Downsize or Expand

No, matter how tough things may feel,

there’s always something good waiting around the corner.

Karen Salmansohn

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Texas Paintbrush in the south of Texas, my backyard in April, not bad for inspiration!

Last January, when a certain practical side of life interrupted art, I cancelled a few visits in Florida. Since then, I re-communicated with Dorothy Simpson Krause, a local artist and book maker from Ft. Lauderdale, whom I had planned on visiting. In response, Dorothy was generous in emailing me images of her atelier and art work to share with all of you.

In my creative world, a zone, a sacred space is missing — a studio. I identified with my last workroom in Boise, Idaho, as 1/2 Measure Studio, since my space was a third of the square footage of my studio in Utah, but it was comfortable. Now, my atelier has shrunk again! Should I call it 1/16 Measure Studio?

© 2017 Louise Levergneux. Working on my artists’ book “Shadow Me” in my 1/2 Measure Studio in Boise, Idaho.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Without a physical space to call my own, here I’m working on my artists’ book “Surveillance” in Natalie Freed’s studio in Austin, Texas.

As artists, we learn how to downsize or expand our space depending on our situation. In 2013 Dorothy sold her home of 35 years and gave up her 3,200 square foot studio in New England to move full-time into a condo in South Florida.

© 2019 Dorothy Simpson Krause. Dorothy’s studio in Ft Lauderdale, Florida.

Dorothy explains her space and how it has not prevented her from creating wonderful large scale mixed media pieces, artist books and book-like objects that bridge between these two forms.

I occupy a compact office/studio. It has adequate counter and storage for minor projects, an Apple Power Tower Pro with 30″ monitor, a 17″ MacBook Pro, an Epson RX680 duplex printer and a 13″ Epson Stylus Pro 3880.

The condo has a considerable storage space for necessary supplies and ephemera and an outside storage unit for larger art.

I use the counter/bar in the kitchen when I need to spread out. For larger projects, I am fortunate to have access to the workspaces at the Jaffe Center for Book Arts http://www.library.fau.edu/depts/spc/jaffe.htm at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. It is a excellent resource for inspiration and support.

© 2019 Dorothy Simpson Krause. Dorothy’s many filing cabinets.

© 2019 Dorothy Simpson Krause. Making a book for her Alaska trip.

Although my art background is traditional, the computer has become a primary art-making media, a repository of my records and my lifeline to the world.

My work embeds archetypal symbols and fragments of image and text in multiple layers of texture and meaning. It combines the humblest of materials, plaster, tar, wax and pigment, with the latest in technology to evoke the past and herald the future. My art-making is an integrated mode of inquiry that links concept and media in an ongoing dialogue — a visible means of exploring meaning.

© 2010 Dorothy Simpson Krause. Ancient Mysteries, a pyramid shaped structure was created after Dorothy had an opportunity to work with Karen Hanmer. Ancient Mysteries can be folded in a virtually infinite number of ways, and is housed in a leather slipcase embellished with two triangular pieces of metal.6''x6''x1.5'' 36 pages

© 2010 Dorothy Simpson Krause. Explorations was created during a trip to Egypt in 2010. Dorothy carried with her, a small book made with paper aged by crumpling and staining with tea, coffee and walnut ink. 6"x5.5", 24 pages.

© 2010 Dorothy Simpson Krause. Explorations was bound with a heavy paper, embossed with symbols resembling heiroglyphics, and was pamphlet stitched with three beads in the spine.

© 2010 Dorothy Simpson Krause. Vintage photographs of Egypt were collaged into the pages of Explorations.

© 2018 Dorothy Simpson Krause. Apache began on a trip to Arizona, this small book explores our appalling treatment of Native Americans. Vintage photos of Apache Indians are collaged onto small eco printed tags which are placed into a pocket accordion, designed to fit into a well-worn leather pouch. Closed 5.5″x 3.75″x 1.75″, opened (5.5″x 28″).

© 2012 Dorothy Simpson Krause. River of Grass created as part of the Helen M. Salzberg Inaugural Artist in Residence at the Jaffe Center for Book Arts, Wimberly Library, Florida Atlantic University.

© 2012 Dorothy Simpson Krause. River of Grass.

© 2012 Dorothy Simpson Krause. River of Grass.

© 2012 Dorothy Simpson Krause. River of Grass.

Dorothy eloquently explains her proposal for this prestigious residency and how her production paid homage to Marjory Stoneman Douglas’ seminal book, “The Everglades: River of Grass.”

