Handsome Pepe and his Linocut Portrait

pet portrait, Prints, stonetrigger press

Beautiful Pete with his handsome portrait

Last Fall, I donated a custom pet portrait to the silent auction fundraiser at the Oakland Animal Services, where my friend Audra is instrumental in the care and placement of kittens and cats. I love to donate my carving and printing skills to raise money while making custom portraits for families. This is the beautiful Pepe, age 15 years young and a handsome boy indeed.

Romy, the human companion to Pepe, won the bid, but somehow we did not connect until winter. A phone number or email was wrong, but eventually, we connected. Romy emailed me several sweet photos and Pepe to work from.

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It usually takes me a month to draw, carve, and print a portrait. But thankfully, Romy was incredibly patient because it took me over four months. Caught up in the COVID-19 epidemic from Brooklyn, and later the Adirondack Mountains where SIP meant I got to stay in the country, yes this was awesome, but I could not return home where my press was.

I carved a bit each day, making extra fine details since I had time. Because I was slow in completing the project, I felt like it better be extra good. Above is a short clip of me carving the 9″ x 5″ block.

Pepe, linocut block in progress

This is the block at about 80% complete. And finally, it was time, after three months, to drive back to Brooklyn where my press was. I had some beautiful Awagami Factory handmade limited edition Gampi paper for printing Pepe waiting for me.

I was so happy how it printed, how the ink laid on the paper. It was awesome to be back in Brooklyn at home and have my press. I made an edition of 14, dried it, signed each print, and packages it up.

I am so thankful to have this opportunity and the extra time to make this linoleum block print of Pete. It was truly an honor.

If you have a printing project in mind or are curious to have a portrait of your pet; dog, cat, turtle, horse, pig, otter, bear, your name it, I would be happy to talk.

Paper Boats

Folded Paper, linoleum block print, Prints

After thinking about all the catch-up posts I could write at the end of 2019, rather than look back, I will show you what I am doing now, right now.

22″ x 15″ linoleum block print

I spent the last month carving a 22″ x 15″ linoleum block of three boats. The prints from this block, an edition of 24, will be folded into paper boats and exhibited in San Juan Puerto Rico during the Southern Graphic Council Conference, April 2020.

Curated by Mary Sherwood Brock, the exhibition chair of the Los Angeles Printmaking Society, 20 artists will be creating work for this themed portfolio. Also, two of my boats set sail to Los Angeles this week to be exhibited a part of a Paper Boats traveling installation first opening at Self Help Graphics’ January 11, 2020 exhibition ImMigration.

I began working with the theme of boats, specifically canoes and self “home” made boats two years ago. I have a fantasy of building my own boat, launching it into the Hudson, and quietly paddling away with my two labradors, camping as we travel the countries rivers. I have made ceramic boats, paper boats, carvings of boats, watercolor, and pencil drawing of boats. My next step is a life-size canoe that I can float from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, LMCC, Governors Island studio to my home in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

This paper boat project allowed me to think more about island living, attempts to cross oceans, whether it be for adventure, escape, sport, or migration. During my carving, I listened to “438 Days, An extraordinary story of survival at sea” about José Salvador Alvarenga, a Salvadoran fisherman who is swept up in a storm and kicked around by the sea from Mexico to the Marshall Islands. A harrowing tale for sure. But there is something romantic about boats, they can be built from almost anything, and if you live by the water, that means endless possibilities.

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Side view of Paper Boat, by Hilary Lorenz

Top view of paper boats by Hilary Lorenz

Inside view of the paper boat, by Hilary Lorenz

Folding paper boats with Hilary Lorenz

For the next few weeks, I will fine-tune my folding skills and printing the edition of 24. I may make a few alterations as I am three months ahead. I am incredibly pleased to be a part of Mary’s themed portfolio. I can’t wait to see what this project ushers in.

I will set sail into the new year, 2020 with these.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Abiquiu Open Studio!

Prints, stonetrigger press

And I am not there…..My favorite time of the year and the best weekend to travel to Abiquiu, NM for open studio. I love opening my studio to the public and sharing all the work I made over the year. But a workplace accident, a steel painting easel got knocked over and, well, I got impaled by it. Thankfully my good friend Dr. Les sewed me up. I will be fine, she did a great job. But more importantly.

