Stevens Point (and neighbors) Calendar of Events Art
Through March 10 22nd Annual Midwest Seasons. Center for the Visual Arts, Wausau. Reception January 20, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. Through March 12 Xu Bing: Recent Work. Edna Carlsten Gallery, UWSP. Opening reception Monday, February 13, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. Closing reception Saturday, March 10, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. Through March 15 At Dawn: New Work from Nicole Evelyn. The Scarabocchio Art Museum. Reception February 24, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. Through March 31 Divine Inspirations by Christine Alfery. Q Artists Cooperative. Through March Emerging Artist exhibition. Riverfront Arts Center. March 26-30 Print with Legend Amos Kennedy, Jr. Amos Kennedy will set up a press and print his posters, assisted by students, for a week in the gallery. Edna Carlsten Gallery, UWSP. Reception and poster sale, Sunday, April 1, 10:00 - 4:00 p.m. Dance
March 9-10 Point Dance Ensemble’s 13th Annual Peformance featuring choreography by guest artist Melinda Myers and Ted Ballard. 7:30 p.m., Theater @ 1800. 715346-4100. Music
March 1 Hi-Matics with Evan Meulemans (folk rock). 8:00 p.m., The Encore, UWSP.
2
March 1 Second Annual Dueling Pianos! Two Guys, Two Pianos, and a Night to Fight Cancer. Social Hour 6:00 p.m., entertainment 7:30 p.m., Memories, Plover. Tickets are $50 in advance, $60 at the door. 715-3879249. March 3 The Phry: A Tribute to Phish. 8:00 p.m., Theater DUC, UWSP. March 9 The Asia Project (slam poetry). 8:00 p.m., The Encore, UWSP. March 10 Green Tea (Irish rock). 8:00 p.m., The Encore, UWSP. March 17 Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with Icky Friction. 9:00 p.m., Guu’s on Main. March 20 Tomorrow River Middle School Choir Concert. 7:30 p.m., Jensen Community Center, Amherst. March 24 LJ Booth. 7:30 p.m., Jensen Community Center, Amherst. March 24 Galynne Goodwill. Minocqua Brewing Co. March 30 Hana Pestle (acoustic singer/ songwriter). 8:00 p.m., The Encore, UWSP. March 31 Galynne Goodwill. City Grill Bistro, Wausau. Theater
March 2-4 and March 8-10 A Streetcar Named Desire. 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2:00 p.m. Sunday, Jenkins Theater, UWSP.
March 2-4 Arts Alliance Community Show. 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2:00 p.m., Theater @ 1800. 715-346-4100. March 16-18 Central Wisconsin Children’s Theater Presents: Annie. 715-8244416. Other
Through March 3 Elbow Room Annual Operation Bootstrap Food Drive. Party on Saturday, March 3. Icky Friction will provide the music. March 3 Point Bock Run. 12:00 p.m., Stevens Point Brewery. March 9 Safety and Health in Wind Energy. 8:00 - 4:00 p.m., MREA, Custer. www.midwestrenew.org/workshops March 17 Daleks & Dungeons & Ghosts, Oh My! Egocon 2012. Elizabeth Inn. March 30 Passive Solar Design and HighPerformance Construction. 1:00 - 5:00 p.m., MREA, Custer. www. midwestrenew.org/workshops March 31 Basic Photovoltaics (solar electricity) course. 9:00 - 5:00 p.m., MREA, Custer. www.midwestrenew. org/workshops
If you would like to see your event in The Bitchin’ Kitsch next month, please email the details to chris@talbot-heindl.com.
content march 2012 Garden of Eden - Jennie Wood
cover
Calendar of Evens Environmentalism in Art: Sustainable Printmaking Practices - Chris Talbot-Heindl
2 4-7
What movies and recruiters 8-11 did NOT tell me about military camaraderie in real life - John Lee
Michelle Wojtaszek - pg. 9
Doug Somers - pg. 12
on the front cover:
i’m not sure where this is going Doug Somers Crushing Heads - Michelle Wojtaszek
8
it was easy once i figured it out Doug Somers Donors & Index
12
krash your komputer - Doug Somers
13
9
12
Garden of Eden Jennie Wood Oil on canvas
inside back cover: krash your komputer Doug Somers Fotograft
about b’k:
bitchin’ kitsch is a zine for artists, poets, prose writers, or anyone else who has something to say. it exists for the purpose of open creativity. if you have something you want to share, please email it to chris@talbot-heindl.com.