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Through our mutual communication and after viewing Dorothy’s website, I’m looking forward to a visit, when life’s magnificent path escorts me back in that corner of the world.

Meanwhile, I’m dreaming of a new set-up in our travel trailer to work anytime a wave of creativity comes along. I have a picture of what is needed using a lift-top with an adjustable lift platform for under our bed. If anyone knows of someone that is handy with tools that can build me an under the bed worktable, please let me know. I will be spending another two weeks in the Phoenix, Tucson, Gila Bend area of Arizona.

I would love to visit some artists’ book makers in the area, if anyone is interested in meeting with me, please email me at louiselevergneux (at) gmail (dot) com. Looking forward in meeting you!

Example of my dream workstation!! but under the bed storage area instead of a pouf!

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Works In Progress

It has already been a month since my last blog post. Short but sweet, this period has given me time to progress with my artists’ book Surveillance, a tunnel book structure. I’m absolutely thrilled with the results and look forward to meeting with Natalie Freed in Austin in April for integrating the electronics part of the book. It did require some patience and time to get back into detail work for this publication and applying glue again! The month gave me pause for reflection and the time spent on the creation of new publications was fantastic. You know who you are when you are creating what you love. 

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Prints of the cover for Surveillance.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Prints of the pages for Surveillance.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Remembering registration on an Epson R3000.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Back page for Surveillance.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Cutting details for the cover for Surveillance.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Measuring for the accordion side for Surveillance.

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Last January, in Florida, I meticulously planned a few studio and contact visits. When a problem with our travel trailer arose, another disappointment interrupted art. As plans changed, I could no longer meet with John Cutrone, at the Jaffe Center and a studio visit with Dorothy Krause had to be cancelled. I also proposed to meet Merike van Zanten during her residency at The Arthur & Mata Jaffe Center for Book Arts. With Le Château’s problem, this stopover was also annulled.

Back in September 2017, I wrote a post entitled Pennsylvania. This post featured artists’ books with the theme of war after touring Gettysburg. One of the artists’ book featured in this post was A Soldier of the Second World War by Merike van Zanten. So, knowing I would be in Florida, I arranged a get together. Unable to view Merike’s creative work in person, I thought you might join me and look at what Merike is accomplishing during her time at the JCBA’s as part of the Helen M. Salzberg Artist in Residence for the 2018/2019 academic year. 

© 2019 Merike van Zanten. John1, eco print on paper.

© 2019 Merike van Zanten. Hibiscus and fern print on paper from Merike’s residency.

Merike, a book artist, comes to the residency from the Netherlands, where she founded Double Dutch Design. Her artists' books focus on nature among other things and she incorporates found materials, utilizing a variety of techniques. Some of her books are quite sculptural. 

Merike’s proposed Salzberg Residency creative project begins with substantive research and experiments in eco printing, a technique of extracting color and images from plants and metals through steam, without the use of inks. She uses paper, fabric, and leather as substrates, and these experiments will be bound into an artists’ book unified by technique.

© 2019 Merike van Zanten. Gerbera Daisy, coptic bound notebook with eco printed leather cover from Merike’s residency,

© 2019 Merike van Zanten. John8, eco print eucalyptus on silk.

During the residency Merike also conducted a series of workshops on eco printing at The Jaffe Center, as well as at outside venues.

Merike van Zanten is getting lots of publicity for her residency. Here is a link to an article by Judith Klau, Reflections from the Jaffe Center: Wednesdays with Arthur #7 who explains Merike’s work in progress.

© 2019 Helen Edmunds. Merike at work at the Jaffe Center during her residency.

The South of Florida is one stop I wish I had not missed, but as Carre Otis said “Life inevitably throws us curve balls, unexpected circumstances that remind us to expect the unexpected”. 

Talk to you in May!

Seconds, Minutes, Hours...

On February 28th, we all received the new blog post from Alyson Stanfield from Art Biz Success “How to Decide Whether to Take on a New Project or Not.”

After reading the article and comments, I realized this post was very timely. A significant topic because of my overwhelming new life style as a nomad.

As I mentioned in past posts — a self-employed artist/entrepreneur wears many hats, which means you exercise the freedom to decide how to manage your chosen career. For some of us this creates a dilemma!

At this point in my life and career, it is critical to decide which activity/opportunity is for me. Superwoman, no way, and there are not enough hours in a day for me to accomplish everything I would embrace or require to achieve. How do you find time to write your blog posts in between your many activities? To the ones who do, kudos to you! I salute you!