For open studio my Raven was selected for the cover of the studio tour map, but somehow I do not have any Ravens available in Abiquiu, I have then in NYC. One cannot plan for everything, but I can make you an offer…..

Hilary_Lorenz_Lg_Raven

The handprinted linoleum block Raven is 30″ tall and 22″ wide. It is printed on Arches Buff Paper in an edition of 15, I only have a few left, so if you want one, now is the time, free shipping! For more information and to buy one – Click here to go to my Etsy Store

Moth Migration Project Opens in Canada

Moth Migration Project, Prints, Uncategorized

I have been in the lower48 less than a month, and I have yet to write up my lifechanging backpacking extravaganza on the Chilkoot Trail about my Artist Residency with the Yukon Art Center. But until I do that, I have another adventure in Canada to tell you about, this one in New Brunswick.

Opening on September 28, 2018, at the Sunbury Shores Art and Nature Centre is a new Moth Migration Installation. This exhibit focuses on artist’s handmade moths from Canada and Maine.

Also, I will host a Moth Migration Printsocial at Sunbury Shores and I invite you to drop by the gallery on Saturday to print and add your own moths to the exhibit. I will be bringing my hand press up from New York. I look forward t seeing you.

The Moth Migration Projected is a crowd-sourced collection of handprinted, drawing and cut paper moths exhibited in multi-sensory installations. Choosing moths, a nocturnal pollinator, as the vehicle for cross-pollination and international exchanged, I use social media to invite people to create paper moths native to their geographic location. To learn more go to: http://mothmigrationproject.net

Chillin’ on the Chilkoot Bingo

Chilkoot Trail, Prints

Chilkoot Bingo cards in the drying rack.

I outdid myself with the complexity of my Chilkoot Bingo game. I created Chilkoot Bingo as a part of my Chilkoot Trail Artist Residency. Sponsored by the Yukon Arts Centre, Parks Canada and the US National Park Service and the Skagway Arts Council with support from the Skagway Traditional Council and Alaska Geographic I will be taking a creative journey hiking through Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park, Alaska, and Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site, British Columbia. Carrying everything in my backpack for two weeks and sleeping on the trail, I will offer two nights of game playing, one in Alaska and one in Canada. I have fabulous cash and prizes in the form of chocolate coins and other goodies to those who play and win Chilkoot bingo with me.

The linoleum and woodblock carvings of Chilkoot Bingo items.

I began the Chilkoot Bingo cards by making 25 wood and linoleum block prints of animals from the Yukon, and hiking items such as a tent, boot and coffee pot. The 25 carvings, which range in size from 4″ x 6″ to 5″ x 7″ were printed onto paper and took just over 150 hours to create.

Inked up linocuts and woodcuts for the Chilkoot bingo Cards.

Once the carvings were printed and photographed, I made a digital layout of the Bingo Cards, downloading fonts made from real wood type from the late 1800’s, the peak of the Klondike Gold Rush.

Chilkoot Bingo digital layout for silkscreen

I created the design in Photoshop that was eventually shot onto transparency film so that I could make silkscreens. Every bingo card needs to be different and silkscreening made the most sense to me. The layout took a full day, about 10 hours to finish.

Freshly shot silkscreen prior to printing.

I sent my files over to my friend Roni Henning who is a professional artist and screen printer. She has a good studio for printing and helped me shoot the films onto the screen and begin printing.

Hilary Lorenz examining the new silkscreen.

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Every single object needs to be printed one at a time onto the bingo cards. For example, I print a bat in one spot, move the game piece, then print the bat in the next place. To complete the entire set of 24 game pieces onto 200 bingo cards, I pull ink through the screen 4800 times. I printed the background separately, another 50 pulls. In the video clip, you can see me print 4 pulls, imagine doing that almost 5000 times! I should be able to complete these in about 50 hours.

If you were paying really close attention, you would say, “wait a minute, you only made 24 objects, and bingo needs 25.” You are so right. The middle section, the free space will be an embossed gold nugget. I created a rubber stamp.

