ULAE INTERN SPACE

2009-12-29T18:31:00.004-05:00

Well, my last week in New York was a blast. Mauro came for the weekend and we walked through the city with all its Christmas decorations. I love the lighted trees with every branch wound with little white lights. So pretty. The windows were neat, some were a little creepy. Oh and I danced in the Nutcracker and Mauro got to watch the dress rehearsal, pre-show run through and two performances...what a trooper. That was so fun, and a surprisingly large crowd. Then my sister came and we drove out to East Hampton and then all the way to the lighthouse in Montauk. It was a little rainy, but it's worth the trip, especially if the weather is good. I kind of love the beach in bad weather, cold or rainy. It's very contemplative and meditative. The drive was really nice and only maybe an hour and a half. Then, my parents came to help me drive home. We saw The Lion Kind and it was amazing. We went to the Guggenheim, one last time. It was Kandinsky and it was really neat to see all the colors on every floor, like the white rows with splotches of color. It was a great and vast exhibit. I like the way the Guggenheim curates exhibits, they had a lot about his life which I think has a lot of significance for his paintings and drawings. I wish I could have gone to all the museums one last time, but, alas, there is never enough time.
Anyway, I'm home now, that drive is never fun, but well worth it. My thanks to Bill and everyone at ULAE, Marie, Jill, Bruce, Brian, Jason, and of course Frank. It was a blast and I wish I could start over! Thank you!

New York in November is beautiful

2009-11-21T22:15:00.004-05:00

There are two bradford pear trees in front of our building, both with firey bodies that seem to both invite and warn outsiders. What a funny place this is. I have a month left in my visit, next week is Thanksgiving and although I'm so glad to be going home, I feel like there is still so much to do! There are exhibits I want to see and museums to revisit, there's just not enough time! So, Next Intern, be warned, even if you're tired of sight-seeing, or you have to paint, or you have other work to do, or feel antisocial, get ye to the museums! To the galleries! Spend every weekend! Even after work! Because pretty soon, you'll only have a month left, and you will come to the sudden and disheartening realization, there is just not enough time.

ULAE took part in the IFPDA print fair and we all went to the opening on Wednesday, Nov 4. http://www.if pd a.org/content/ It was really spectacular. All the other print dealers were there, like PACE and Gemini, and the amount of work was quite overwhelming. I felt like my lowly Intern title was lifted as free wine was served; of course, I couldn't participate in the food (who doesn't have a veggy tray?). Still, it was really neat to be a part of it. And I was, of course, bouncing with giddiness when I showed Mauro our booth on Sunday, pointing out the Terry Winters I helped with (that stone NEVER got dry), the brilliant orange arch by Richard Tuttle, the Lee Bontecou that I wish I had enough money for, and the Jasper Johns we finally got the right paper for. I was proud. :)

I also went with Brian to Hoboken to watch Joe Purdy and that was a blast! It was a really tiny venue, which always makes me happy. And Mr. Joe got trashed on stage, a little frustrating, but mostly funny. The crowd had to help him through a few songs, and we didn't stay for the encore. That's a first for me, I usually stay until they kick me out.

I went to visit galleries yesterday. I went over to Chelsea, up and down 24th and 25th street between 10th and 11th Ave. Go there, Interns. It's where Larissa's gallery is and many, many more. Those first three pictures are Hope Gangloff at the Susan Ingleff Gallery inglettgallery.com

The next guy, I love, not for his skill but for his sarcasm and wit. Olaf Breuning at the Metro Pictures Gallery. The whole show was a mild Vonnegut, life and people are absurd, etc. I enjoyed it. Next is Jane LaFarge Hamill. I'd never heard of her but I really enjoyed the way she handled the figure. Some of the other works were much more sketchy. Then I ran into a Philip Pearlstein exhibit; I was ecstatic! Always be en a fan. Then I finally got to the show that was the reason for going out. Eric Fischl at the Mary Boone Gallery. I had never seen any of his paintings in person before. I was very impressed, those paintings have so much life in them, it's hard to breathe, you feel like you might startle them and they'll run away. He makes me depressed and determined at the same time. Maybe one day.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving! I can't wait to see my puppy...