In the past, there always seemed to be time to set up lots of activities to satisfy my life. Back in Canada, for many years, I was an art teacher at a local college; giving workshops and private lessons were also enjoyable. Every moment I would be in my studio or training our Topaz. When we moved to the US, I alloted lots of time to my work. This granted me the freedom to create and distribute my books; to participate in national and international exhibitions; and attend workshops to help advance my work. Subsequently, at the end of 2015, I started blogging to meet and communicate with other likeminded artists.

© 2017 Michael Sutton. Feeling my way around new ideas.

Does It Feel Right?

Being on the move constantly and with diligent work, favourable circumstances have come my way. For all we know, getting older, shortens time and the moments in between are non-existent, which intensifies the feeling of being pulled in many directions! With at least three artists’ books on the go, meeting artists and library contacts while traveling, writing Half Measure Studio Blog posts, blogging about my personal journey, and of course life in general. “Where to start?”, is often the question.

Traveling for almost two years, the decisions I make depend significantly on locals and timing. I feel overwhelmed and not getting any closer to finishing a recent artists’ book!

Half Measure Studio Blog may no longer serve my goals. Am I weary? Maybe! Or is life interfering with art again? — This is a puzzle.

Half Measure Studio Blog remains a great project. When I moved to Boise, Idaho, from Salt Lake City, Utah, blogging provided me a platform to express ideas and converse about studio activities, binding, concepts, and feature other artists...

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Balancing work on a new artists’ book Surveillance and writing this post.

Is This Aligned With My Goals?

After reading Alison’s questions, I’m unsure that blogging brings me closer to my goals. I’m reflecting on what my posts are conveying to fellow artists especially to myself? Continuing to share information could be done with enthusiaism if time invested would balance the creation of artists’ books. It’s been two weeks since my last post and I’m NOT particularly looking forward to writing another. Wait! That’s what I’m doing now, the article must be inspiring me.

I enjoy the communication and comments (online and/or offline), but my gut tells me this may not be the correct path. I wouldn’t want to give up on a long-time project which opened so many doors. But, a change of lifestyle (which has generated many creative ideas) and adding a monthly personal traveling blog has made it difficult to accomplish the realization of my ideas.

Reflection of my career goals for 2019 is in order: spending time writing, communicating or creating artists’ books? What project could offer me a connection with the art world as much as blogging did?

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Enjoying the development of Surveillance.

What is the potential for profit?

Earning a living is a priority, since I have been unable to publish new books, soon the inventory and the profits will disappear, the money is always part of the equation for me, but my inventory is whittling down. And, I miss the hands on projects. Could blogging offer some financial compensation? How does it work and are donations worth it?

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Image for my new artists’ book Surveillance.

What opportunities could it lead to?

At the moment, the most critical question, for me, is — “Would blogging once a month instead of weekly, allow me time to rethink my work, find different goals, dream of new concepts, find a new way of creating while traveling, re-organize a studio space?” Hopefully, the results will open doors to other opportunities. I trust I will benefit wholeheartedly from the time producing my books, which is my first love.

One should constantly be inspired and enthusiastic about their art career/work. Time is precious, we need to allow moments to flow, for life to bring good tidings our way.

Therefore, with all this introspection, Half Measure Studio Blog will be posted only once a month, till I find the balance needed for my work. See you soon... Louise

© 2015 Louise Levergneux. Sunset in Avimor, Idaho.

Obsession

I'm traveling to Austin, Texas, this week to work with another artist in the development of electronic interfaces for my next artist book with a working title of Surveillance. One of the specific things missing for me while traveling is the time to preoccupy myself over necessary details of a developing project. There is absolutely no time frame to be obsessive about anything on the road. Therefore, I’m looking forward to this interaction to stimulate me to re-create good studio habits and the passion for particular subject matters.

Developing and realizing a creative idea, for me, usually takes a degree of obsession. I suppose most artists choose to be engaged with compelling and motivating ideas to the point of being enthusiastic.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Manhole cover in Tucson, Arizona.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Manhole cover in Orlando, Florida.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Manhole cover in St Petersburg, Florida.

The allotted span of time it takes to wear the different hats (artist, creator, researcher, administrator, distributor...) does not leave much time for the creation — the fun part. However, I have not found the occasion to establish brief periods in my studio space and relate and connect to different subject matters. Traveling denies me the concentration time and fun of merely sitting in my space to reflect and work with my thoughts. Most of my time is taken by day-to-day activities of living and moving from one place to another. Traveling brings new ideas, but as a full-time traveler, shopping lists, balancing accounts, preparing meals, and... Life often takes over!