donation:
we love our donors. If you would like to become a donor, email chris@talbot-heindl.com and make your pledge.
advertising:
bitchin’ kitsch is offering crazy low rates of $5 for a fourth-page ad, $10 for a half-page ad, and $20 for a full page ad. book yours today by emailing chris at chris@talbot-heindl.com.
3
chris talbot-heindl. Environmentalism in Art: Sustainable Printmaking Practices
By: Chris Talbot-Heindl Reprinted with permission from Midwest Renewable Energy Association - www.midwestrenew.org www.talbot-heindl.com
“There are certainly those that treat printmaking as alchemy. The have these secret recipes and they like the resulting mystery of the process and they like being plugged into that part of that tradition. It has a certain sort of romanticism. I think there’s a point where printmakers have to stop and look at what can be done with, for example acrylic floor polish.” – Keith Howard (Pengelly, 203.) In May of 2010, I finally earned my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art with a two-dimensional emphasis. My focus and love was the printmaking medium. The printmaking studio was my life for over two years, and so my life was full of long durations in contact with inks, acids, toxic materials, and solvents. Throughout those years, I took every precaution: wearing rubber gloves, at times respirators, and taking frequent breaks; but I was also wracked with a sense of guilt, as I knew what the environmental toll was on what I loved to do. Sometimes it can be hard to justify our activities that we enjoy when we are also environmentalists. Historically, printmaking is a very environmentally unsustainable practice, using acids, energy, exorbitant amounts of water, toxic solvents and degreasers, paper waste, etc. But for every practice in printmaking, as in everything else that we as people enjoy, there is a more environmental way of achieving the same goals.
can do away with all the toxic chemicals and make an environmental line. Some of the effects are not immediate when using water-based inks. For instance, to achieve an impasto effect a printmaker can paint a thick layer of waterbased ink onto a relief block and print by hand onto paper. Water-based inks have a tendency to build to a gloss after three or four layers. To remove this, a printmaker can print with a matt acrylic varnish. All printmaking lines and effects can be achieved through creative processes using water-based inks. Paper for Printmaking
In traditional printmaking, the paper used is already rather environmentally friendly. The papers used usually have inter-meshed cellulose fibers and in some cases, some sizing, but rarely contain any other additives which are normally found in commercial papers. They have a neutral pH level, as high pH paper will make the fibers discolor over time. However, as printmakers know, you will need additional paper to successfully roll out a print. And this paper is usually commercially made, and quite often only used one time and then discarded. To reduce my carbon footprint with this type of paper, I usually buy only 100% recycled paper rolls, and reuse the paper for note making, measurements, and test runs. Etching in a Sustainable Way
Traditional etching of zinc plates requires nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, or ferric chloride, all of which off-
The Environmental Line
With each main printmaking technique, the traditional ink has been predominately oil-based. This means that the printmaker would need oil mixtures, linseed oil to reduce it, pigments, varnishes, and solvents. With new improvements made to water-based inks, artists are now able to accomplish the same looks (multi-colored prints, multiple over printings, opacity, and flatness in color) with water-based mediums. Printmakers now
4
Working with photo intaglio
chris talbot-heindl (con’t). gas. Some of the substitutes to this traditional method can be quite obvious. Instead of etching with acid, we can do the drypoint etching process. This process only requires lots of arm muscle strength and a sharp tool. With the drypoint tool, you simply incise the metal plate creating lines and burrs. Both the lines and burrs will catch the ink and produce a print. Photo intaglio is another option. In the process of photo intaglio, you make a reverse image onto acetate paper (which later can be washed and reused) with any medium. Photo intaglio uses a solarplate, which is a light sensitized steel-backed polymer material. Placing the acetate paper image face down on the plate, you expose the plate to a light source. The light source in a printmaking studio tends to be a vacuum-seal light exposure table, but could also be straight sunlight. The plate is then etched using water. A saline sulfate etching process can achieve comparable