2009-10-17T13:00:00.003-04:00

Well, quite a bit has happened since the last post but I've probably forgotten half of it. Mauro came so I got to show him the city. We went to see Burn the Floor, which is basically a fusion of ballroom dancing and Broadway. It was really exciting and reminded us both that we're not dancing enough. We went to the top of the Empire State Building a little before sunset and it was beautiful! I can't believe how many buildings they squeezed onto Manhattan. It's really incredible. And watching the city glow orange in the fading light, was romantic and memorable. If only fewer people were there. We went to the beach but it was too cold and windy to swim. Then it was time for him to go back so I took him to the airport and I was alone, again. I met my parents in Philadelphia the next weekend, though, and that was really neat. It's a pretty city but I don't think I'd want to be there at night, not alone anyway. The woman at the train station called me "child" when I asked her which way to go and I felt myself blush. I like how different the people are in different places, I get a kick out of the accents and body language. Maybe I'll make a new series.

Terry Winters came and painted on a stone. That was really fun to watch. We ate sushi at Skidmore and it was an odd feeling being an intern and a sort of hostess at the same time. Kind of conflicting because I sleep there, but I'm not a true host. I hope that makes sense. Bill Jensen also came, wow does he make a lot of work. There isn't a lot for me to do at work but it's still fun. I am still learning a lot from the printer boys and I'm excited for more artists to come.

I had a friend move to Manhattan and she took me to go see Jude Law in Hamlet. I didn't really have any expectations, probably because I had only ever read Hamlet and never seen it performed, and also because it seems like if you're a big name actor, then you play Hamlet, more of a career milestone than anything else. But Jude Law was really fantastic, I found myself hanging on every word. Really a good performance. It's not all modernized, either, it's straight Shakespeare and I like that. I would recommend it.

I went to some galleries on the Upper East Side last weekend and that was a good time. The galleries are sometimes strange, you have to go up to a certain floor and then find your way through office space or buzz for a door that you hope is right. It's very reassuring when you see other people though. Some exhibits were definitely more interesting than others, but overall I enjoyed the experience. There are many more galleries that I hope to see, but as I am currently stuck in bed for the weekend with a sinus infection, we'll shoot for next weekend when my sister will be visiting! While I was gallery hopping, I found this really great bookstore called Rizzoli. It has wood floors, the kind that creak when you shift toward the next book and wooden railed stair cases leading to its three floors. The second floor is filled with beautiful art books, including many featuring ULAE artists, I was please to find, and the third floor has load of Italian books! Which only means I spent too much money. Listening to Italians come in and ask for certain books really made me feel the diversity of the city, when I had only encountered this circumstance in Italy. There were French books as well, and just like that, three languages were being spoken at once, inside this lovely bookstore. It made me feel not so lonely, somehow.

Winter is coming, the leaves are starting to change and it's getting colder. And wetter. I am painting more, but never enough. I am also taking ballet and have been for a month or so. The school is called Lumiere Ballet and everyone there is very friendly and encouraging to the ballroom dancer who tries very hard... I get to dance in the Nutcracker with them and I am very excited. It's nice to have some friends outside of work, as well as having something to do besides work and painting. Well, as I said, my sister is coming next week and I'm so excited to have her. If only she could bring that puppy that I miss so much.

Well, like I said, I know more has happened, but I'll just have to blog more often so I don't forget. TTFN. Ta-ta for now.

Hali Linn's turn

2009-09-07T22:47:00.006-04:00

We arrived at Skidmore the 17th of August and it's taken me nearly a month to get to the blog. For this delay, I apologize to the reader. I feel an introduction would be prudent.
My name is Hali Linn; I'm from Bartlesville, Oklahoma, that's about an hour and a half away from OSU; I'm a painter and a sculptor. That's enough. Now you will know who will be writing the blogs this fall.

Helpful hints for the next intern.
Read the blogs. Read all the blogs. (It won't take you that long). Do this and you will be prepared for everything- car options, how to get into the city, quirks about the house, restaurants, ideas about what an intern does at ULAE, etc, etc. So I will spare the next intern the repetition. Although I will say it is helpful to bring a car and a laptop; without these I would never leave the house, except to go into the city. Also, bring a compass. I know it sounds really boyscoutish, but it is really helpful when you're traveling by foot, and in the car, for that matter (my car has a digital compass, aren't I lucky). Also, lunch with the last intern is about as helpful as you can get, thanks Emily!

So far, my experience has been really great here. I like New York and out here on Long Island, I feel like you get the best of both worlds; the big city is close, and you get the small town feel. I love how the towns are so close together. You can start driving and hit town after town, one after the other. There's no space in between. You can't do that in Oklahoma. This makes for interesting bike routes, a great way to find different stores and restaurants, FYI. Oh, and the beaches are just a short drive away, again, not exactly like Oklahoma. Bill and Frank have worked tirelessly to get me a new bed and I say with a grin to the next intern, you should be grateful for their efforts, just as much as the old interns are jealous. Everyone at ULAE is extremely nice and welcoming. Marie is really sweet and helpful. Jill is great too, and has the nicest Long Island accent I've heard. The printers, Bruce, Jason and Brian are really informative, friendly and always in good spirits. Ask them anything. They will oblige. Frank is the handyman, and he likes it that way. Act extra nice around him, and he may smile! And Bill has been really nice as well. He has the authority of a New Yorker, but the nature of an Okie.