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Manhole cover in Orlando, Florida.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Manhole cover in St Augustine, Florida.

Yet, an idea might never leave your thoughts, and the obsession continues. Back in 1999, on a Scotland trip, when my project City Shields began, I collected many hundreds of images of manhole covers. I never thought 20 years later I would still be obsessed in photographing an interestingly designed manhole cover I happened to find during my walks.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Manhole cover in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Manhole cover in Circleville, Ohio.

This might be a excellent example of a primal acquisitive urge — I built a whole project out of this creative fascination of photographing manhole covers. The collection continues, but the project came to an end when the jewel cases that contain the die-cut photos of manhole covers were no longer available. Being picky about how the project would be presented, I felt the need to maintain the same packaging because it was essential to the idea of City Shields.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Manhole cover in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

So, as I travel, I’m often caught searching the streets for the next beautiful manhole cover. The need to take the camera out and shoot yet another manhole cover cannot be denied! The obsession is still alive. What do I do with the multiple photos of manhole covers I’ve taken through my journey. Create an ebook, an on-demand book, an artists’ book...??? What obsesses me as an artist can enrich the viewer to interpret my work.

My critical questions are:

How do I inject passion into my work while traveling?

In a hectic lifestyle, through what force does one find time to create?

By what means do I create a studio space to bring thoughts to completion?

How does one balance the administration versus the creative side of art work?

Any ideas?

© 2017 Louise Levergneux. Manhole cover in Austin, Texas.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Manhole cover in Sugar House, Salt Lake City, Utah.

© 2012 Louise Levergneux. Manhole cover in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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Sarasota, Florida

I was very engaged in Florida, exploring studios and visiting libraries to present my artists’ books to Special Collections. My séjour facilitated contacting a few librarians and even had the opportunity to re-connect with an artists’ book that was previously acquired.

I reached out to the Florida Atlantic University, the Flagler College, Florida International University, Florida State University, Miami University, Ringling College of Art and Design, University of Central Florida, University of South Florida, and the Southern Florida University.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The Alfred R Goldstein Library at Ringling College of Art and Design.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The Alfred R Goldstein Library lobby.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Brizdle-choenberg Special Collections Center at the Alfred R Goldstein Library.

Showcasing my published books to the Brizdle-choenberg Special Collections Center was a distinct pleasure. Special Collections specializes in artists’ publication projects, prints, and rare books at Ringling College of Art and Design. Janelle Rebel invited the special collections assistant Ali Vargas-Fournier and the director of library services Kristina Keough to join us in the discovering of specific bindings and subject matter.

It was undoubtedly a successful meeting with the acquisition of Decades Apart, 26NOV2006, Xtraction and four flip books from the Outside of the Studio Series to the Alfred R Goldstein Library. The library selected books that would be appreciated in a research consultation by art, photography, animation, and film students and art and design practitioners.

© 2008 Louise Levergneux. 26NOV2006, last copy acquired by the Special Collections of the Alfred R Goldstein Library.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Decades Apart, copy 4, last copy acquired by the Special Collections of the Alfred R Goldstein Library.

© 2012 Louise Levergneux. Air.2 from the series Outside the Studio acquired by the Special Collections of the Alfred R Goldstein Library, Earth.11, H2O.3, and FIRE.3 were also purchused.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Xtraction, copy 1, last copy acquired by the Special Collections of the Alfred R Goldstein Library.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Desert Swatches was acquired in 2014 by the Special Collections of the Alfred R Goldstein Library.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Desert Swatches with its catalogue information.

© 2012 Louise Levergneux. Desert Swatches.

The Alfred R. Goldstein Library a state-of-the-art building that seeks to transform the way that users engage with library collections and services, opened in January 2017. Architecturally stunning, and an active physical and digital destination on the Ringling College campus.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The Alfred R Goldstein Library lobby showcasing Julie Miller Kanapaux artwork, Momentum 2016.

One can find, broadsides, democratic multiples, documentation of time-based and performance projects, engravings, exhibition publications, experimental writing, fine press books, flip books, handmade editions, historic facsimiles, parlor toys, photo-bookworks, prints, rare books, and zines in the collection.

