Day Three at Penland

Last night as I was going to sleep, the wind was blowing through the trees, rattling the windows. The gate on an old building across the way was creaking loudly.

I did not have a chance to write much on my computer today, so this post (and those following) will be short. Today we met visiting artist Doug Baulos, an instructor from University of Alabama-Birmingham. He explained and demo’d many alternate print and transfer processes, like xerox transfer, tape transfer, gel transfer, gesso transfer, gel skin, caulk skin, lazertran and gold leaf. He also showed us the basics of make simple maze books that fold in on themselves. He told us the original Gutenberg Bible was made of sheepskin and used 32 sheep.

The process that I gravitated most towards was lazertran. This is decal material that can go through an inkjet printer and lets you put the on anything. I put images on different kinds of metal. I also was interested in xerox transfer, where you run something through a copy machine, preferably line art, and imprint it on another surface by treating the xerox and rubbing the back of it to make the toner come off.

Doug also told us about Mexican street cameras where Street Camera a photographer would shoot a paper negative of his subject and develop the picture inside camera using a miniature darkroom. When the negative was ready, he would hold it in front of the lens and photograph, making a positive image that he would develop inside the camera. He would hand the positive print to the subject and the negative would pile up, eventually finding their way to junk shops.

At every meal there is a variety of food. There are meat choices, vegetarian choices, vegan choices, and even alternative choices in the kitchen. Those are things like wheat free, or garlic free.