Well, I've wandered around the city a few times, first with my family while they were here and then by myself. I have found the greatest vegan restaurant, Soy and Sake on 7th and Bleeker in Greenwich Village. It's very strange though, it has lots of fake meat dishes. While the fact that I can order anything on the menu is thrilling, it is an odd feeling that the menu is full of chicken, pork, beef, shrimp, etc. when I chose not to eat meat in the first place. I didn't do it so I could pretend to eat meat. Anyway, it was delicious. The sake was tasty too.

The museums are fantastic. I have been all over Italy, Paris, London, Chicago, Houston, I've seen so many museums and galleries, but nowhere have I seen such an abundance of art as in New York City. I haven't even seen it all yet and I doubt I will get to! But it's all right here. It is the most amazing opportunity to be here and I am very grateful.

I have learned a lot already and even though the work is a bit slow right now, I am excited to learn more. It's a different kind of work, the studio is a unique one, to say the least. But again, the people are fun and ready to share knowledge.

I was going to go to the Whitney Museum this last weekend, but the death of a close friend in a car accident brought me to San Antonio, Texas instead. I got to spend a little time with my family and hers, which helped, but I am suddenly very aware of my seclusion as I settle back in to Skidmore. Although, it must be said that before I left, this house was a little creepy. The black windows, distant creaks and swaying doors can make you jump. But now that I have come back after a long and painful weekend, the house seems a little more familiar and a little more like home. Next week Mauro, my boyfriend, is coming and I can't wait to show him the city (Little Italy better be ready to impress a hungry Italian), the beaches, work (he will be impressed by all the presses!), and my new found ability to drive in dense traffic. That's all for now.

2009-05-04T15:23:00.002-04:00

This was my last weekend in New York. I went to the New York City Public Library and saw the Gutenberg Bible, as well as an exhibit of Art Deco books and posters. The building has lovely ceilings with putti looking down upon the patrons and murals in arched panels by Edward Lanning. The murals were painted during the Works Progress Administration Project and are themed on "The Progression of the Word."

Afterward I went to MOMA for one last visit. Saturday I went on a tour of Carnegie Hall and then went to The Met for one last visit. I saw the Roxy Paine installation in the roof garden. I also wandered around the first floor and came across the Medieval arms room with armor. I did not know that armor had such intricate scroll work in the metal.

I said goodbye to my friends Vermeer, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Miro, Picasso, Van Gogh, and all the rest. I took a walk through Central Park and then took the subway down to Houston Street to eat a corned beef sandwich at Katz Deli.

I love walking through the city and watching all the activity. I will especially miss my walks through New York. What a great time I have had!

2009-04-22T15:40:00.020-04:00

This past week end I went to The Closters, located on four acres of woods and gardens, which were in bloom. I believe the pink tree is a weeping cherry. It is on the left as you enter the gardens.

The structure is comprised of five Medieval cloisters from Monastic sites in France. It is full of Medieval artifacts and art like stained glass windows, tapestries, furniture, and even tomb markers. There are two herb gardens in court yards surrounded by arches. The asp on the left is the Romanesque which has the
round arches.

The glass room is full of stain glass and silver stained roundels like this one.

The Cloisters were a bit like walking into another time. It was peaceful and hushed, even though many people were there. It is one of my favorite things I have done while in New York.

2009-04-06T19:26:00.005-04:00

This past weekend I went to two exhibits. One was "Brucke: The Birth of Expressionism in Dresden and Berlin, 1905-1913," at the The Neue Gallery. My favorite piece, by Ernst Lugwig Kirchner, is named Portrait of a Woman, 1911. This tiny image represents the painting, but cannot begin to do it justice. This is one thing I have learned. Plates in art books and slides cannot communicate the true image. It may be better than nothing, but I have found that some of the works of art I have seen in books and not particularly enjoyed, I can totally appreciate in person. Portrait of a Woman is good sized, 46 3/8 x 34 5/8 inches. The colors in are vibrant and painted with expressive visible brush strokes. The contrasts between the colors give a vibration that is delightful to the eyes.

