The printmaking department proved to be more inspiring, while proving to be constantly challenging, than the painting faction. It certainly did have an us against them atmosphere with the painters in a desperate battle to keep the Neo-Abstract Expressionism flag from falling under the dust of the unseen upstart Post-Modernists looming just beyond the horizon. The printers suffered from no such conservative constraints, we had free reign to try new things as soon as the basic processes were mastered.
Dick Swift was the first instructor I had. He was a pioneer in contemporary printmaking, primarily etching, and he wasn't about to let you ignore that point. His continental methods contrasted greatly with Cynthia Osborne. She was the one that drove me to try new things, and I would often try something ridiculously stupid, if only to prove that it was possible although usually useless in the end.
These photos mark the first time I've been back in about ten years. Since then, the department moved to a building next to the old studio, taking up the entire bottom floor.
This is a long shot of the litho room, taken from the silkscreen end (silkscreen is nearly always shunted off to one side).The screen table in the foreground arrived while I was there and I helped to assemble it, the one-arm assembly and counterweights are currently rusting outside in the courtyard.
These are the two large litho presses. The tympans hang on a neat system on the wall between them. I used the Griffin press mostly, the Takach (Garfield) arrived the last year I was there but I used it enough to learn to buy one of my own later on.
This is a one hundred year old Fuchs and Lang cast iron press. This baby had a notorious bed wobble as it traversed under pressure. It would get progressively bad as it neared the end of its travel. The shop was open 24 hours back then (it still is today) and one night, with a critique the next day, the studio was packed with students all through the night. One girl was using this press trying to squeeze out some images for the crit and was working as fast as she could in the wee hours. The longest vertical bar in the picture above is pulled down to set the pressure on the litho stone. Well, with all the rushing and considering the nasty wobble the press bed had, the pressure bar (also known as the Devil's Tail in olden print times) snapped up and cracked this girl on her temple. Never had a full studio been so quiet. I regret that I can't remember names, but the girl was laid out cold and we thought she bought the farm at first. After a trip to the hospital, she turned out to be OK, plus she got a pass on that crit.
The old graining sink made the transition but I don't recognize the solvent cabinet.
These are the same instructions for graining stones from 27 years ago!
These plates are from the second lesson in Dick Swift's etching class. Twenty four small zinc plates (2" x 3"), each with a different technique. Two, perfectly matched prints, pulled from each plate were turned in inside a little manila folder. Nearly half the class would drop the course when this assignment was presented.
He was very serious about etching.
This was the best etching press in the studio. We also had a Laguna and a Brand press, but this little English beauty was the best suited for the sizes we worked on. Once you got the big wheel going, the inertia would carry the bed through its length, as if it was motorized. A little contact on the outer edge of the wheel and it would slow it down pretty as you please. On night, Rock (that was his studio nickname, he was a merchant marine) bet us that he could stand inside the wheel and make a complete revolution. The group that was there urged him to not try it, but... He spun until his head was pointing down at 4:00 o'clock when he did a headfirst Superman dive onto the concrete. I have been very fortunate to never hear such a sickening thud ever again. Rock rose from the floor, grabbing his head, while we were about to try to find some help (no cellphones back then) he kept insisting that he was OK and damned if he wasn't. We never let him live that down and I don't believe anyone from the school ever suspected anything.
This is an old Leach press (made in LA) from the 50's. The roller assembly and furniture was gone when I was there. I used it only once and that was enough. The poor thing is little better than a boat anchor.
These rollers were there when I was. I sure hope they have some real ones stored somewhere.
This is the current etching hotplate. We had a huge restaurant hotplate that we would clean up and use to have potluck cookouts. these were done late at night or early for breakfast or we would have starving art students pouring in. I hear they still carry on the communal cookout tradition, but with barbecues in the courtyard.
Speaking of courtyard, this shot shows the entrance to the Litho/Silkscreen studio. But what could that be under the little table?
Why, it's me! They currently number the stones in the studio (how common!) but way back when, Cynthia would name them all. I was lucky enough to earn a stone because...
I grained and backed piles of them when I was there! The printmaking department received a couple gifts of stones, some from Gemini GEL. We hauled them to the school in a convoy. One grad student used his little Toyota Hilux truck and the weight of the stones forced a monkey grip plug (look it up!) to pop out of a tire. The truck was so heavy, we had to unload it on the highway so it could be jacked up to change it. There were stacks of stones piled in the old courtyard. After prepping some of them, it was possible for anyone taking litho at that time to have a stone large enough to print a full sheet (22 x 30 or 30 x 40) that semester.
I was happy to see the new facilities but I could not help but to seek out the old bits and pieces surviving from my days there. The few students that were there while I was poking around are as avid and dedicated as the bunch I remember. The community of printmaking trumps the lone gunslinger of painting, in my opinion. Discoveries are shared, events are group projects and tradition is wedded to innovation under printmaking.The experience of learning how to make art through printmaking at Long Beach has set the tone for my career. The connections I made then have certainly helped and I can't imagine having to limit myself to a single medium as a form of expression.
