Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Artists Should Not Be Old Dogs Unwilling to Learn New Tricks

Many people express great surprise when they learn that someone my age (I’m 81) has taken to digital photography and cutting-edge digital art so rapidly and enthusiastically. After all, you might expect a guy who got his first camera at age 11 by earning Brownie Points for selling magazines to be a die-hard film camera holdout.  By the same token, how does this guy, without any academic art background, become a successful digital artist at such an advanced age?

It’s simple. I’ve always been anxious to learn, always willing to accept new ways of doing things. That doesn’t mean I ignore the past or discard lessons it has provided. Take printing, for example, which I regard as an art form in itself. 
  
When I got my first newspaper job on a small weekly in October 1947, most small-circulation papers were printed on flatbed presses. Body text was set on Linotype machines, display type (for headlines & ads) was set by hand. Each page was composed separately, with type and engraved plates (photos, other illustrations) assembled in a form called a “chase.” I loved the whole process: clatter of Linotypes, thump-thump of presses, smell of the ink. 

(Some of the old shops still had fonts of large wood display type. These were a joy to the eye, sensuous to the touch, each alphanumeric character carefully hand-crafted, then polished to a satiny finish by years of use. I knew an editor once who scavenged some wood type and created a great coffee table, placing the type in no particular order under a glass top. Made a very artful piece.)  
 
As I progressed through my career, printing technology evolved rapidly. My second newspaper job was on a large urban weekly with a big job shop and a battery of rotary presses. Then came the “cold type” era in which we pasted up pages using “repro” copy  pulled from galleys of machine-set type galleys and half-tone or line art. Setting type electronically followed – and then we entered the computer printing revolution. 

There were large, expensive systems designed for very large publications. And as PC and Mac microcomputers improved, primitive individual publishing became a possibility. I was in at the beginning, attempting to do “desktop publishing” before Paul Brainerd, creator of PageMaker, coined the term about 1984. By now, I had well over three decades of experience writing, editing, designing pages and even doing paste-up for everything from small newsletters to national magazines. The lure of being able to create and produce a printed document or publication by myself was a temptation I could not resist. 

I was at Hughes Aircraft Co. during this period, having been hired in 1977 as a supervisor of special projects in the Art Department. By 1983, I was turning out multicolumn newsletters on CP/M and early DOS PCs, albeit not always with the greatest of ease. (In some future Blog I will regale you with the story of how I did my very first 2-column page.)
  

Sketchpad Newsletter Vol. 1, No. 1 / Spring, 2008


Welcome to the first issue of our new Topanga Canyon Gallery (TCG) newsletter, Sketchpad

It is something new we started to improve communications with our valued patrons. We 

want you all to know how much we appreciate your past support and hope it will continue in

the future. This first issue is coming to you via U.S. Postal Service, as have our show announcement postcards in the past. Henceforth, however, our postcards and newsletters 

will be sent out via e-mail - for several reasons. With postage & our mailing list both rising, 

cost of mailings strains our limited budget. Also, it fits into our plan to become even more environmentally conscious by reducing the the paper & other consumables we 

use to an absolute minimum.


Do we have your e-mail address? If not, please send an e-mail to (insert address of 

member responsible for e-mail list). Just insert “Subscribe TCG e-mail” in the subject line. 

Be assured that this will not flood your Inbox with spam!  We will send out e-cards 

announcing new exhibits no more than once per month, probably as part of the newsletter.


Studio Tour on the horizon. It’s not too early to make plans for the 2008 version our TCG annual art safari through the Canyon and surrounding mountains. This is the Big Kahuna 

of the local art year, and it draws an increasing number of art aficionados every year - 

from within and outside Topanga. Dates are Sat., June 7, 10-6. Sun., June 8, 11 to 5; 

Gala Reception, Sat., 5 to 8. Advance tickets = $15, at door, $20.


Some 40 TCG members & guest artists — including some new to the Tour - are 

putting in long hours creating new work for this special event. Mark your calendars 

now so you don’t miss it. This is a true community event, bringing together the cream 

of local artists, who can exhibit a more extensive display of their work than gallery 

space allows, and members of the community who appreciate and support the arts. 

We will notify you when tickets are ready.


Brewery Spring ArtWalk a smash hit! Crowds were huge. Our venue was gorgeous. 

Sales were excellent. (Note: we can fill in # & amt later). Our greeters at the door, who 

handed out Studio Tour cards, report they got many compliments about the TCG display. 

Carol Spence reports: “Repeated comments to me at the front door on Sunday were 

about how people thought ours was the best venue, that we had the best art and prices, and 

that people felt welcome.” Couldn’t ask for a better reaction. And as a first-timer at the

event, your editor echoes those sentiments.


We owe the Carlson’s big-time. Our success at the Brewery would not have happened 

without the generous support of Steve & Leslie Carlson, who own Pine Tree Circle and 

our gallery space therein. We couldn’t ask for finer landlords. They provided the spacious 

area in a prime location in which we set up our Art-Walk display at the Brewery, the world’s largest live/work art colony, which is also owned & operated by the Carlson family. 

Steve & Leslie, we salute you, and thank you in advance for allowing us to use the same 

space in October for the Brewery’s Fall ArtWalk. (So, readers, if you missed the Spring event, you get another chance in October.  Don’t pass it up.


Curremt & Upcoming:  Alisa Gabrielle’s Sirens, Maidens & Nymphs exhibit that celebrate 

the female form runs through May 4 followed by Silent Witness, May 6– June 1. For more 

on both shows, visit Events at our website: www.topangacanyongallery.com. Our annual 

Invitational Show will showcase photography. Ace photographer John Smith is honcho 

for that one. Stay tuned for more details.


Farewell to Mimma. We lost one our most active & beloved TCG members to pancreatic 

cancer in March. Mimma Salinas handled part of TCG’s publicity chores and was an accomplished sculptor. “My work is a collection of intangible dreams and fantasies made 

into a hard and durable material – bronze.” she said of her truly imaginative creations. 

She will be sorely missed by her family and friends, which includes all of the fellow 

gallery artists who knew her.