Welcome to the index for Scott Ponemone’s ART I SEE and ART I MAKE blog posts. The index is presented two ways. First, QUICK HITS arranges the posts by category with just the post name and a link to the post. Second, SUMMARIES presents an image from each post, a short sentence or two about the post plus a link to the post.
quick hits
Here’s is a quick way to navigate my blog entries, which fall into two major categories: ART I SEE and ART I MAKE. Each category is presented in reverse chronological order (most recent first).
ART I SEE
Simply put, these posts mostly reflect my interests in print collecting. They range from prints I buy, print-making and print makers, and writers of prints and print-making. ART I SEE also includes a few posts on painted American federal furniture, which I’ve also been able to acquire and enjoy living with. A few other posts involved art I’ve seen overseas including a month’s stay in India in 2016.
Jewish Artists in Eretz Israel
Arieh Allweil
Introducing Arieh Allweil LINK
Arieh Allweil’s Amos, Part 1. LINK
Arieh Allweil’s Amos, Part 2 LINK
Arieh Allweil’s suite of lithographs. LINK
Allweil’s Scroll of Esther LINK.
Allweil’s Scroll of Ruth. LINK
Allweil’s Scroll of Lamentation LINK
Arieh Allweil’s Touring the Land. LINK
Arieh Allweil’s Anonymous Jew. LINK
Arieh Allweil’s first Haggadah. LINK
Allweil’s independence Haggadah LINK
Allweil’s IDF Haggadah LINK
Erich Glas
Erich Glas’s fables wood engravings. LINK
Erich Glas’s Holocaust book of linocuts. LINK
P.K. Hoenich and Erich Glas LINK
Jewish Artists in America
Isac Friedlander’s Coney Island LINK
Irwin Hoffman, etcher of workers LINK
Eli Jacobi’s Bowery. Link
Harry Sternberg’s woodcut autobiography LINK
American Jewish printmakers represented in my collection. LINK
Discovering two sizes for Harry Gottlieb’s The Coal Pickers print. LINK
Researching Josseph Leboit’s intaglio Plastic Values. LINK
Other 20th century printmakers
Gan Kolski: Protest by Suicide LINK
Oscar Graf’s Goethe LINK
Bruno Goldschmitt’s Die Bibel. LINK
Brangwyn and Eby on World War I. LINK
Frank Brangwyn & Yoshijiro Urushibara. LINK
Karl Rössing: Witness to Weimar’s final Years. LINK
Picture Books by Landacre, Underwood and Rössing. LINK
John Sloan’s Anatomy LINK
Emma Bormann: A Family Affair LINK
R. O. Hodgell: Master Linocutter. LINK
Barbara Paca on Ruth Starr Rose. LINK
Robert Meyrick Gives New Life to Sydney Lee. LINK
Willard Clark: In the Words of his Grandson. LINK
Contemporary printmakers
Justin Remo’s “Dogwater Beach” LINK
Anne Desmet’s Babel LINK
George Walker: Canada’s premier wordless novelist. LINK
George Walker cuts a contemporary take on Carroll’s Snark. Link
George Walker’s completed new Images from the Neocerebellum. (See more Walker posts below.) LINK
Stefan Berg’s Architecture of Music. LINK
Stefan Berg’s wordless novel. LINK
Catching up with wordless novelists Stefan Berg and George Walker. LINK
Eric Avery: “Paradise” comes to Baltimore LINK
Eric Avery: Doctor of Printmaking LINK
Eric Avery, making COVID Bowl, Part 1 LINK
Eric Avery, making COVID Bowl, Part 2 LINK
Richard Wagener: California’s naturalist/wood engraver LINK
Shadra Strickland’s linocut illustrations. LINK
Donna Diamond’s light works. LINK
Donna Diamond’s horrific linocuts. LINK
Evan Lindquist, master engraver. LINK
Trudi Ludwig Johnson’s Mission Accomplished. (See first post on Trudi below) LINK
Trudi Ludwig Johnson cuts down to the bone. LINK
Rosemary Feit Covey: Printmaker’s Journey. LINK
Raj Bunnag’s monster print in progress. LINK
Raj Bunnag’s 7.5-foot-long Linocut. LINK
Collaborators: Raoul Middleman and Brian Garner. LINK
Who was Lenore Szesko? LINK
Soledad Salamé’s Sol Print Studio. LINK
Sol Print Studio’s exhibition. LINK
Giant woodcuts of Tom Huck & Thom Shaw. LINK
19th century printmakers
Alfred Rethel’s Todtentanz (See Conserving Todtentanz under Print Collecting) LINK
Elbridge Kingsley & Gifts for a Blogger. LINK
Conserving Alfred Rethel’s Todtentanz broadsheet: LINK
New School wood engravers: Forgotten 19th-century celebrities. LINK
William Brandt on Interpretive Wood-Engraving. LINK
Other posts on art making
MICA’s new printmaking home. LINK
Louisiana Bendolph: Quilter/Printmaker. LINK
Allegra Marquart: Printmaker turned glass artist. LINK
Mario Sanchez: The Pride of Key West. LINK
PRINT COLLECTING
Conserving Alfred Rethel’s Todtentanz broadsheet: LINK
Important print acquisitions in 2019 LINK
How and why the prints in my bedroom were bought. LINK
Letter from Lynd Ward. LINK
Baltimore’s Publications & Multiples Fair. LINK
No Print Collecting without Print Dealers. LINK
Nature Mort: Dead Game as Art. LINK
Portfolio Madness: A Diary LINK
decorative arts
Plain painted Baltimore fancy chairs LINK
Jerome Clock mystery solved LINK
Bookcase upgrade: going high style. LINK
Better federal high-post bed. LINK
Finlay fancy chairs … maybe. LINK
Chasing Boston chairs, buying Baltimore commode. LINK
