Learn the ancient art of printmaking By Laura Brown
Friday, April 10, 2009
The Union Newspaper

Standing at the window of her studio on Wet Hill Road, Gwyn Stramler applied thick black relief ink with a pallet knife onto a square of glass, then rolled the ink into a thin coating with a brayer.

"I usually start people with black so they can get a feel for the printmaking process and not have to think about color," Stramler explained.

Gwyn Stramler shows some finished prints from her home studio
on Wet Hill Road in Nevada City where she offers printmaking workshops.

Since February, Stramler has taught printmaking workshops to small groups of four in her intimate workspace known as Wet Hill Studios.

"Lots of people taking my class are already good artists," Stramler said who wants to attract people new to the age old art form.

"I really do want to teach the beginner. Someone who has never done printmaking. That's who would really benefit from the class."

Stramler first fell in love with the medium as a young student at Fullerton College in Orange County.

After graduating from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Stramler entered a career working as an editorial illustrator for publications like Harper's Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, Outside and The Washington Post.

After 13 years, Stramler gave up illustrating for magazines and newspapers to become a full fledged painter. She and her husband moved to Nevada County 12 years ago and her work is currently on display at Mowen Solinsky Gallery in Nevada City.

Last fall during the Open Studio Tour, 25 visitors showed interest in Stramler's skills as a printmaker. Stramler decided to offer printmaking workshops in February with the hope that teaching would add a new dimension to her own work.

"I want to bring up my own body of work while teaching people the principles of art and design," she said.

At the workshops, Stramler supplies the materials and props, a whole host of plastic lizards, wart hogs and other animals for students to draw.

Stramler uses an old hand cranked press she found in Marin nearly 20 years ago. Students can expect to produce several finished prints to take home by the end of the day.

"I want them to get the experience," Stramler said. "A lot of it is tactile and feeling your way."

People are also welcome to bring their own themed inspiration such as a Haiku poem or cookie fortune.

"I like people to draw from life and memory. Not from photographs. That's what cameras are for," she said.

"I would like people to think and paint in metaphors. Using the principles of design and art you can usually bring art to a higher level. It's not about painting a pretty flower," she said.

A white plastic rat with red eyes offered inspiration for a quick sketch. Stramler hastily painted black lines and an image was ready for the printing press.

"I love the spontaneity. I love the sketching aspect of it. To me there is the real element of surprise. It's going to be run through the press and you never know what's going to happen," Stramler said.

Stramler's students start with the basics of monotype before branching out to monoprint, soft-hard-ground etching, aquatint and drypoint.

Printmaking began as woodcuts in China about A.D. 105 possibly developed to print patterns on cloth. Printing allowed religious teachings of the Bible and Buddha to spread out to the masses.

Later printmaking styles included engravings on metal developed by German goldsmiths and the fine details found in etchings.

"This is a really old technique. It was the first form of mass production," Stramler said. "It hasn't changed over the years at all. That's why I love it. It really is a throwback." ~~

To learn more about the workshops visit wethillstudios.com or call 470-0525. To contact Staff Writer Laura Brown, call 477-4231 or e-mail lbrown@theunion.com. Photos for The Union Newspaper by John Hart

See more of Gwyn's work at her Mowen Solinsky Gallery webpage...

The Church Key Potter,
Ken Standhardt's Secrets to Surface Embellishment
Story by K.T. Anders
Photos by Jon Meyers

At first glance, there's something vaguely familiar about Ken Standhardt's pots. Unglazed exteriors rich with pattern and texture echo ancient Native American woven baskets and pottery. Even his titles-amphora, berry basket, storage vessel-summon thoughts of shards at an archaeological dig.
 
Standhardt admits that as a kid, he loved finding arrowheads, millstones, and hatchet heads on the 150-acre fourth-generation farm in Pennsylvania where he grew up. "I was sure I wanted to be an archaeologist," he confesses. But although he minored in archaeology at one point in college, his experience working in a ceramic studio under a work-study program in high school had al­ready hooked him on the clay habit. After a stint studying ceramics in college, he became a full-time potter. It's now worked for him for 20 years.
 
One of archaeology's theories on how pottery began is that natives pressed clay into baskets to keep small seeds from falling through the cracks. "If the basket burned by accident or in a prairie fire, they discovered they had a pottery bowl with the texture of the basket," notes Standhardt. That texture is what fascinates him.
 
But Standhardt's pots only whisper about those ancient times. "Primitive forms serve as my inspiration, but I don't copy any patterns," he explains. "I make them up and I do them all by hand. I'm all about developing my own, distinct tradition. My work has evolved slowly."
 
Despite his archaeological interest, Standhardt doesn't press clay into woven reeds to create his texture-he uses something far more modern: a church key. Remember that triangular pointed hunk of metal used to pierce the top of a soda can before the days of the pop-top? Well, if you've got one, hang on to it, because it can be an awesome pottery tool!
 
"I've become known as the Church Key Potter," says Standhardt. "I can create a variety of patterns and variations within them with two simple church keys. On one, I ground a little V-slot onto the tip. It creates a sort of overlay effect." It may sound simple, but the application of church key to clay, he notes, is all about patience and practice. "Because each piece is hand-textured, no two are ever the same. In a single vessel, the number of indentations can vary from 500 to 5,000, each placed by hand and eye."

Pressing Patterns

Standhardt begins texturing a piece by impressing a pattern around the rim of a leather-hard pot. He works around the pot from top to bottom. "It's all about setting up the pattern to start with," he says. "If you start well, things will continue well-or at least you have a chance."
 
