TheArtistOfKouroo

I joined the printmaking club at my university as printmaking is one of my primary mediums and I wanted to get into letterpress printing and bookmaking.  We have a printing press and that is good.  What we lack however, is a good set of type.  All of our type was apparently donated this year and is rather large and in a Gothic typeface.  Furthermore, we don't have enough to print book pages.  As such, I am now planing on ordering 12 pt. Jensen Old Style metal type, punctuation and the rest for my own use.  I need to figure out if I should get ornate initial letters or if I should make those in wood with my own designs.  Next I plan to look into how to make wood engravings that can be used with the text on a page.

On a different note, every freshman at my university has to read Wassily Kandinsky's "Concerning the Spiritual in Art" for a class.  I must say, I disagree with him on most points.  I like my art to stir emotion in people, yes, but his theory about moving the viewer's spirit is too far out there for me.  Also, I completely disagree with his philosophy of moving away from representational art and his triangle and the "artist as prophet" ideas.  I find him out of touch with reality and on the whole, very pretentious.  I like some of his art a little, but not that much.  All said, Kandinsky was the greatest artist and thinker who every lived, or at least Kandinsky thought so.

My name is Yon Yonson,
    I come from Wisconsin.
    I work in state government there.
    Everyone that I meet
    When I walk down the street,
    Says "Walker sucks, huh?"

So, anyone following the new knows that the governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, has proposed a bill that make collective bargaining illegal for public sector unions, is part of a larger move to try to eliminate the fund raising ability of the Democratic Party. He has been trying to strong-arm it through the legislature, using tactics that are frankly illegal (including holding a vote before the time it was called.) So far the only thing stopping him and his goons in the legislature have been 14 Democratic senators hiding out in Illinois. I live in Madison, my parents are both public sector, and I know that what Governor Walker is saying is pure bull shit. There is very obvious corruption (the Fitzgerald brothers are in control of the two houses of the legislature and their father just got a cushy job, the Koch incident, etc.) I don't know how this will all end, but there are serious efforts to recall several senators and I doubt that Walker will get a second term. The protests have not died down and the voices of the public will not go away.

I was lucky enough to see a whooping crane in flight today at Richard I. Bong State Recreational Area (I know its a silly name.) It was a spectacular sight, its feathers were stark white the way that is bowed its wings in flight was pure majesty. Unfortunately I was unable to grab my camera in time to take a photo, but I have the image imprinted in my mind and think I will paint it soon.

Beannacht Lá Fhéile Pádraig
(Happy St. Patrick's Day)