Maybe a set of Phyfe chairs LINK
The Mitchell/Willard tall-case clock LINK
Marble-top pier table and high-back fancy chair LINK
Signed set of John Swint painted chairs. LINK
Painted Furniture: Learning about Original Surfaces. LINK
TRavel
Seeing art in Tetouan, Morocco Link
Carved facades in Uttarakhand, India. LINK
Julie’s & Nicoles’s Paper Aipen. (See two posts on Aipen paintngs in Art Residencies category.) LINK
Belgium and The Netherlands: The Paper Trail. LINK
Petroglyphs in Northern California. LINK
Four short posts on travel to northern Tuscany, 2012:
Pistoia LINK
Lucca’s Duomo LINK
Lucca LINK
Cottage high in the hills. LINK
ART I MAKE
These posts present a few mostly visual essays about my own art making.
art residencies
Fall 2021 at VCCA LINK.
Making art in Morocco. Link
Lessons in Aipen. LINK
Big Sky Aipens. LINK
In the studio and house
Hand-colored linocuts LINK
Planets Come to Italy LINK
Learning to faux paint LINK
Sidewalk Studio deja vu LINK
Italian Doorways, Infinite Vistas LINK
The evolution of my UP IN ARMS watercolors. LINK
Fighting Fires: Step by Step LINK
Floorcloth Making for 1806 House. LINK
Operation Operating Room. LINK
2013 Mini-Retrospective. LINK
ON THE FENCE: Hands at the RENO Air Show. LINK
How I Make It: Creating a “Hands” watercolor. LINK
ITALIAN SKIES: Adding the borders. LINK
SUMMARIES
Both ART I MAKE and ART I SEE posts are presented here with the most recent first.
Justin Remo’s “Dogwater Beach”
The Maryland Institute printmaking senior creates a suite of four woodcuts on despair of his friends and the New Jersey environment. Created 11 Feb. 2024. Link: https://www.scottponemone.com/justin-remo-exits-dogwater-beach/
Jerome Clock mystery Solved
Another blogger provides the clues to solving who made the clock with Chauncey Jerome brass works inside. Created 2 Jan. 2024. Link: https://www.scottponemone.com/jerome-clock-mystery-solved/
Un-fancy Baltimore fancy chairs;
Evidently not all Baltimore “wheelback” fancy chairs were rosewood grain-painted and stenciled. Created 8 Dec. 2023. Link: https://www.scottponemone.com/baltimore-chairs-plain-painted-wheelbacks/
Gan Kolski: Protest by Suicide
This Polish-American artist left a remarkable body of prints before he committed suicide at age 33. Created 26 Oct. 2023. Link: https://www.scottponemone.com/gan-kolski-his-end-is-my-beginning/
Oscar Graf’s Goethe
In 1923 Oscar Graf illustrated Goethe’s poem “Der Totentanz” with a series of etchings Created 31 Oct. 2023. Link: https://www.scottponemone.com/goethe-graf-totentanz/
Isac Friedlander’s Coney Island
Mr. Peanut has a featured position in both the gouache and the aquatint that Friedlander entitled “Coney Island.” Created 9 Aug. 2023. Link: https://www.scottponemone.com/isac-friedlander-coney-island/
Hand-colored Linocuts
My hand-colored linocuts came about because I wanted to show prints to compliment the watercolor tondos I was to exhibit in Baltimore in 2022. Created 15 June 2023. Link: https://www.scottponemone.com/linocuts-making-of-athena/
Planets Come to Italy
I detail how a month in northern Italy in the fall 2022 led to the creation of eight tondo watercolor. Created 5 March 2023. Link: https://www.scottponemone.com/planets-come-to-italy/
Anne Desmet’s Babel
I detail how a month in northern Italy in the fall 2022 led to the creation of eight tondo watercolor. Created 5 March 2023. Link: https://www.scottponemone.com/anne-desmet-personal-tower-of-babel/
Allweil’s Haggadah for the Israel Defense Forces
After Israel achieved independence in 1948, artist Arieh Allweil created his IDF Passover Haggadah. He wrote out most of the text and borrowed linocuts from his earlier books. Created 29 Jan. 2023. Link: https://www.scottponemone.com/arieh-allweils-idf-haggadah/
Allweil’s Fight for Independence Haggadah
During the Haganah’s fight for independence from the British, artist Arieh Allweil created the Chapters for Passover Celebrations. Posted: 29 November 2022. Link: https://www.scottponemone.com/allweil-independence-haggadah/
Bigger, better bookcase
Well worth the wait: Six months after a winning bid at auction, our fine New York c. 1820 bookcase arrives. Posted: 27 October 2022. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/bookcase-upgrade-going-high-style/
Allweil’s first Haggadah
Read about Allweil first Haggadah that his two daughters overlooked. Posted: 24 August 2022. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/arieh-allweils-haggadahs-part-1/
Upgrade the bedroom with a better bed
After 30 years we replace the high-post bed with a finer one. Posted: 4 August 2022. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/bed-exchange/
Eric Avery, Making COVID Bowl, Part 2
I take you step-by-step in the production of my copy of Avery’s “COVID Bowl of Bones.” Posted: 1 June 2022. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/making-a-covid-bowl-with-eric-avery-part-2/