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© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Exhibition “Step and Repeat: Pattern in Artists' Publications” at the Alfred R Goldstein Library.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Detail of the exhibition, right: Josh MacPhee, Security Fear, 2017

During my visit I was experience the Special Collections' most recent exhibition "Step and Repeat: Pattern in Artists' Publications." The exhibit in the reading room excavates the pleasures of pattern in the coverings, interiors, linings, and details of thirty artists’ publications. Visually arranged into conceptual motifs (flora & fauna, power, psychedelic, geometric, experimental, liquid, figures, and security), these books aim to mesmerize, distract, propel, disrupt, and entice the reader.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Books in the show, middle: Clifton Meador, Kor 2007; middle back: Ral Veroni, Gabo Ferro, Flopa Lestani, Nada para el Destino = Nothing for Destiny 2009.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. left: Barbara Hodgson Mrs Delany Meets Herr Haeckl Radiolaria, Retracoralla, Pediastra, Ciliata, etc., Rendered in Paper Mosaicks, 2015; right: Sheryl Oppenheim, Sample Book 2017.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi Graphic Arts Future Corporeal Knowledge 2017.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. left: Chris Fitzpatrick and Karel Martens, Motion 2017; middle: Julie Peters and Karel Martens, Full Color 2013; right: Marianne Dages and Leah Mackin, Ultrices 2016.

It’s always nice to personally meet contacts/librarians of special collections and introduce my artists’ books particularly when an genuine interest is shown.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Ringling College of Art and Design building.

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Lakeland, Florida

I have a love for classic Frank Lloyd Wright architecture, so whenever possible, I explore his iconic buildings. Once in Florida, I carefully researched if Wright ever built any architecture in the state and naturally found Florida Southern College. The most established private college in Florida and home to the largest single site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture in the world. I eagerly took a guided tour of this fantastic marvel.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Parked in front of the Sharp Family Tourism and Education Center, Lakeland, Florida. The Center provides a home for the permanent display of photographs, furniture, and drawings depicting Wright’s relationship with the College.

In 1938, the Florida Southern College President, Dr. Ludd M. Spivey, approached Wright with the complex task of transforming the 100-acre lakeside orange grove into a modern campus. The president's grand vision for the school was a “College of Tomorrow” and the structures Wright designed are still considered unmatched and futuristic today. Wright's idea was to remove the "uninspired" buildings of the existing campus and replacing them with a campus that would "grow out of the ground and into the light, a child of the sun." Frank Lloyd Wright created a master plan that would combine glass, steel, and native Florida sand.

Frank Lloyd Wright left his distinctive mark on Lakeland with his incredible structure collection. Eighteen structures were designed by FLW, only 12 were completed during his lifetime.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The Watson-Fine Administration Building construction began in 1946 and was completed in 1949.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The courtyard pool of the Watson Fine Administration Building is an example of Wrights’s use of organic design, employing a fundamental element of nature—water.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The E. T. Roux Library is presently identified as the Thad Buckner Building construction began in 1942 and completed in 1946. Like many of Wright's buildings on the campus, this former library is composed primarily of reinforced concrete and concrete blocks, some with small openings filled with cubes of coloured glass.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The circular William Hollis Room of the E. T. Roux Library, is currently used for lectures. It contains the original desks, and features clerestory windows and “light wells,” that admits light from skylights all the way to the bottom floor.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The stained glass front door of the E. T. Roux Library.

A reflecting pool entitled the Water Dome was a central point in Wright’s concept of the campus and the largest water feature he ever designed. The appropriate technology to construct a dome of water did not exist in 1948, and for years it sat as an open pool. It was restored in 2007. View a video of the dome in full capacity here.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The Esplanades framing the Water Dome.

The Annie Pfeiffer Chapel was the first and the foremost Wright building on campus in 1938 and was completed in 1941. The concrete block walls of Pfeiffer Chapel consist of small squares of coloured glass embedded to generate a gorgeous lighting effect from inside or out.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The Annie Pfeiffer Chapel, considered by many to be a true paradigm of Wright’s work in that it exhibits all his trademark architectural elements.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The cantilevered wings of The Annie Pfeiffer Chapel give the impression the building is floating above ground.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Inside the Annie Pfeiffer Chapel, we can see the figurative rendering of the “bowtie” design in the chapel’s tower used as the college’s trademark symbol.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The Annie Pfeiffer Chapel’s concrete block walls consisting of small squares of coloured glass show well with the light of the sun.

William H. Danforth Chapel, the companion to Annie Pfeiffer Chapel was started in 1954 and was completed in 1955. Danforth, also designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is a worship space with a much smaller capacity than high-roofed Annie Pfeiffer, has its own organ and classroom space in the back. The chapel has and continues to serve as a place for small musical events, poetry readings, and lectures.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. William H Danforth Chapel is the only use of leaded glass on the campus. It is framed in native Florida tidewater red-cypress and still contains the original pews and cushions.

