Music, coffee, etchings, art

Coffee grinder with (Wagner) music

At Art School in 2008 I had a wonderful time in the print workshop. 'Print' as in etching, intaglio,aquatint, relief ... not print as in photocopying.

Before spending time in the print workshop I had thought that multiples of etchings were as easy to produce as photocopies, that one turned the handle several times and out would pop several etchings, all the same. Little did I know. (If you do see etchings all exactly the same, with multiple colours, then you are  looking at work of a print-master.)

I worked like a crazy and learned a great deal. One of the etchings I made was of a coffee grinder - with some of Wagner's music in the background (of course).

The other day I found the  coffee grinder cutout I worked from and was about to throw it away. Then I discovered it has a charm of its own.

Coffee, coffee, coffee.

As my print teacher Neil Emmerson told me, the product is sometimes an e-product - and that's fine!

Neil is celebrating 10 years at Dunedin Art School this month with an exhibition of work by teachers and students.

 

Dunedin folk

From: Otago Daily Times

The Goddess of Good Fortune must have been guiding me when I decided to go to Dunedin in New Zealand to study art. Not only is the Dunedin School of Art exceptional but the people of Dunedin are as well.  They are friendly without being intrusive and helpful without making you feel indebted (as the article in the Otago Daily Times to the right shows).  

Like many others who study in Dunedin making the decision to leave was very difficult and my time there is fondly remembered.

You have to go alone

'You have to go alone'

A Dunedin Art School graduating student in 2008 had some books on a table which he was asking visitors to open on a certain random page. You had to read the xth line to him. He then typed it up on a card and presented it to the participant.

I still have mine on my pin-wall and I just noticed that the Emil Nolde postcard pinned under it seems to illustrate the text. (The postcard is one of Emile Nolde's 'unpainted paintings', some of my favorite work of all time.)

This is a piece of conceptual art that seems to have a life of its own. Interesting isn't it!