Attributing my fancy chairs to the Finlays
I check two museums and a Virginia plantation in an attempt to ascertain whether my chairs were made in the workshop of the Finlays. Posted: 22 May 2022. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/finlay-chairs-a-question-of-attribution/
Eric Avery, Making COVID Bowl, Part 1
Avery (left) recounts his 40-year history in making dimensional relief prints. Posted 18 April 2022. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/making-a-covid-bowl-with-eric-avery-part-1/
Irwin Hoffman, etcher of workers
Whether Hoffman made prints of humble Mexican workers or miners in the States, he was sure to convey their dignity in his images. Posted: 12 March 2022. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/irwin-hoffman-etcher-of-workers/
Allweil’s Scroll of Lamentation
Arieh Allweil chose the Scroll of Lamentation to be his last meggilah to illustrate with linocuts. Posted: 20 January 2022. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/arieh-allweils-lamentation/
Fall 2021 residency at VCCA
See what I accomplished during three weeks at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Posted: 8 Dec. 2021. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/vcca-3-weeks-in-the-unreal-world/
Allweil’s Scroll of Esther
Witness Arieh Allweil’s 1942 Scroll of Esther and its parade of fascinating linocuts. Many preparatory drawings are posted online for the first time. Posted: 29 Oct. 2021. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/arieh-allweil-scroll-of-esther/
What my House Taught Me
Among the lessons I had upon purchasing a mid-19th-century Baltimore townhouse was learning to faux paint wood grain. Posted: 23 Sept. 2021. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/what-my-house-taught-me/
Allweil’s Scroll of Ruth
Arieh Allweil first published Scroll of Ruth with linocuts in 1939 and produced a second edition in 1943 or 44 adding highlights in red ink. Posted: 31 Aug. 2021. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/arieh-allweil-scroll-of-ruth/
American Jewish printmakers
After obtaining a copy of the 1947 book One Hundred Contemporary American Jewish Artists, I realize I have prints by 13 of those named in the book, plus 16 other Jewish printmakers in my collection. Posted: 4 Aug 2021. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/bruno-goldschmitts-die-bibel/
Bruno Goldschmitt’s “Die Bibel”
After purchasing three portfolios of Goldschmitt wood engravings on the Old Testament, I come to the conclusion why the portfolios advertise 30 prints but they total only 21. Posted: 23 July 2021. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/bruno-goldschmitts-die-bibel/
Arieh Allweil’s Touring the Land
In 1939 Allweil published a book of 32 linocuts, mostly landscapes of Eretz Israel. Max Brod wrote the introduction. Posted: 28 June 2021. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/arieh-allweil-touring-the-land/
Chasing Boston chairs, buying Baltimore Commode
We traveled to Alexandria, VA, to check out eight Boston sidechairs, but chose a Baltimore washstand with a slide-out commode. Posted: 10 May 2021. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/second-chance-commode/
Arieh Allweil’s Anonymous Jew
In 1939 artist Arieh Allweil created a book of linocuts in large part based on his life on one of the original kibbutzim in Eretz Israel. Posted: 3 April 2021. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/ariel-allweil-anonymous-jew/
Frank Brangwyn and Kerr Eby on WWI
Eby served in World War I and made prints based on his experiences. While Brangwyn didn’t serve, he made prints on the effects of war on citizens of Belgium. Posted: 13 Feb. 2021. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/brangwyn-eby-on-wwi/
Arieh Allweil’s 1924 suite of lithographs
Between stays on kibbutzim in Mandate Palestine, Allweil produced a suite of lithographs while in Vienna. Posted: 29 Dec. 2020. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/arieh-allweil-tumultuous-suite-of-lithographs/
Stefan Berg’s “Architecture of Music”
The Canadian artist Stefan Berg worked 5 years on a portfolio of linocuts to portray the struggle behind seeking perfection. Posted: 1 Dec. 2020. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/stefan-berg-architecture-of-music/
Arieh Allweil’s Book of Amos, Part 2
A complete translation of Arieh Allweil’s Book of Amos with all of his linocuts. Posted: 8 Oct. 2020. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/arieh-allweil-the-book-of-amos-part-2/
Arieh Allweil’s Book of Amos, Part 1
The story behind the book: from preliminary sketches to notes on translation from the Hebrew Posted: 2 Oct. 2020. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/arieh-allweil-the-book-of-amos-part-1/
Harry Gottlieb’s “The Coal Pickers”