The second exhibit was at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. I went to see "Gustave Caillebotte: Impressionist Paintings from Paris to the Sea." My favorite piece in this exhibit was Oarsmen Rowing on the Yerres, 1877. The critics of the time made fun of the painting saying that Caillebotte cut of the man's head. I particularly like the work because of the perspective he used. It was a bit different from other impressionists and gives you the feeling you are riding in the boat with them. I can almost hear the water splashing as the oars lift in and out.

I also saw Judy Chicago's The Dinner P arty. The museum website describes it as "a massive ceremonial banquet, arranged on a triangular table with a total of thirty-nine place settings, each commemorating an important woman from history. The settings consist of embroidered runners, gold chalices and utensils, and china-painted porcelain plates with raised central motifs that are based on vulvar and butterfly forms and rendered in styles appropriate to the individual women being honored. The names of another 999 women are inscribed in gold on the white tile floor below the triangular table." Here is another work of art you cannot appreciate until you see it. Each of the thirty nine plates is designed to relate a specific woman and the runner beneath it coordinates. The amount of work put into it is hard to imagine without seeing it and the work is beautiful.

Before I visited the museum I decided the day was too pretty to begin indoors so I walked through the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. It is early and many plants are still hibernating, but trees are budding, daffodils and tulip trees are blooming as well as the Japanese Cherry. There are rose gardens that bloom in June, so maybe the next intern will get to see them.

2009-03-24T23:18:00.003-04:00

I can't remember if I talked much about the snow a few weeks back. We had 14 inches. It was a problem because they had trouble keeping the roads plowed. For a while the snow re-covered the road as fast as they could plow it.

I hope we are done with snow for the year!

2009-03-21T20:08:00.006-04:00

This week my daughter and her friend Becky have been with me. They did a lot of tourist things and I did some with them. We saw Guys and Dolls with Lauren Graham. They got pictures and autographs of several of the cast including Lauren Graham.

The thing that really impressed me was how great the lighting was. We had great seats dead center on the 12th row. We could see the sweat running down their faces. Lauren Graham, of Gilmore Girls fame, has a great voice. I never knew that.

We also took the Circle Line Semi Circle Tour of the Hudson River. We saw the Statue of Liberty from the water, the U.N., The World trade Center site, the Battery, and of course all the bridges. It was a 2 hour tour, and the day was beautiful.

Afterwards, we celebrated Becky's birthday with dinner at Trattoria Trecolori . The food was wonderful, but we didn't get reservations and we had to sit at the bar. Still it was fabulous food and we enjoyed it.

2009-03-09T15:15:00.003-04:00

Saturday, March 7, I went to The Armory Show. I spent four and one half hours walking and looking. It was exciting to see contemporary work as well as Modern works by Picasso, Leger, Miro, etc. As I looked, I got all sorts of ideas to use in graphic design. I paid special attention to the videos since I will have Computer Graphics Studio in the Fall.
Sunday I walked. I started at the Flatiron building on 23rd and walked to the Brooklyn Bridge. One place I liked was an animation gallery called Animazing Gallery. There were original Charles Schultz drawings as well as smaller etchings made from his work. Here is the link. There were other fun fantasy based paintings as well.
The weather was nice, so I decided to walk and take as many pictures as I could find interesting subjects. In NYC there are so many.
I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. You can see the Statue of Liberty from the bridge, although it is a little distant. After I crossed the bridge I wandered a bit in Brooklyn by the water and got an ice cream cone a the famous Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.

2009-02-26T15:31:00.008-05:00

Last Saturday in the city was beautiful, even if it was a bit cold. I went on a photo walkabout in Greenwich Village. The tour guide, Lora, was great and taught me how to use the manual mode on my camera. I had not learned to do that yet. She showed us where the exterior of The Cosby Show was filmed, Friends, and other well known sites, like the house used in the Will Smith movie I Legend. It was one of the most fun things I have done so far. Greenwich Village is interesting to walk through with loads of variety packed into a small area. The tour group meet at Father Demo Square. This movie theater is right there, just to the north.

This famous arch is in Washington Square, right across the street from the house used in I Am Legend. Our tour guide said Will Smith was a really nice guy and during the filming he climbed aboard a tour bus to say hello to everyone. The park is under construction now so parts of it are inaccessible. The squirrel came right up to me. I think he was certainly expecting a hand out.

There is a street with a row of exotic stores with brightly colored fabrics and apparel. The beautiful owner allowed me to photograph the interior. There were lots of beads and jewelry.

After the tour I ate at a really nice restaurant called North Square at the Northwest corner of Washington Square. It was a brunch with wonderful baby pancakes with walnuts, eggs, apple sausage, home fries and this scrumptious cranberry bread. It was intimate and comfortable and moderately priced.

