picture across the room

I walk into my local library, and over there in the corner I come face to face with a black and white image on cream colored paper. It is not a drawing. It is not a Photo Shop concoction. It is not painted. It is not a watercolor. What am I looking at? Four things come to mind. First, there is excavation involved. Think about scratches dug into plank of wood. Second, there are steps followed each time an image is made. And after all those steps are carried out the image can be seen. Third, there are particular steel tools used. Fourth and lastly, the artist must give it her approval. It must measure up. It must be dark enough, light enough. Without the approval of the artist, the print is worthless. It usually has a signature in pencil at the edge of the print.

An inked print is not a xerox, not a mechanical multiple, not a photocopy. It is labored over, fretted over, and deemed as a precious, glorious creation.

To gain some appreciation for Geary's craftsmanship, I have taken some close ups of his Bullfight scene courtesy of the Carrollton Public Library. and added some of my own comments.(left) See the bullfighter. The solid black background is black ink rolled onto a wood plank. Paper is placed on the inked wood.The back of the paper is rubbed down. The paper is pulled up off the plank and the image transfers to the paper. Now, the white area around the bullfighter has been dug out of the wood, extracted. If you look at the outline of the bullfighter's head and shoulder, you will see tiny white lines. Those are scratches into the wood. Look at his cape. Those cross hatched white lines are scratches into the wood. The dark areas are not scratched or left alone.

The next closeup (right) is an arena in shadow. The railing, the people seated, the columns of the balcony are tiny thin scratches on the plank of wood.


(left)
The thick horizontal line at the top is the edge of the print. There is a flag, two open arches, the hint of a wall, and horizontal lines up in the sky. The two open arches are dug out of the plank. The white area around the thin flagstaff and flag are dug out of the plank. The horizontal lines in the sky represent atmosphere, perhaps clouds.


The thick border (right) is the edge of the print. The white columns and railing are precisely plowed out from the plank with a steel tool. The seated figures are both silouette and have tiny scratches. See the atmosphere created above.

(left) The word "Caudrillas" had to be carved in reverse, because the printed image is all in reverse. So, if you have words in your design they need to be in reverse when you dig in the wood.




(right) There are various kinds of texture. Some shadows are solid black. Some have parallel lines. Other areas are solid white.

(left) The bull is a solid silouette shape in black. Tiny thin scratches create the impression of muscles. Cross hatching along the edge of the bull's shadow softens the edge of that shadow. Many details that don't just happen, the wood engraver puts them exactly as they are. To add to this discussion and give some insight to this medium I have asked Abigail Rorer to share her thoughts.

KM: If you would, please: Say something about the discipline required to do wood-engraving or woodcuts. As an artist in that medium, what problems are there to solve?

AR: I am a wood engraver. Wood engraving is a finer medium than the woodcut in that you get a lot more detail because you use the endgrain of a hard wood like boxwood or maple and you use engraving tools such as the burin and graver instead of curved gouging tools. It is a relief medium because the ink is rolled out on the surface then printed. Some of the issues that need to be decided as one engraves are working out textures and image edges with white lines or black lines, whether to stipple or cross-hatch and basically remember that everything taken away will print white. It is a very exacting and slow process and requires a steady hand and sharp tools. It is also very meditative when one is engraving.

KM: What problems do the handling of the tools or materials present?

AR: As mentioned before, your tools need to be sharp or you will slip all over the place. Plus the tools need to be adjusted to fit your hand. It takes a lot of practice to get to the point of a sure and steady hand. Everyone slips and there are various methods of repairing those errors depending on the extent of the mistake. Sometimes the wood will warp so you have to store the wood carefully. You also need to wear a magnifier because the lines are so fine. Printing the engraving also presents a lot of issues. It can be done by hand (rather difficult) or with a press. The main thing is not to fill the very fine lines with ink and to get a nice solid black.

KM: Unlike drawing, where you can immediately put down your impressions on paper, how do you go about creating a design and work it out on the wood surface?

AR: I work out the composition before hand, transfer the sketch to the block, then use pen & ink to complete the drawing on the block. I then tone the block with a sepia ink so that, when engraving, any lines that I cut will show up lighter than the block and I can see what I'm doing.

KM: Myself, generally, I paint rather quickly and prefer not to stretch the project out forever. It is my understanding that an engraver is in it for the long haul. I am guessing you don't jot scribbles down and willy-nilly scratch random marks, and then say "Good, I'm done with that." Am I right?

AR: Every engraver is different - there are some that engrave as you describe above - quickly jot down a rudimentary sketch then engrave in a free-form manner. I am totally the opposite - my engravings are extremely detailed and I am in it "for the long haul" as you say.

KM: How, then, is an engraving different from crayon scribbles on paper?

AR: The discipline, limitations of the medium, and the skills needed to get an image on paper; it's time-consuming and requires a lot of practice.

KM: In an other example, I tell my students at school that I am always doing "homework" on my paintings. They look at me funny, like grown ups don't do homework like they do, but, really, we as artists do, don't we? Not settling for a ho-hum presentation, but that which stretches and builds up our skills.

AR: I guess you could call it "homework" but it's almost like "life's work" in that we live and breathe our work 24 hours a day almost. If not doing it, then we're thinking about it or constantly observing, however unconsciously, the world about us and getting inspiration, and we're always perfecting our skills and technique.


KM: To make this kind of art, Geary followed certain steps, used steel tools, and spent lots of time digging in wood to make each print. Abigail, where can people go to see more of the wood engraving you do?

AR: My website is: www.theloneoakpress.com


Bullfight by Fred Geary. Image measures 8 by 11 1/2 inches. Printed on yellow-tinted paper. Courtesy of the Fred Geary Print Collection, Carrollton Public Library, 1 North Folger Street, Carrollton, Missouri