Upon purchasing a copy of Gottlieb’s lithograph, I discovered that what I bought was a cut-down version of his first The Coal Pickers print. Posted: 31 Aug. 2020. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/harry-gottliebs-coal-pickers/
Introducing Arieh Allweil
Arieh Allweil produced a half dozen books from 1939-1944. He illustrated biblical stories with images that often made reference to the Holocaust. Posted: Aug. 14, 2020 Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/introducing-arieh-allweil/
Eli Jacobi: Missed Opportunity
A recent purchase is a small recovery from a missed opportunity in 1986 to own a selection of Eli Jacobi’s powerful Bowery linocuts. Posted 11 July 2020. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/eli-jacobi-missed-opportunity/
Sloan’s anatomy lesson for friends
In his etching Anshutz on Anatomy John Sloan commemorates a legendary Philadelphia instructor and assembles an audience of important early 20th-century artists. Posted 17 June 2020. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/john-sloan-anatomy-lesson-with-friends/
Wordless narratives by artists in Eretz Israel
I finally acquire an intact copy of Leilot by Erich Glas. At the same time I add The Road of Suffering by P.K. Hoenich. Posted 27 March 2020. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/eretz-israel-narratives-in-relief-prints/
Red Chairs brighten the dining room
The account of how a set of possibly Duncan Phyfe chairs got to grace my dining room. Post: 8 Jan. 2020. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/red-chairs-how-they-got-that-way/
Major print additions in 2019
Important works by Antonio Frasconi, Gan Kolski and Dorothy Rutka join the collection. Also I acquire a disassembled version of Eric Glas’s Leilot. Posted: 16 Dec. 2019. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/update-2019-print-acquisitions/
New life for Alfred Rethel’s broadsheet
Maryland paper conservator restores my copy of Alfred Rethels’ Ein Todtentanz aus dem Jahre 1848. Posted: 18 Nov. 2019. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/remedy-for-rethel-conserving-1840s-broadsheet/
Eric Avery’s banners Paradise Lost arrives in Baltimore
My second post on artist Eric Avery describes how his Adam and Eve banners came to live above my dining room mantel. Posted 23 October 2019. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/eric-avery-paradise-arrives/
Alfred Rethel’s Dance of Death in 1848
Rethel’s six-image wood engraving cycle Todtentanz is considered the most influential counterrevolutionary art in 1848 Europe. Posted: 30 July 2019. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/rethels-death-as-counterrevolutionary-meme/
Eric Avery: Doctor of Printmaking
From Massacre of the Innocents print to “Epidemic” exhibition: the life of this Texas psychiatrist-artist. Post: 17 June 2019. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/eric-avery-doctor-of-printmaking/
East-West Woodcuts: Urushibara & Brangwyn
I trace the purchase of a Frank Brangwyn wood engraving in 1987 to the decision to acquire Yoshijiro Urushibara’s Ten Woodcuts last year. Posted: 27 March 2019. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/east-west-woodcuts-urushibara-brangwyn/
Print Collecting: How they got here
In this collector’s journal, I describe how and why the prints that hang in my bedroom entered the collection. Posted: 25 Jan. 2019. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/print-collecting-how-they-got-here/
Seeing art being made in Tetouan, Morocco
My second Tetouan post focuses on what other artists in residence were doing at Green Olive Arts, meeting native Tetouan artists, visited a school for arts and crafts and a day trip to the hillside town of Chefchaouen. Posted 9 Dec. 2018. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/tetouan-art-i-see/
Making art in Morocco
My first post on my four weeks in Morocco focuses on the art I produced while in residence at Green Olive Arts. Posted: 15 Nov. 2018. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/art-making-in-tetouan/
Erich Glas imagines the Holocaust in 29 linocuts
Two of the artist’s grandchildren help me discover Leilot, the mostly forgotten wordless picture book that their grandfather made in 1942. Posted 4 Oct. 2018. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/leilot-erich-glass-traumatic-creation/
George Walker takes Snark to the White House
When Canadian artist George Walker wanted to illustrate a new edition of Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of the Snark, he found his inspiration in the White House. Posted: 31 July 2018. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/george-walker-cutting-at-the-cottage/
Erich Glas visits Aesop fables
Weimar artist Erich Glas created a portfolio of wood engravings in the early 1920s illustrating Aesop fables. Posted: 11 June 2018. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/fables-erich-glass-prints-add-to-genre/
