A big thanks to the Oxford Regional Education Centre Visual Arts in Nova Scotia, Canada for highlighting my woodcuts on their website. You can check out all of the great things that they do by clicking the link below:
I’ve been printing a lot recently, but not taking many pictures. Gotta get on that.
Have a great day,
Drew
Just an update on some things I’ve been up to since I returned from Pittsburgh. 
I participated in the Crafty Underdog event held at the Bob White Theater on June 3rd. A Fantastic history to the theater including a gentleman named Dale Haskin who purchased it in the 1990’s to house his Wurlitzer organ pieces. The Bob White is in the process of being renovated to be a functional space again, and I was excited to be a part of this first weekend reopening. Thanks Crafty Underdog. There are two more days of events in the Bob White Theater this June 23rd and 24th. I will not be participating, because that is my 6th wedding anniversary weekend. But do check them out if you are in Portland. You can find out more info on their website:
I wanted to show my setup for the event, because it really is a simple thing that anyone can do when needing to display their work. I used a 3 panel cardboard display board, which I got at SCRAP, painted it with gesso to make it white and hung samples of my work with thumb tacks. The only real “construction” was screwing an empty cardboard box to the back of the board as a support so the display didn’t topple over. Not really exciting so I didn’t take a picture. Alyssa set up my table and I think it looked great. She’s good at that kind of stuff.
An old wine box that I acquired from a previous job held all of the inventory and propped up a few collages. I cut out and hand typed 100 business cards for this event. I love how much people enjoy sifting through the stacks to get just the right one. It’s free art. What’s better than that?
Alyssa purchased this brand new battery operated camping lantern that worked wonderfully during the event as a little beckon of light… A little light house directing people to my space.
The last thing I want to show is my banner. I cut the letters for Drew Kail out of black and white woodcuts. The drewkail.wordpress.com is cut out of reused black mat board. Everything was then glued to a piece of bristol board. Pretty easy and I’ve used it for a few shows now, so it’s held up extremely well.
Events like Crafty Underdog are great to get exposure for your work, and I wanted to show that you can make a really nice display for almost no money. I plan on building a wooden version of the cardboard display board with a hinge, but that’s another day.
Other than hanging out at craft shows I’ve been working on some new woodcuts. I was carving on our back deck last weekend when the weather was beautiful and Alyssa took some pictures.
I carved two separate blocks that day. This one is a piece of found MDF Board. Originally the image was carved into reused linoleum, however, the lino had some sort of ink resist on it which made printing a quality image out of the question. To remedy the situation, I printed the lino on the found MDF, which I will then print on the paper.
Here’s a better shot of the image.
I love working outside, because you can just sweep all of the wood shavings into the backyard. I began printing the second block I cut that day and should have pictures up soon.
Have a great day!
Copyright©2012 by Drew Kail
A couple of posts ago I gave a look into my tiny home studio. Here is the link to the post:
https://drewkail.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/a-look-into-my-studio/
I recently finished the edition which ended up being 67 prints and wanted to share the image and what I’m trying to accomplish with it and future works.
“Across Town”
Plate Size: 5 1/2″ x 3 1/4″
Paper Size: 7 9/16″ x 5 6/8″
So…. Why would I put myself through a wrist crunching edition of 67 prints done with a metal spoon? I’m trying to combine a lot of elements. I wanted to make an affordable print done with reused and reclaimed materials with a DIY around the house feel.
So often when I was in school at Portland State I would see other students throwing away perfectly good material scraps, such as linoleum, copper, acrylic and paper. I couldn’t figure out why. They were still fine to use, materials are expensive, and there must be more potential for them other than the landfill. I began collecting their scraps and saving all of my own. Many of my prints are from or contain reused materials/components, but not all. I try as much as I can. “Across Town” is the first large edition that is 100% scrapped material.
My eventual goal is to be able to afford to update my studio situation. I like hand printing, but with a bigger space and my own press I can work in a much larger scale and with more nontraditional materials. We’ll have to wait and see about that.
“Across Town” can be found on my Etsy store page by clicking the link on the side menu, or here:
www.etsy.com/listing/85817799/linocut-printmaking-black-and-white
thanks,
Drew
Copyright © 2011 by Drew Kail
Drew Kail 