Art today to look at Marvin Bileck and Emily Nelligan’s prints as well as Peter’s portfolio.
Day One
This week, Peter Pettengill and his assistant, Caitlin, will produce a large etching in collaboration with Barbara Putnam. Barbara has recently returned from an expedition to the Arctic, and her print is inspired by the magnificence of the northern landscape.
Peter and Caitlin will use multiple plates to create this print. The key plate, which contains Barbara’s drawing, is shown above. Color will be added using additional plates (one for each color).
After a busy first day at the studio, Peter gave a talk at the Visual Arts Center, which was attended by Bowdoin students as well as members of the local printmaking community. During his talk, Peter described his experience working with artists such as Sol LeWitt, Louise Bourgeois, and Walton Ford, among others. His job as a master printer is to enable artists from every discipline produce a print. Although he claims no authorship in the works, he is necessary to their existence.
Peter Pettengill: Collaborative Printmaking and the Master Printmaker
Monday, February 18
4:15-5:15
Beam Classroom, VAC
Peter Pettengill, master printmaker and the founder of Wingate Studio in Hinsdale, NH publishes and produces original prints in collaboration with artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Neil Welliver and Walton Ford. Prints editioned by the studio are in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of Art and The Portland Museum of Art. Pettengill will speak about his studio practice and the process of collaboration with contemporary artists. He will spend this week working with Bowdoin students and Coastal Studies Artist-in-Residence, Barbara Putnam.
Day Five
The final day of the Marvin Bileck Printmaking Project was the most relaxed out of the week.
Breakfast was held in the studio as Liz signed her prints.
A few local artists and Mark Wethli stopped by to visit and see the final result–seven pages rippling across the wall, progressing from a warm brown to a cool blue.
Day Four
Day four: the final day of printing!
Students worked busily all day to finish the second half of the edition. All that is left for tomorrow is cutting and signing the prints. Parents are invited to stop by the studio in the morning to see the prints and partake in a breakfast snack.
Printmaking I visited Hawthorne and Longfellow Library to view some of the artist’s books from the special collections. These books were made using various printmaking techniques, and represented a range of styles–from Michael Mazur’s large-scale prints depicting scenes from Dante’s Inferno to Karen Bleitz’s machine-like book, The Mechanical Word.
Day Three
Day three went swimmingly well! We are halfway through printing the edition, and the day ended in a celebratory note with pizza from Flipside.