Emma Bormann: A Family Affair
The Johns family shares remembrances of their grandmother, the eminent Austrian printmaker Emma Bormann. This occurred after I contacted Andreas Johns, the author of the book “The Art of Emma Bormann.” Posted: 4 May 2018. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/emma-bormann-keeping-the-flame-alive/
New Home for MICa printmaking
The Printmaking Department of Maryland Institute College of Art had to leave its old facilities in 2015. Over the next two academic years, it has created a larger, safer home at the “15/15” building. Posted: 15 March. 2018. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/new-home-for-mica-printmaking/
BIG CLOCK: Buy first, research later
When I purchased the labeled “Wm. Mitchell Jr. / Richmond , Va” tall-case clock, I had no idea what a great story it would tell. Posted: 5 Jan. 2018. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/big-clock-buy-first-research-later/
Return to painting the full figure
Paintings I did in 1983 provide the catalyst for new paintings that begin with photographing people in public places. See what’s the same and what’s different. Posted: 19 Dec. 2017. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/sidewalk-studio-deja-vu/
Shadra’s linocuts for children’s cook
See how Baltimore illustrator Shadra Strickland created reduction linocuts for the book A Child’s Book of Prayers and Blessings. Posted: 1 Nov. 2017. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/shadra-strickland-illustrator/
Italian Doorways, Infinite Vistas
A month in Italy in May 2017 resulted in ten paintings of skies surrounded by ten heroic stone doorways. Posted: 8 Sept. 2017. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/italian-doorways-infinite-vistas/
The making of Harry Sternberg’s Woodcut Autobiography
Publisher Bill Kelly describes how Harry Sternberg’s A Life in Woodcuts came about in 1991. Posted: 7 June 2017. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/harry-bill-making-of-a-woodcut-autobiography/
The evolution of my “UP IN ARMS” watercolors
I worked on the UP IN ARMS series of watercolors for four years. This blog post describes how these paintings evolved as well as how the way I exhibited them did too. Posted: 26 April 2017. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/up-in-arms-an-evolution/
At last, a new Neocerebellum
Canadian artist George Walker completes his limited edition of Images from the Neocerebellum and answers questions about the decisions he had to make in the process. Posted: 9 June 2017. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/walkers-new-neo-is-here/
2016 recap: Marble-top pier table & high-back red fancy chair
Researching and negotiating the purchase of the late federal pier table is paired with the appearance of a second high-back red fancy chair and how lucky I was not to bid on it. Posted December 24, 2016. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/2016-marble-pier-table-high-back-fancy-chair/
Fighting Fires: Step by Step
The firehouse turned out to be a very hospitable venue for a particular artist who paints Up In Arms watercolors. I record the progress on three of the five paintings. Posted December 1, 2016. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/fighting-fires-step-by-step/
Richard Wagener: Naturalist/Wood Engraver
This California artist employs his natural science background and love of his state’s mountains and forests to inspire his printmaking. Posted: October 7, 2016. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/richard-wagener-naturalistwood-engraver/
George Walker’s Neo Neocerebellum
First published only in a 2007 trade edition, Images from the Neocerebellum will soon be available in a special edition of 28. And I’m partly responsible. Posted: 1 September 2016. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/george-walkers-neo-neocerebellum/
Portfolio Madness: A Diary
The acquisition of three portfolios by Gustav Wolf, one by Fritz Eichenberg and one by Max Thalmann in the course of 4 1/2 month is madness. No? Posted: 18 August 2016. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/diary-of-portfolio-madness/
DONNA DIAMOND: Imagined light
New York artist Donna Diamond explores light with her series of ink-and-brush drawings and mezzotints. POSTED: 7 July 2016. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/donna-diamond-imagined-light/
BIG SKY AIPENS
Once I returned from a month in India, I painted large watercolors of skies with border derived from traditional Aipen folk painitngs. POSTED: 13 June 2016. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/making-aipan-skies-go-big/
FACADES OF ALMORA
The old market street in Almora, India, retains a good but decaying display of carved and painted wood facades. POSTED: 3 May 2016. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/facades-of-almora-carved-survivors/