The Carter, Walbridge and Hawkins Seminar Buildings, were also completed in 1941. Originally three separate buildings with breezeways between, they were combined into a single administration building sometime after opening.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The seminar buildings feature skylights and pieces of coloured glass inset in the “textile” block system.

Over a mile of covered walkways that wind throughout the campus allow students to be sheltered from class to class were constructed in 1940. The supports are said to suggest the orange trees that were then numerous on campus. The Esplanades with their cantilevered roofs were to be the threads that bound Wright's separate building designs into an organic whole.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The esplanades are trimmed in copper, which Wright used to add its natural green patina to the appearance.

The Usonian house is one of the most recently-constructed Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in the world. Constructed in 2013 with the help of MIT engineers and with architect Jeff Baker overseeing, the Usonian house was originally designed in the mid-Twentieth Century by Mr. Wright for former Florida Southern President Dr. Ludd M. Spivey as one of a set of homes designed for faculty. This simple yet impressive building illustrates many of Wright’s ideals for modern American living. It is constructed of nearly 2000 interlocking “textile” blocks and also features nearly 6,000 pieces of hand-placed coloured glass.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The Usonian House was built in late 2013.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The exterior of the Usonian House features cypress soffit and fascia, window and door frames, pergolas, and doors.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Inside the living space of the Usonian House, the latest masterpiece to highlight the famed architect’s affinity for cypress.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Wright envisioned the Usonian-style home concept as a way to construct simple, affordable homes for American families, emphasizing the use of locally sourced brick, wood and other natural materials.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Wright envisioned the Usonian-style home concept as a way to construct simple, affordable homes for American families, emphasizing the use of locally sourced brick, wood and other natural materials.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Detail of the hand-placed coloured glass which cast colored light in the interior of the Usonian House.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Red cypress was used anywhere a finished wood product was required, including all of the interior ceilings, plank walls, built-in cabinets, tables, benches, trim, and even light fixtures. Inside we can see the exquisite use of Wright’s signature ‘textile’ blocks, which are indeed remarkable.

We are informed that Wright sought to create a “truly American campus” and designed a network of buildings and covered walkways radiating from a central hub. Uniformly constructed of tan-colored concrete, Wright’s “Child of the Sun” integrates ornament within the patterning and texturing of each structure’s walls and stained glass.

The tour was incredibly informative and insightful. Child of the Sun, the Florida Southern College in Lakeland is not to be missed!

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Tampa, Florida

University libraries and artists where part of my research for my séjour in Florida. Therefore, I was prepared to visit local studios and collections. I arranged a meeting at Graphicstudio, which is an essential part of the University of South Florida Institute for Research in Art in Tampa.

Graphicstudio, founded in 1968, is a university-based workshop engaged in a unique experiment in art and education. Its philosophy to provide artists with the freedom to experiment and pursue new directions to advance their practice, is matched with an exceptionally talented faculty and staff. This combination has attracted world-renowned contemporary artists to the University of South Florida.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Graphicstudio printing room.

Since its beginning, the studio has invited over 100 emerging and established contemporary artists from around the world that have worked in a range of styles and media to produce more than 1,000 limited edition print and sculpture multiples.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Graphicstudio’s wall of paint.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Graphicstudio’s archival ink printers.

One of the first workshops at Graphicstudio was with Robert Rauschenberg. The artist, along with a dedicated group of faculty, staff and students, avidly experimented with forms and techniques — photo transfer, cyanotype, sepia prints, printing on cloth and ceramics, sculptures with new materials, a hundred-foot-long photograph — and ultimately completed over sixty editions. The studio’s reputation as a place where faculty and staff will eagerly pursue and collaborate with the artist’s every idea and inspiration was established in those early days. This innovative environment continues to be a major factor in its continuing success.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Tim Baker preparing prints for colour run.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Carlos Garaicoa, Terrasse St. Denis, 2011, 2-run photogravure with hand-cut folded elements, 17-3/8 x 14.25 x 5-3/16”.

Graphicstudio practices traditional printmaking techniques including intaglio, lithography, silkscreen, and relief along with photogravure, cyanotype and pigment prints. Sculpture multiples are produced in a range of media which include bronze, steel, aluminum, wood, rubber, and less traditional materials including lava (basalt) and pigmented resins.

Walking into Graphicstudio, I was greeted by Kristin Soderqvist, Director of Marketing and Sales. Kristin hosted a tour of the gallery and facility, explained Graphicstudio’s mission, and shared her knowledge about all the work that enrich the walls by artists who created works.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Kristin Soderqvist showing me around the studios.