Gold nugget rubber stamp

The rubber stamp will be pressed into embossing ink, then sprinkled with gold powder. I seal the stamp with a heat gun, and the gold powder magically puffs up making a textured embossed surface. This is a pretty quick process, maybe 2 to 3 hours to complete.

My final step will be screen printing my information and a special thank you to all the sponsors and supporters on the back. Each card will be one of a kind, and ever hiker lucky enough to get one and play Bingo will have something extraordinary. I am willing to bet there nowhere in the history of bingo card making has anyone spent over 225 hours making 200 5″ x 7″ cards. But then again there are no better Bingo cards than these!

If on July 29, 2018, you find yourself at Sheep Camp, along the Chilkoot Trail, (the last camp on the US side of the trail) you can try your luck at Bingo and keep your card.

Or if on August 3, you are at the Chilkoot Trail, Lindeman Camp on the Northeast summit of Chilkoot Pass in British Columbia you are in luck and can play Chilkoot Bingo.

This is the only place these cards and the game playing will happen. It is a special event reserved for those I meet on the trail. I can’t wait to see you there.

I will also do conventional artist talks about my work and experience on the trail in Whitehorse Canada, on August 8th and Skagway Alaska August 10.

See you in the Yukon!

One version of 200 different Bingo Cards

Moth Migration Interns wanted.

Moth Migration Project, Prints, Uncategorized

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The Moth Migration Project needs one or two interns or assistants to prepare for our next series of exhibitions. You can work in person or virtually as I need both.

I will keep this short and sweet. The Moth Migration Project will open a new exhibit at the Heard Natural Science Museum, in July 2018, Sunbury Shores Arts & Nature Centre, St. Andrews, NB, Canada, September 2018, and the Bundaberg Regional Gallery, Bundaberg, Australia, April 2019. I can’t do this alone. Would you like to contribute to this amazing project?

Here are the basics of what an intern or assistant may do. I should add this is currently an unpaid job until funding comes in.

Duties: Receive and Catalog paper moths, Update Google Database to reflect the collection, email participants to confirm delivery of artwork, send postcards to recognition to participating artists, scan or photo moths for entry into database and website, engage artists and makers through social media to participate in project by making moths, help prepare for exhibition in July at the Heard Natural Science Museum, TX, in September in Canada and April 2019, Australia. Engage in brainstorming ideas for fundraising and community printmaking workshops. Learn to work with a fiscal sponsor.

Skills in any of the following areas: printmaking, gallery management, library science, museum studies, social media marketing, fundraising, administration or a simple willingness to learn.

Interns will learn about printmaking and drawing mediums, museum and gallery archiving practices, social media marketing strategy, strategic planning for major and multiple events, community programming. They will also be trained on using Google forms, sheets and email and how to integrate it into business practices. The Intern will learn about fiscal sponsorship and how to create a campaign for project funding. The intern will be invited to create an original artwork via linocut printing and participate in the MMP exhibitions.

If you are in NYC, we will work in my studio in Red Hook Brooklyn. Ideally, you will come at least one day a week. If you are virtual, we can still work together quite efficiently.

College students may arrange college credit. Please write a two to three paragraph email describing why you want to intern with the Moth Migration Project, what you hope to learn and what skills you can offer. Please email mothmigration@gmail.com

I look forward to hearing from you.

So Many Updates

Moth Migration Project, Prints, Small Print Store, stonetrigger press

StoneTrigger Press Abiquiu, NM

I have so much to tell you about. But first, It is Open Studio in Abiquiu, NM October 7 and 8. I am flying back from Brooklyn to participate. Stonetrigger Press will be open, to the public with a huge sale on prints and drawings.

Hilary_Lorenz_StoneTriggerPress_Interior

StoneTrigger Press Abiquiu, NM

I will also have loads of one of a kind journals, but it is only for these two days. For more about the AST, maps, times and artists, you can check the website by clicking here. There are 31 stops but multiple artists at each stop. Make sure to come to stop 4!

Hilary Lorenz Hand Printed One of a Kind Journals

The Studio Tour is from 10am to 5pm. My studio is at 5 Trigger Drive. From 84, take NM554 (The El Rito Road) 1/2 mile, turn right on CR 142, drive 1 mile to Trigger Drive. It is on your left. There will be signs!