Although that first course of impressions around the top deter­mines the consistency of the pattern, Standhardt doesn't measure out his designs. "It's all serendipity," he admits. "I get to a couple of inches from the end of the pattern, and do a little dry-run to figure out whether to go larger or smaller. In 90% of my finished work, I can't tell where my start point was-it's fluid. It's all about letting go. The worst thing that could happen is I'd have to throw another piece."
 
As he works down the pot, he expands and contracts the pattern according to the form of the piece. "I do that by making the impression smaller at the narrow neck and larger at the widest part, so it gives the illusion of the pattern ballooning out."
 
His patterns are, so symmetrical and exact that he says people often think he casts them rather than creating each one freehand. "But if you look at them closely; you see the imperfections in the patterns,” he confesses. "They only give the illusion of perfection because of the repetitive patterns."
 
The bottoms of Standhardt's pieces are as intricately textured as the sides, and that gives him special pleasure. "The textured bottoms are a reward for the person who picks up the work and starts exploring it," he says. Those almost secret designs also satisfy his sense of craftsmanship, something dear to his heart as the son and grandson of Pennsylvania Dutch woodworkers. "Texturing the bottom to finish off a work is a statement of being done with a piece."
 
Standhardt's early years growing up on a farm trained his eye for pattern. "There is so much pattern in farming and agriculture," he says. "Corn is planted in different patterns, wheat sheaves create complex patterns as they grow. Pat­tern was a constant in my life while 1 was growing up." He also notes that farming is good training in judging distance. "In laying out crops and fields, a sense of distance is something that's actually honed. You develop a highly specialized ability to judge distances." Certainly that's an invaluable skill when coming up to those last two inches of design around a pot.
 
When it comes time to texture, Standhardt usually works on his lap, using custom-made chucks to hold the pieces upright. He uses a hand on the interior of the pot to press against the pressure of his church key from the outside. Depending upon the piece, he sometimes stands. But either way, he's careful not to get into positions that tire his muscles. "It's all about body mechanics and not stressing your body," he notes. "For example, I look down with my eyes, not my neck."
 
Because his studio is small-only about 250 sq. ft.-Standhardt has had to keep his glazing simple. The exteriors of his pieces are washed with iron oxide and sponged off. The interiors get a simple liner glaze. "I want to dramatize the depth of the texture but not distract from the form," he explains. His rich red, cone 4-6 stoneware, called Trail Mix Cinnamon, comes from Georgies Clay in Portland, Oregon. He fires to 2150 F, about cone 5.
 
A small gallery in his home provides a sales venue that has taken Standhardt off the traveling show circuit. "I have a reputation and people come to me at this point, although I do some local shows. I like having the gallery because I don't have to travel so much."
 
Standhardt wants people to touch his pieces. "What I like about my work is that as you engage with it-turn it over and look inside-you can explore additional patterns," he says. "Some texture I directly apply to the interior, others are what I call a soft echo of the exterior pattern that forms in the interior from the compression I make in patterning on the outside. The exterior has all these linear patterns and the interior parallels that, but it's more subtle. My work is a study in pattern, form, and textures."

K.T. Anders is a potter and professional writer who resides in Upperville, Virginia. She is a regular contributor to Clay Times.
 
This article appeared in the January/February 2008 issue of Clay Times, Volume 14 • Number 1, and is graciously posted by permission.

See more of Ken Standhardt ceramic vessels at his Mowen Solinsky Gallery webpage...

Penn Valley travel photographer a winner
By Pam Jung, pamj@theunion.com
December 27, 2007
The Union Newspaper
 
Richard "Rick" Murai of Penn Valley recently won a photography competition in Europe for the picture of an 84-year-old Cambodian woman, a snail gatherer up to her neck in water.
 
He won the One Shot category in the international Travel Photographer of the Year competition, one that attracted more than 13,000 entries from 51 countries and a panel of renowned judges.
 
"I didn't realize it was that big when I entered it," said Murai. "Europeans are really big on competitions rather than being exhibition based, as we are in this country
 
He won a fancy camera with all the fixings, including software.
 
His reaction? "I was surprised, excited and honored," he said, "but I also felt good going into it. I never enter contests because of how flighty they are. In 95 percent of contests, you lose copyright. I entered this because of the terms - very professional - and because it was targeted (travel based). It validates what I do."
 
For 20 years, Murai, 55, has been a travel photographer. Southeast Asia is his focus. He spends about six weeks a year during breaks from his teaching job at Yuba College visiting such countries as Tibet and Cambodia; in fact, he hopes to make his third trip to that country and to Bhutan in the near future. While the cultures and people interest him, it's sacred sites that form the foundation of his many years of work.

In addition to teaching photography at the college level, Murai gives tutorials in his home studio. While the photographer still uses film as his main capture medium, as of six years ago he started using digital scanning and large-scale, dedicated grayscale digital printers for his prints. He says it's like painting with light electronically.
 
"This has revealed a new emotive quality that I never got in the dark room. It offers great control and great productivity."
 
Murai's work may be seen at the Mowen Solinsky Gallery in Nevada City. He's also entered another photography contest, so stay tuned.
 
For a little more about the woman in the winning picture: She spends seven hours a day immersed in water harvesting snails because her whole family was wiped out by the Khmer Rouge, and this is her only means of support. All her belongings are in the boat behind her.
 
Although the judges of the photography contest never knew the backstory to the image and judged it only on such things as technical merits, Murai thinks they were drawn to the picture for other reasons, known only to themselves.
 
Commenting on the unseen ravages of war is becoming more important to him now. "I want to get more involved in humanitarian applications for my work," he says about future endeavors. ~~
 
See Richard Murai's award winning photograpy at Mowen Solinksy Gallery. Visit www.tpoty.com for details of the Travel Photographer competition.