The first prints I noticed were of Sandra Cinto, known for her large-scale, dramatic scenarios incorporating water, the night sky and billowing seas.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. top left: Sandra Cinto, Open Sea, 2016, Cyanotype, 22 x 30”; left middle: Esterio Segura, Homemade Submarine SJXXII, 2017, Cyanotype, 32.125 x 46”; left bottom: Sandra Cinto, Untitled, 2016, sculpture: Alabaster, 13.5 x 36 x 12”, base: 30 x 40 x 21”, Walnut Hardwood; right: Sandra Cinto, Chance and Necessity, 2016, suite of 5 two-run, two-color direct gravures with photogravure, 49.75 x 34” ea.

As one walks through a hallway, Mark Dion’s Herbarium, initiated in 2007, is noticeable. Herbarium is a suite of etchings printed in two runs. To provide the paper, an aged look, an acrylic wash was hand painted on each sheet of paper, then run with a spit-bite aquatint similar to the wash.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. right: Mark Dion, World in a Box, 2015, suite of 27 prints (lithography, cyanotype, digital, screenprint, etching, letterpress and woodcut) in a custom-made oak wood storage box with etching and letterpress cover image (on lid) and lithograph inventory list (inside lid), 13.125 x 10.187 x 1.625”. right top: Burt Barr, Wave.

Wave by Burt Barr was one of the first digital inkjet prints produced at Graphicstudio. You can examine the piece, Wave, that was installed as a continuous image, 38 feet long along the wall at ceiling height. I was intrigued about the process — Barr’s film August provided imagery for his project. Reoriented as a suite of five panels of three images each, Wave considers the perception of nature, pushing the boundary of its presentation through the scale of the project.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. left: Guillermo Kuitca, The Neufert Suite, 2002, suite of six cyanotypes
46.5 x 46.5”; right top: Richard Anuszkiewicz, Blue Tinted Star, 1991, Five-color lithograph / screen-print assemblage, 36 x 38 x 1.062”; on pedestal (H 33.25” x diam 33”): Esterio Segura, Submarine Homemade, 2018, bronze with applied patina and white oak pedestal, 12.75 x 26 x 29”.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Fred Tomaselli, Untitled (bloom), 2018, archival pigment print with 11-run screenprint, 58 x 46” being printed.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Fred Tomaselli, Untitled (bloom), 2018, archival pigment print with 11-run screenprint, 58 x 46” finished print.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Mernet Larsen, Raft, 2018, 13-color lithograph with collage elements, 33.75 x 34.25”.

Once I was shown Allan McCollum’s Lands of Shadow and Substance, I was intrigued. Allan viewed the original Twilight Zone episodes from 1959 to 1964 on his laptop computer, capturing screenshots of scenes that included landscape paintings. Images of those paintings were digitally edited, printed, and custom framed to create the series entitled Lands of Shadow and Substance. Each of the 27 works in the series are archival pigment prints that have been printed proportionally to its original televised incarnation and is in an edition of three. The series was printed using Epson UltraChrome HDR inks on an Epson Stylus Pro 7900 and framed in custom manufactured frames. Each piece is signed on a label on the back of the frame with a reference image and on the back of the print itself.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Allan McCollum, Lands of Shadow and Substance (No. 1 – 27), 2014, archival pigment prints, various sizes.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Kristin removes Allan McCollum’s Lands of Shadow and Substance off the wall to show me the signed label on the back of the frame.

In the back hallway you are confronted with a wall covered in psychedelic, black-light reactive wallpaper. This screen printed wallpaper with fluorescent inks was a 2008 project with artist Trenton Doyle Hancock and is called Flower Bed II: A Prelude to Damnation.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Trenton Doyle Hancock, Flower Bed II: A Prelude to Damnation, 2008, 10-color screen printed wallpaper with fluorescent inks, 27” x 5 yards

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Frame above table: Trenton Doyle Hancock, Wow That's Mean, 2008, suite of four etchings on black paper with chine colle, each: 10.5 x 14”.

Imagine what I was impressed with the most — Ed Ruscha artists’ books of course. Since Kristin new I was an artists’ book maker, she made sure, I viewed two of Ruscha’s artists’ books ME and THE and OH NO.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. On wall in background: Philip Pearlstein, Jerusalem, Kidron Valley, 1989, heliorelief with roulette on wood, 40 x 119”. Kristin opening the boxes that contain Ed Ruscha’s artists’ books Me and The, and OH NO.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Ed Ruscha, 2006, OH NO, colophon page.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Ed Ruscha’s OH NO, inside pages.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Kristin demonstrates Ed Ruscha’s artists’ book ME and THE.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Kristin demonstrates Ed Ruscha’s artists’ book ME and THE, when the gilt edge of the fore-edge is fanned the another way.