Hilary Lorenz photographed by Da Ping Luo at Wave Hill, Bronx, NY 2017

I have two exhibitions happening simultaneously. On September 10th, the exhibition, “Call and Response” Wave Hill, Bronx, NY opened. Wave Hill’s curatorial team invited artists who have shown in the Sunroom over the last ten years to return and present new responses, encompassing an exhilarating reexamination of the site, 50 artists, including myself, created work for the show. The exhibition runs through December 3 and it is amazing!

The Making of a Rock Garden by Hilary Lorenz, 2017, photographed by Da Ping Luo, Wave Hill, Bronx, NY

My work is installed in Wave Hill’s Sunroom Gallery with it’s beautiful arched windows. and incredible light. The piece is hand cast flax pots, filed with laser cut plants and tiny rocks hung to form a 7 x 7 grid of 49 pots. This work is my reflection of the tiny plants in Wave Hill’s Alpine House.

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Next the Moth Migration Project website went live! The MMP is an on-going multi-venue international project that engages communities in both science and art through the crowd-sourcing of handmade paper moths. In the first 6 months I collected, almost 15,000 moths from 24 countries.

Moth Migration Project installation of 4,000 moths at 516Arts in Albuquerque, NM 2017

The premier exhibition is currently on view at 516Arts in Albuquerque, NM. The exhibition opened August 19, 2017 and will run through Nov 11, 2017. This exhibition shows close to 4,000 of the 15,000 moths collected.

View of walls and ceiling of the Moth Migration Project by Hilary Lorenz at 516ART, 2017

View of walls and ceiling of the Moth Migration Project by Hilary Lorenz at 516ART, 2017

This project will continue. I have a commitment letter from the Bundaberg Regional Galleries, Bundaberg, Australia to show the project April to June 2019. This exhibition will focus primary on Australian moths, so I highly encourage all Australian’s of all ages and profession, you do not need to be an artist, to check the instructions and send moths to the project. Click here for Instructions

In addition I have proposals to two Canadian Art Centers and US Galleries. It does not matter where you live, I really want to hear from you. Please consider being a part of this amazing international group. We also have a FB group, click here for the link.

After Open Studio I will get to work on my on a project for next summer. I was selected a 2018 artist for the Chilkoot Trail Artist Residency Program by Parks Canada, US Parks Service and The Yukon Arts Center for my project “Trail Magic.” “Trail Magic” engaged other backpackers along the trail with a barters system I devised based on hand printed cards of hiking equipment. I get to spend time backpacking and making art in both Alaska and British Columbia. I may never come back to Brooklyn.

It is an extraordinary fall with lots of exhibitions, open studio, and projects underway for the next two years. I hope you can join me along the way.

Moth Migration Mania!

Exhibitions, Moth Migration Project, Prints, Uncategorized

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The Moth Migration Project is developing beautifully thanks to all of you! We are only two months into the project with three to go and it is amazing. I am incredibly lucky to have Josh Lamore, writer, musician and graduate student from Pratt in library science as my fearless assistant. Josh has been brilliant in helping set up the database and cataloging system. He is also an excellent artist who has contributed his own moths plus helped me print countless other. Technically, they are not countless, we have organized every moth.

Here are some notable events I want to share with everyone:

Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Gallery in the UK is currently hosting “Whispers” Moth Migration Project satellite exhibition with an Instagram Feed, check it out here. Along with the exhibition is a collaboration with Danford Grammer, check out their twitter feed with the kids making moths.

Sunbury Shores Arts & Nature Centre in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada is hosting a moth migration project printing party.

I hosted a printing party at Rush Arts in NYC for their V.I.P. Arts Club. Plus I have had 5 in my home. I think I will need a vacation after this.

There are numerous teachers around the world introducing the project to their students, teachers from Australia, New Zealand, UK, Canada and Lithuanian. It is such an amazing opportunity to introduce pollination, migration, immigration. I see this project being all about connection and community.

I received sponsorship from Speedball, who very generously supplied me with linoleum, paper and their new professional relief ink which I love! I am a die-hard oil base ink printer, but their new line of water washable professional inks are fantastic. They clean up easily with water but print like oil. This will be amazing to use in upcoming Moth Migration Printing Parties.