effects as an acid-based etch, without the acid. The solution is made from equal amounts of technical- or industrial-grade copper sulfate and cooking salt and hot water. It is still important to use gloves, a dust mask, and safety goggles to avoid touching or inhaling dust particles. There is still off gassing with this method, but it is in the form of small hydrogen bubbles, which is not considered a hazard. However, disposal is tricky. Copper sulfate may be a comparatively safe chemical for etching, but it is a marine pollutant and should never be poured down the drain. The spent solution must be neutralized with sodium carbonate. To achieve the effects of hard ground marks without using smoked turpentine based wax and grease, printmakers can use acrylic floor polish or Hunt Speedball screen filler and cover a plate. After it dries, using a drypoint tool, you simply incise the polish the same as you would hard ground. If you want the effects of a soft ground, you use the acrylic floor polish and etch or manipulate before the floor polish dries. That eliminates the toxic soft ground and the heat plate used to prepare it. To clean the image off, simply use water. Another method involves the use of linseed oil-based black ink thinned with raw linseed oil, and cobalt dryers if you need the plate to harden faster. Simply roll the solution onto the plate, wait for it to try, and then drypoint into the hard ground. The hard ground can be cleaned off with ethanol followed by a household
Photo intaglio print by Chris Talbot-Heindl
5
chris talbot-heindl (con’t). cleaner.
wipe away dried ink and acetone for hardened ink.
Aquatinting a plate has traditionally required resin. Most printmaking studios have moved away from the process using instead a thin coating of spray paint. That, of course, still has its effects. Aquatint can be applied using acrylic inks and airbrushing equipment or by using a diluted solution of Speedball screen filler.
Vegetable oil can be used to clean inked plates, tools, brushes, inking slabs, hands, or any other surface that has oil-based printing ink. If the vegetable oil doesn’t get all the burrs clean, you can use an old toothbrush to get the oil into all the crevices. Leaving it on the plate for a period of time will also help the vegetable oil mix in with oil-based inks making them easier to wipe away.
Every toxic etching process has a comparable alternative. We as artists, just have to explore with the materials we have at hand to figure out what we can do. Cleaning with Vegetable Oil
With traditional oil-based inks, printmakers need to clean their inked plates with turpentine or naptha, which are both quite toxic. Printmakers can reduce the toxicity by using Turpenoid Natural, synthetic turpentine. But a more environmentally friendly process would be to use vegetable oil to cut the oil-based inks so that they are removable by wiping, followed by a biodegradable washing fluid. Ethanol can be used to
6
For water-based inks, all you need is water. In Conclusion
“Printmakers are really concerned with surface and process, but this whole new line of inquiry has a certain sort of pioneering spirit. We are at the beginning of a new tradition of printmaking. How often can you say you were there at the beginning?” – Keith Howard (Pengelly, 207.)
chris talbot-heindl (con’t). As an academically trained printmaker, I’m taught the traditional methods of printmaking. I’m taught that the artistry is in the process, and the process is age-old. However, as an environmentalist, I have to try and make the process about my ecological footprint as well as the resultant art. Every action we have as human beings has an effect, and every action also has a method that has less impact on the earth. We as environmentalists/ artists have a responsibility to be inquisitive and creative in an effort to preserve the earth while making it more beautiful. Bibliography
Green, Cedric. Green Prints: A Handbook on Some New Methods for Safe Intaglio Etching and Metal Plate Printmaking. Sheffield: Ecotech Design, 1998. Kiekenben, Friedhard. Nontoxic Paint and Print.com. “Etching Zinc, Steel, Aluminum: The Saline Sulfate Etch.” www.nontoxicprint.com. Pengelly, Jon. “Environmentally Sensitive Printmaking: A Framework for Safe Process”. Ph.D. dissertation, The Robert Gordon University, 1997.