JULIE’S & NICOLE’S PAPER AIPAN
Two Canadian artists attending the 2016 PECAH artist residency transform traditional Aipen painting into a giant paper cutout. POSTED: http://www.scottponemone.com/julies-nicoles-paper-aipan/
Evan Lindquist: an engraver’s engraver
This Arkansas printmaker has created two series of engravings: one involving labyrinths, the other fanciful portraits of famous engravers. POSTED: 6 April 2016. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/evan-lindquist-an-engravers-engraver/
Lessons in Aipen
After seeing examples of the traditional Uttarakhand, India, folk painting called Aipen, I first try to mimic it and then try to use it as a border for my sky watercolors. POSTED: 23 March 2016. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/lessons-in-aipan/
Giant woodcuts by Tom Huck & Thom Shaw
Second review of 2015 print collecting features the huge prints by Tom Huck and Thom Shaw, both their purchase and their hanging. POSTED: 22 January 2016. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/final-2015-recap-tom-thom/
Joseph Leboit: Before “Tranquility”
After purchasing a Joseph Leboit print, I researched why the title changed from Plastic Values to Tranquility and what the markings well below the image indicated. POSTED: 7 January 2016. Link: http://www.scottponemone.com/joseph-leboit-before-tranquility/
2015 decorative arts recap
The highlight of decorative arts accessions was the purchase of a signed set of mid-19th-century painting chairs by Lancaster, PA, artisan John Swint. POSTED: 31 December 2015. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/2015-recap-decorative-arts/
Walker & Berg: Updates on wordless novelists
Thanks to a visit to Toronto, I enjoyed meeting George Walker and Stefan Berg and witnessed their progress on their latest novels told solely in relief prints. POSTED: 20 October 2015. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/walker-berg-updates-on-wordless-novelists/
Barbara Paca: REscuing Ruth Starr Rose
Sparked by her purchase of a painting in 2005, Barbara Paca dove into the life and works of the Maryland Eastern Shore artist Ruth Starr Rose. Her efforts resulted in a major exhibition and a splendid catalog. POSTED: 5 October 2015. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/barbara-paca-rescuing-ruth-starr-rose/
Lousiana Bendolph: From cloth to Paper
Artist Louisiana Bendolph adapts her aesthetic instincts from years of making quilts in the Gee’s Bend tradition to create lively color lithographs. POSTED: 29 September 2015. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/louisiana-bendolph-from-cloth-to-paper/
LEtter from Lynd Ward
When I purchased a copy the limited edition of Lynd Ward’s first published wordless novel Gods’ Man, I also acquired a Ward letter, a poem dedicated to Ward and nicely-worded inscription by Ward. POSTED 24 August 2015. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/letter-from-lynd-ward/
Allegra Marquart: From Paper to Glass
Baltimore artist Allegra Marquart made playful narrative prints for years. Then she discovered that her story-telling talent works beautifully in cast glass. POSTED: 7 June 2015. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/allegra-marquart-from-paper-to-glass/
Collecting books of relief prints
2015 was a great year for adding important books with original relief prints by American artist Paul Landacre, British artist Leon Underwood, and German artist Karl Rössing. POSTED: 3 June 2015. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/picture-books-landacre-underwood-more-rossing/
Stefan Berg’s Buddy Bolden in Black & White
In a wordless novel of linoleum cuts Canadian artist Stefan Berg tells the story of the last parade of the legendary New Orleans jazz musician Buddy Bolden. POSTED: 17 April 2015. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/stefan-berg-buddy-bolden-in-black-white/
Trudi Ludwig Johnson’s 14-year Odyssey
Finally Trudi has completed her second mammoth woodcut that depicts characters of an Italian Renaissance painting as skeletons. POSTED: 21 February 2015. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/trudi-ludwig-johnson-mission-accomplished/
Donna Diamond: imagining/imaging mortality dot-by-dot
Using dental tools, Donna Diamond creates marvelous stipple linoleum cuts of mummies and a frightful carousel horse. POSTED: 25 January 2015. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/donna-diamond-imaginingimaging-mortality-dot-by-dot/
GEORGE WALKER: wordless novelist
While George Walker’s wordless novels usually have Canadians as their subject, his Book of Hours celebrates the everyday lives of workers at the World Trade Center. POSTED: 9 January 2015. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/george-walker-wordless-novelist/
Raj Bunnag’s New Print Odyssey