In April I received 2864 moths! They are hand drawn, linocut printed, silkscreened, paper cut, gel prints, all types of media and incredibly beautiful. Thank you!

We have a FB group where you can share you moths. Just click here to find it.

Also please tag all your photos with #mothmigrationproject and or @adventureartist so that I can see them all.

Lastly, if you want to join, email me at mothmigration@gmail.com. All are welcome!

Update -Moth Migration FB Page Added

Moth Migration Project, Prints, Uncategorized

I created a Facebook group for the Moth Migration Project! There are over 1200 participants in this project and progress photos and completed prints go by so fast on FB, Twitter and Instagram that I am afraid I am missing them. I invite everyone to post their images to the Moth Migration Project FB page.

Also if you have questions or comments for each other this is a great place to share. The page is free and open meaning that you can post your images but I do not moderate it. I will check it daily, but if you have a question specific to me, please email me at Mothmigration@gmail.com rather than put it in a post, I would hate to miss it.

If you don’t know what the Moth Migration Project is and think you might be interested there is still 5 months of time to join. Just click this link to get the details.

Crowd Sourced Paper Moths Wanted!

Exhibitions, Moth Migration Project, Prints

Call for Participation! Cut paper and/or printed moths – Deadline July 15, 2017

I was invited to create an installation for the exhibition titled, “Cross Pollination.” Curated by Valerie Roybal, with assistance from Claude Smith and independent curator Aimee Gwynne Franklyn at 516Arts, Albuquerque, NM . Cross Pollination refers to how insects and other creatures pollinate plant life, but also to the cross pollination of ideas in art and science. I want to create an artwork using moths, nocturnal pollinators, as the vehicle for the cross-pollination and systematic exchanges between people.

Anyone from around the world may participate by making paper cut out moths. Moth will be cataloged and attached to gallery walls and ceiling in a giant geographically accurate web. This web will trace the origin location to every participating person. The moths will “fly out” from Brooklyn, NY and “fly” from city to state to country tracing the “migration” pattern of people’s participation.

My goal is to create and attract at least 40,000 moths. The number derives from the number of moths a grizzly bear may eat per day prior to hibernation. What does the grizzly have to do with migration? Probably not a whole lot beyond intercepting the work of the moths by eating them all.

DETAILS

Color: black, white or grey paper and or/ink – No colour
Size: No larger than 6″ (15.25cm)and no smaller than 1″ (2.5cm).
Paper weight can be variable, from about 30g/m to 270g/m.
Matte paper only please – No Glossy Paper – No “printer paper”
Species: Any moth of your choosing. I encourage your regional moth.
Deadline: All moths must arrive by July 15, 2017
Mediums: Cut paper, Linocut, lithography, Etching, Laser cut, Silkscreen, Letterpress, Drawing, no photograph no digital prints, no computer print outs.
When in doubt keep image plain and simple
Documentation: All locations and connections to people will be documented on paper and my website. A text sheet and diagram with all participants will accompany the installation.
You may make as many or as little moths as you like, but it would be ideal to have at least 5 of the same moth for visual groupings.
Please print name, city or town, state or province, country and who you found out about the project from. I will trace everyone back to the origin.
Please fill out this form by clicking here.
Exhibition dates are August 19 – November 11, 2017 but I need the moths by July 15th in order to photograph and catalog them. Installation begins August 1, 2017.
Important: Moth shape must be cut out of paper. Please do not send moth with any background image or paper. Just the outside contour as seen in the top image.
Please share your photos progress and completed moth photos on our FB group page, Moth Migration Project

Fine Print: Due to the volume of expected contributors I am unable to return the moths. All participants will receive a moth postcard in the mail signed by me as a thank you and acknowledgment of their participation. The exhibition will be well documented and all photos will be available from my website. Your contribution will also be noted on my website. There are no fees and no exchange of money involved.

Please email your intention to participate and questions to: mothmigration@gmail.com

You will receive mailing instructions, once you confirm your participation.

Thank you so much for contribution to my project.
Now I must get back to printing.

Again here is the form to fill out.

Simplified detail sketch of idea, actual size will be over 6 walls and 50 linear feet.

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