7
john lee, doug somers. What movies and recruiters did NOT tell me about military camaraderie in real life
By: John Lee
At the end of the HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers,” the real Major Dick Winters, who had been portrayed by Damien Lewis in the show, gives a short interview about how he feels about the men he served with during the Second World War. I can’t remember it verbatim but he says something along the lines of his grandson asking him if he had been a hero during the war and him replying that he didn’t consider himself a hero but that the men he served alongside with were heroes.
i’m not sure where this is going Doug Somers
Fotograft 8
In fact, if you watch any war movie, there is always that story about that unshakeable bond of brotherhood among soldiers, that bond that was forged with sweat and blood and that can never be broken even by the gods themselves. Well, ok, there was “Platoon,” which was about soldiers from the same side murdering each other during a war but Platoon was the exception and not the norm. In most war movies, there is always that occasional personality clash. One guy likes to quietly reflect on the complexities of life while the other is a boorish drunk. Another guy ardently believes in the justness of the cause he is fighting for, the other guy thinks it’s all a pile of bullshit but is there anyway because he didn’t
john lee (con’t), michelle wojtaszek.
Crushing Heads Michelle Wojtaszek
Ink on paper
have much of a career prospect in the civilian world. Etc. etc. Despite the clashes, however, in most war movies, soldiers, marines, airmen, seamen (I know you giggled, you immature prat) generally get along with each other splendidly. It might take a while for a war movie to actually get into the first combat scene but once it starts, you can’t go ten minutes without seeing guys jumping out of helicopters to save their buddies or running back amid incoming enemy mortar to carry a wounded comrade back to the LZ and then later sharing a drink or a Cuban cigar to solidify that bond of friendship and brotherhood. I’m not going to say that bond of brotherhood doesn’t exist. We wear the same uniforms, receive the same
drills, training, and exercise, march in lockstep, eat together, live together. Hell, I’ve seen my squadmates naked a hell of a lot more times than I’ve seen any one single woman naked in my entire life. That’s not counting Sasha Grey but that’s a different story. So yes, I know that it’s going to be hard to say this without sounding a little gay seeing how I just talked about my squadmates’ junk but it’s true, there definitely exists a certain connection between most people in the military that probably does not exist elsewhere. What I was not told about this feeling of brotherhood is that you sure as hell don’t feel it every god damned day. In fact, when you think about it, the reasons as to why not should be obvious to anyone who has ever had 9
john lee (con’t). a job. Imagine for a minute that you work in a corporation and that you’re sent to one of those retreats where you have to participate in those ridiculous trust-building exercises where you deliberately fall over backwards and your colleagues make sure to catch you before you hit the ground. Or that even more ridiculous exercise where people form a circle while holding onto a rope and then after putting on blindfolds, the group is instructed to form a perfect square with each team member holding on to the rope and not letting it go. Usually, such a corporate retreat lasts for about a day and after eating some bland-tasting catered food that had been packed in plastic see-through boxes, you get in your car and drive like a bat out of hell to the nearest bar where you can wash down all that ridiculous crapfest with tequila and hopefully wipe out that painful memory from your brain for at least a few hours. Well, this may be an oversimplification but if you want to know what my take on military life is like, imagine that retreat lasting for months as opposed to a day. Now imagine that the retreat is located far away from the rest of civilization and you don’t get to see your friends or family. Imagine that you don’t ever get any privacy; you are never allowed to be alone, if you ever go some place you have to report to at least three superiors to let them know where you are going and when you intend to return or else you will be considered AWOL. Imagine that internet browsing is severely limited and certain websites, be it news websites or pornographic websites are inaccessible and this is important because every person there belongs to the same gender as you and no one is gay or if there is someone who is gay, he or she is locked very deep in the closet. Imagine that for very long periods of time, usually months, you are not allowed to leave and when you do leave, you are only given a few days/weeks off and during those few days off, you have to call back three times every day to let those in the retreat know what you are doing and confirm when you are going to return though you’ve done that seven times already even before leaving in the first place. Imagine that the retreat is fenced in and is surrounded by razor wires, high-caliber machine guns with armor-piercing rounds, and landmines. Imagine that every meal is that blandtasting catered food and that alcohol is something that can never be found. On top of all that, now imagine
10
that everyone of your fellow colleagues are armed to the teeth and trained in hand-to-hand combat. Oh but that’s not the end. Oh no, these are just the little annoyances. Now imagine that in that retreat of yours, let’s call it a division, there are 10,000 people. Like any other corporation, however, people specialize in different fields. And so, people are divided into different shops but are all interdependent on each other but don’t have proper authority to tell each other what to do. Each specialization is only allowed to perform its own tasks and must hope that the other groups do their work properly or that a manager will oversee things to make sure that everyone is doing what they’re supposed to be doing properly because if things don’t work out and projects get messed up, everyone is going to be pointing fingers at each other. Now imagine that the head honcho of your corporation during this retreat thought up of a giant project for everyone to participate in (everyone thinks that the head honcho is an idiot who needs to be bitchslapped but no one can do anything about it) so each
john lee (con’t). specialization must do their jobs properly but to see how people will behave under stressful situations, the head honcho deliberately doesn’t provide all the neccessary supplies that are needed for the project to finish. Or worse, the head honcho didn’t give you all the supplies because he secretly pocketed a good portion of it into his own pocket. What usually results is those different specializations attempting to steal supplies or parts from one another because everyone knows that the project isn’t doable but don’t want to be the ones responsible for the project’s failure. Everyone wants to say, “I did my part. It’s all those other incompetent assholes who made this project a pile of shit.”