The second post on Raj Bunnag presents the first plate of his new multi-plate relief print. He titles the new image The Murder Cartel Deathride. POSTED: 31 December 2014. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/rajs-new-print-venture/
ROSEMARY feit covey: Printmaker’s journey
Thanks to an exhibition at the Evergreen Museum & Library in Baltimore, I was able to finally meet Rosemary, whose wood engravings I’ve admired for years. She has blossomed into quite an experimental artist. POSTED: 1 December 2014. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/rosemary-feit-covey-printmakers-journey/
Karl Rössing: Witness to Weimar’s final Years
Rössing’s 1932 book of wood engravings Mein Vorurteil gegen diese Zeit (My Prejudice Against This Era) was a scathing view of Germany just before Hitler took power. POSTED: 20 July 2014. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/karl-rossing-witness-to-weimars-final-years/
R.O. Hodgell: Master Linocutter
His daughter and two Eckerd College (Florida) former colleagues talk about R.O. Hodgell and his prolific output of biblical, satirical, animal- and music-themed linoleum cuts. POSTED: 12 June 2014. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/r-o-hodgell-master-linocutter/
Belgium and The Netherlands: The Paper Trail
From the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp, to Arenthuis museun in Brugge featuring Frank Brangwyn, to a Felix Vallotton exhibition at Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum, to cartoons for stained glass at the Gouda’s Sint-Janiskerk, travel in Belgium and the Netherlands had much to delight a devotee of works on paper. POSTED: 27 May 2014. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/belgium-and-the-netherlands-the-paper-trail/
Baltimore’s Publications & Multiples Fair: What the kids are up to
As a print collector of a certain age, entering Baltimore’s PMF (Publications & Multiples Fair) was like entering a parallel universe. While the art making was somewhat helter-skelter, the energy level was out of this world. POSTED: 18 March 2014. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/baltimores-publications-multiples-fair/
Mario Sanchez: The Pride of Key West
Nance Frank, director of Gallery on Greene, has been the one person most responsible for keeping the unique accomplishments of self-taught Key West artist Mario Sanchez alive. POSTED: 12 March 2014. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/mario-sanchez-the-pride-of-key-west/
Floorcloth Making: Painted Canvas for 1806 hallway
Step-by-step I take you through my production for a floorcloth to animate the hallway of a federal house on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. POSTED: 10 February 2014. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/floorcloth-painted-canvas-for-1806-hallway/
Elbridge Kingsley & Gifts for a Blogger: More on 19th-centry Wood Engravings
Nineteenth-century wood engraver Kinglsey gets a one-person show AND Bill Brandt, author of Interpretive Wood-Engraving, showers me with gifts of signed proofs by artists he wrote about. POSTED: 26 November 2013. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/elbridge-kingsley-and-gifts-for-a-blogger-more-on-19th-century-wood-engravings/
Collaborators: Raoul Middleman and Brian Garner
Baltimore Artist Raoul Middleman (right) creates a series of large monotypes with the assistance of master lithograph printer Brian Garner. POSTED: 16 September 2013. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/collaborators/
William Brandt on his book Interpretive Wood-Engraving
Late 19th-century American wood engravers created their own school of engraving, so different from their British counterparts, says Brandt. POSTED: 1 July 2013. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/interpretive-wood-engraving-interview-with-its-author/
American New School wood engravers: Forgotten 19th-century celebrities.
William H. Brandt’s book Interpretive Wood-Engraving: The Story of the Society of American Wood-Engravers tackles an era of American printmaking that has long confounded me. POSTED: 1 July 2013. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/new-school-wood-engravers-forgotton-19th-century-celebrities/
OPERATION Operating Room
What was easy in the 1980s–getting access to photograph in an operating room–proved next to impossible in 2013. Ergo, I couldn’t get images of surgeons performing operations on hands. POSTED: 14 June 2013. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/operation-operating-room-in-the-beginning/
The Search for Lenore R. Szesko
The purchase on eBay of the Surrealistic wood engraving sets off a search for Lenore Szesko. A line in another artist’s CV leads to pay dirt. POSTED: 21 April 2013. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/the-search-for-lenore-r-szesko/
Print Dealers: where would I be without them?