Well, I was here in Tampa 30 years ago when Graphicstudio was around the corner from the university art museum. It was a small operation and when I came back I had no idea what to expect. When I saw what was there, I was kind of stunned to see how fine everything was. You had this gallery and not only just the gallery and the space and the presses and the different rooms and the staff and all that, but actually had many work to back this whole thing up. I was just completely impressed and touched by everything I saw. It’s quite a facility.

Thirty years later in 2000-01 Ruscha returned to the atelier, this time for a suite of color photogravures and a limited-edition artist book. The early and late bodies of work share striking similarities in the interplay of word and image and in the exploration of the intersection of fine art and commercial printing techniques, and display an enduring commitment to the artist book form by Ruscha, a pioneer of the artist book movement in the 1960s. ME and THE (2002 cloth covered book with one-color fore-edge printing and gold leaf edges, closed book: 5-1/4 H x 7-1/2 W x 2-1/8 D inches, an edition of 230) and OH NO are fore-edge books, with printing that appears when the gilt edge is fanned one way or another. The pages of the book are blank, perhaps a commentary on the meanings we would ascribe, or fail to ascribe, to such seemingly simple words.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Abel Barroso, Tabaco con Ideologia (Cigars with Ideology), 2001, handmade Spanish cedar bas-relief “cigar box” with woodblock print (inside lid) and lithograph scroll-print (inside box) viewed by turning two hand-carved crank handles attached to moveable parts; TEXT by artist
9 x 16-3/8 x 3”.

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It was an amazing afternoon of exploring the various rooms for lithography, silkscreen... And witnessing all the excellent work that Graphicstudio and artists have accomplished together. If you are in Tampa make an appointment to visit this facility. A visit to Graphicstudio was an incredible sensory experience!

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Florida

Just before my change of lifestyle and moving on from Boise, Idaho, another talented artist interested in manhole covers found me online and we started a conversation about our work. At the moment, I'm in Kissimmee a city in central Florida's Osceola County, just south of Orlando, almost 2 years later and finally I get to meet Bobbi Mastrangelo.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Bobbi Mastrangelo in her studio in Kissimmee, Florida.

Bobbi, the “Grate Artist”, is internationally known for her unique transformations of manhole covers, sewers, and grates into wall relief street-scapes and embossments on hand made papers. The message of her manhole art is to conserve and preserve our precious resources.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Bobbi’s husband Al showing us around Mastrangelo’s studio.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Al talking about Bobbi’s work with Michael as Bobbi explains her sculpture relief Florida Citrus 467-1.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Bobbi Mastrangelo’s studio.

It is through embossed prints on hand-made paper that Bobbi positively transforms the mundane iron covers into jewel like mandalas. Her tromp l'oeil sculpture relief works artistically capture the essence of utility covers in urban settings. Their appearance is so realistic that viewers wonder how she managed to put all that “weight“ up on the wall. I must humbly admit my mind was wondering the same when I encountered a street-scape in Bobbi’s living room.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Metropolitan Cover, sculpture relief created in 1997, (48"x36'x5") by Bobbi Mastrangelo.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Detail of Vestige, sculpture relief by Bobbi Mastrangelo.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Buckeye, sculpture relief by Bobbi Mastrangelo.

Bobbi’s “Grate Works” strike a chord, it’s fun loving art that brings a smile to your face and a profound sense of awe to your mind.

Starting out as an elementary school teacher, then, to college art classes, where Bobbi accurately rendered “Classic Works” of Art. Studies of Picasso and modern art naturally inspired Bobbi to experiment with line, form, and texture which evolved into “Mod Works.”

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. When the People Care created by Bobbi Mastrangelo.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Sculpture relief by Bobbi Mastrangelo.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Water Supply, print on handmade paper by Bobbi Mastrangelo.

© 2015 Bobbi Mastrangelo. Florida Citrus 467-1, mixed media sculpture relief (21”x13”x5.5”) by Bobbi Mastrangelo.

Bobbi uses styrofoam as the base of her work. One can see how her piece Creation of Florida Citrus 467-1 was transformed here.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Bobbi explaining her process with styrofoam.

I genuinely enjoyed my visit and conversation with Bobbi and touring her studio and exploring her process was inspiring. Now, every styrofoam piece I see, I want to collect for Bobbi!

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Manhole cover in Orlando, Florida