weapon, like shooting him. Now I don’t know about you but whenever I had a job, there was always at least one guy, that guy, that I just could not stand and I always badly wanted to kick his teeth in. Yes, there were some jobs when I didn’t feel that way about anyone else but that was probably because during those times, I was that guy that others wanted to beat the crap out of. No matter who you are or where you work, there is always that one guy. Now let’s go back to that nightmarish retreat that I just described. How many of your colleagues do you estimate you would hate then? Brotherhood my ass.
Or worse yet, imagine each specialized group has been appointed a leader who is only answerable to the head honcho but unfortunately for you and the rest of your immediate collegues, he can’t tell the difference between a hammer and a unicorn. Now imagine that the guy that he considers as his “right hand man” and that guy’s “right hand man” are just as stupid. And that there are more idiots than there are people who have more than two brain cells. Now imagine that during this retreat, you get so frustrated and pissed off that you have to vent to someone. There is that one idiot that has been driving you nuts and you just had to let someone know about it and once you find a willing listener, you bitch about that idiot thus finally getting that load of your chest. Then imagine that person going back to the person whom you were bitching about and then telling him what you had just said. And now imagine that somone even the head honcho has to call “boss” thought that it would be a great idea to have the retreat be held someplace where it is 150 degrees and full of sand, or 0 degrees and full of snow. No one asked you for your opinion. You were just told to go or else. Now imagine that the head honcho of this retreat has got lots and lots of activities planned. He knows that it will make you very tired and eventually wear you out but he has them all planned out anyway because there is only one of him and there are 10,000 of you and your collegues who are armed to the teeth and probably very horny and just pissed off at everything and everyone. He wants you tired and worn out because that way, you will be less likely to do something stupid with your
11
doug somers, donors, index. advertisers Bitchin’ Kitsch mcfishenburger MREA Courses Second Space www.talbot-heindl.com
6, 14 5 7, 10 7 11
artists John Lee Doug Somers Chris Talbot-Heindl Jennie Wood Michelle Wojtaszek
8-11 8, 12, 13 4-7 cover 9
it was easy once i figured it out Doug Somers
Fotograft
we love our donors!
We love our donors, and to prove it, we’re going to let you know who they are. Without their generosity, the Bitchin’ Kitsch would probably not make it through the year. If you would like to become a donor and see your name here, email chris@talbot-heindl.com and make your pledge. acquaintences of the bitchin’ kitsch ($1-10) Colin Bares, Casey Bernardo, Eric Krszjzaniek, Dana Lawson, Jason Loeffler, Justin Olszewski friends of the bitchin’ kitsch ($11-50) Charles Kelly lovers of the bitchin’ kitsch ($51-100) Scott Cook, Jan Haskell, Keith Talbot partners of the bitchin’ kitsch ($101 & up) The Talbot-Heindl’s, Felix Gardner
12
a talbot-heindl project 1600 reserve st, stevens point, wi 54481 www.talbot-heindl.com