If Betty Duffy’s Bethesda Art Gallery wasn’t open in 1980, I doubt that I would be the dedicated print collector I am today. I talk to seven dealers who exhibited at the 2013 Capital Art Fair. POSTED: 18 April 2013. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/print-dealers-where-would-i-be-without-them/
Willard Clark: Kevin Ryan’s Grandpa
On my last day in Sante Fe, I meet with Kevin Ryan, who reprints and sells his grandfather’s color woodcuts. Kevin then writes me a long account of Willard Clark’s career and how he–Kevin–became his grandfather’s printer. POSTED: 5 April 2013. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/kevin-ryans-grandpa/
Soledad Salamé teaches etching without Acid
Upstairs in her Baltimore townhouse Soledad Salamé runs Sol Print Studio, where she instructs artists to etch intaglio plates with the sun or other light sources. POSTED: 18 March 2013. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/sol-print-studio-plate-test/
2013 Mini-Retrospective at Jordan Faye Contemporary
Finally after over 30 years as an exhibiting professional artist I have a mini-retrospective. Several huge watercolors (like the one above) had never before been shown in Baltimore. POSTED: 18 January 2013. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/mini-retrospective-at-jordan-faye-contemporary/
Raj’s Jungle: A linocut that goes round and round
Raj Bunnag’s final student project at the Maryland Institute College of Art is an impressive four-plate linocut called Out Of The Jungle It Came. If taped together and placed on a drum, it would have no beginning or end. POSTED: 13 January 2013. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/rajs-jungle-a-linocut-that-goes-round-and-round/
New Life for Sydney Lee, an Obscure British printmaker
Robert Meyrick discusses his catalogue raisonné on Sydney Lee, who produced large, magical wood engravings based on his travels in Spain and Italy in the 1920s. POSTED: 19 December 2012. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/new-life-for-sydney-lee-an-obscure-british-printmaker/
Painted Furniture : Learning about original surfaces
It took a while to train my eyes. Now I really get excited to see American furniture from the first half of the 19th century that retains its original painted surface. POSTED: 12 Dec. 2012. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/painted-furniture-learning-about-original-surfaces/
Sol Print Studio’s 2012 exhibition
Stevenson University near Baltimore hosts an exhibition of prints created by artists who worked with Soledad Salemé in her Sol Print Studio. Soledad and three other artists talk about their work. POSTED: 5 November 2012. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/sol-print-studios-exhibition-at-stevenson-university/
On The Fence: Harvesting hands at the Reno Air Races
I’m always on the lookout for hands to paint. I hit pay dirt photographing hands at the Reno Air Races. POSTED: 12 October 2012. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/on-the-fence/
Trudi Ludwig Johnson cuts her woodcut down to the bone
In progress report: Trudi works on her second oversize woodcut of skeletons based on a Renaissance painting. POSTED: 8 October 2012. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/down-to-the-bone/
Detour for ancient Art: Petroglyphs in Northern California.
Behind a chain-link fence at Lava Beds National Monument in Northern California survive chiseled-out imagery of early Native Americans. POSTED: 3 October 2012. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/detour-for-ancient-art-petroglyphs-at-lava-beds-national-monument-northern-california/
Nature Morte: Art of Dead Game
My painting of bantam trophy chickens is my living take on genre painting of dead game. POSTED: 14 Auguest 2012. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/trophies/
HOW I MAKE IT: creating the watercolor “1 Spoon 2 Cones”
From photographs to finished painting, I lead you through my painting process. POSTED: 10 August 2012. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/my-process-1-spoon-2-cones/
Italian Skies: Adding the borders
During a month in Tuscany in 2012 I painted 14 small watercolors of skies and in my journal recorded borders–often from church pavements–to frame those skies. Once back in Baltimore, I drew and painted the borders to complete the series. POSTED: 9 August 2012. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/italian-skies-series-complete/
Four short posts on Travel to northern Tuscany, 2012
Arrival in the lofty hamlet of Ombreglio di Brancoli. POSTED 9 July 2012. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/tuscany-2012-arrival/
Lucca’s black-and-white Romanesque facades. POSTED 9 July 2012. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/tuscany-2012-lucca/
Lucca;s Duomo. POSTED 9 July 2012. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/tuscany-2012-luccas-duomo/
Small city of Pistoia. POSTED: 9 July 2012. LINK: http://www.scottponemone.com/tuscany-2012-pistoia/