New Techniques for Old and New Media

If you live in or near Tulsa, OK, I hope you will attend the opening of the monthly art shows at Water Works Art Studio as well as start taking courses at Water Works. Water Works is the Tulsa Parks facility for the fine arts. It is the successor to Johnson Atelier. While I attended some of the workshops at Johnson, I had never been to Water Works until this Fall when I sold some art work at their holiday show and sale. Since then I have been there many times and am making it a habit. There is no admission to view the shows and most of the art work is for sale. The fee for the various courses is very reasonable. The teaching staff is also excellent.

Water Works offers classes from metalsmithing to pottery. They have a large number of wheels for pottery making and also for spinning. Fortunately, they are in different rooms. (I am not known for my puns and never will be).

When they invited me to do a show in April along with two artists who specialize in glass, Sarah Diggdon and Eric Baker, I was in the midst of experimenting with some new techniques for inkjet printing. This show will be the first to showcase these new techniques which are also new for the digital field. I also differentiate in the show digital fine art from photographic enhancement.

The basis of these new techniques involved printing on different substrates that were not meant for inkjet printing. However, through the use of inkjet receptors and a lot of experimentation, these surfaces were prepared for archival inkjet ink. However, this was only a start of the project, for then I heaped on the paper texture, acrylics and other mediums for a mixed-media-digital art-image.

At Water Works I made paper for the first time in many decades and also worked it into my art concepts. A thumbnail of one of the images is on the right. Click on it to see a larger image. Also, if you are interested in finding out more about printing and printing on various substrates, I have written a number of articles which can be found in my Article Index under Selected Articles from Past Columns on either of my websites. There are 4 parts to the series on "Printing Isn't an Island".

I think the whole show should be very interesting. While I haven't seen the work of the two artists who work in glass, I have been told it is exceptional. The show will be up for the month of April starting on April 6th. Sunday, April 6th from 2-4 PM is the opening. I will also be doing an informal demonstration.

Water Works is located at: 1710 Charles Page Blvd, Tulsa, OK 74127. For more information, their phone number is: (918) 596-2440. Other than for Gallery openings, they are open Monday through Saturday.