Next, I walked over to the 6 train and went up to the Armory to see the Art Dealer's Association "The Art Show." I was up close and looking at a Renoir and could have bought it, if only I had enough money. The show was great and the building is beautiful with stained glass windows, deep wood paneling, and a grand staircase. The show had calla lilies placed around on pedestals and an elegant feeling. My favorite booth had works of Picasso, Leger, and Henry Moore. The girl stayed in that position for hours. I am not sure how they did it, but she was good. I never saw her blink.

Finally I walked down to the southeastern edge of Central Park and took more pictures of the people and the evening. This was a lovely day.

2009-02-16T09:00:00.002-05:00

This weekend was beautiful in the city with the weather warming up a bit. I went to the Black Fine Arts Show at 34th across the street from the Empire State building. It was really neat because a lot of the artists were there and they talked to me about their work.

On Sunday I went to church again, I love the service at MorningstarNY on 50th between 9th and 10th. After I walked to MoMA to see the Jasper Johns exhibit. On the way there I stopped to eat lunch. I came across a place that I ate at just because it was called Thalia. It was really nicely decorated, the food and service ware great. On weekends they have little pumpkin, carrot muffins with chocolate chips that are yummy. It cost about 15 dollars for my entree. Good job Thalia :)
I walked past Rockerfeller Center and the ice skating rink. I saw a guy in a wild Chiquitta Banana outfit walking a baby in a stroller. New York just has to make you smile.

2009-02-10T19:01:00.004-05:00

I stayed close to Skidmore this weekend. I got a great hair cut at Dominic Ricci Salon in Islip with the owner, Sherry. I also went to Fire Island and took some photos of the light house. There is a nice wooden path over the dunes from the beach to the light house. It takes about 20 minutes to walk it. Lots of deer roam around the island. It was a really nice day, but chilly in the wind.

2009-02-05T10:38:00.006-05:00

This weekend I went all the way up to Columbia University to hear Georg Friedrich Hass conduct a 24-piece chamber orchestra. I found out when I got there that had the date wrong, so I will get to make the trip again this Friday. Since I was there, I decided to try out an Ethiopian restaurant in the neighborhood that I had read about. It is called Awash and just a little bit south of Columbia on Amsterdam.

I was seated right away but the service was slow and I spent two hours there, but the food was wonderful. They cover large plate with pancake-like bread called Injera. I ordered Lamb Yebey Tibs, a mildly spicy lamb dish, with a lentil side and a chickpea side. It comes with two rolled up injera, and you eat with your food with your fingers, so they bring you a hot towel to clean your hands. It is very spicy, but a different hot than Mexican food. My mouth had a nice warm feeling for about an hour after I ate. I really like the food.

Saturday I went to the Metropolitan Art Museum. I saw the exhibit, Raph ael to Renoir: Drawings from the Coll ection of Jean Bonna, and the Pierre Bonnard: The Late Interiors exhibit and then ate at the cafeteria. My chicken dish was ok but nothing special. After I meandered a little I ended up in the Impressionists rooms and I sat down in front of Sargent’s Madame X. I had felt a bit lonesome when I sat down, but as I looked around I realized I was surrounded by old friends, Sargent before me, Degas on my left, Van Gogh, Monet and Manet on my right, an Cassatte behind me. It was great to see them in person knowing that Picasso or Braque had put his hand to that piece of canvas.

Sunday I came into New York to go to Chinatown for the Lunar New Year’s Parade. It was crazy crowded. I reminded me of the poem “There’s too many kids in this tub, too many elbows to scrub. I just washed a behind that I sure isn’t mine, There’s too many kids in this tub.” It was so crowded that I was pushed on every side. I found a niche on the side of a building and tried to get out of the crush. Eventually I made my way a bit further down the street and a nice old Chinese gentleman invited me to stand beside him on a step and he told me about the parade as it passed. He told me where different lions were from and also about the different costumes people were wearing. He told me the black lion had to come last since it is the strongest and would overpower the others if it came earlier. This is the year of the Ox so a lot of people were wearing horns. It took me a while to realize they weren’t meant to be devils. Venders everywhere were selling poppers full of confetti so there was a constant flow of colored paper in the air.

It was hard to see the parade very well because of the crowd. Many people had their babies on their shoulders so the crowd looked like a sea of people with bobbing babies on the surface. Still, I enjoyed it and I did get a few good pictures of the event.

2009-01-27T15:32:00.007-05:00

Sunday morning I visited a really nice Non-denominational church called Morning Star New York. It is at 50th between 10th and 11th.
It is really close to MoMA so I walked over after the service. I ate at a cute little restaurant called Vynl, at around 9th and 50th. It had a disco theme with old album covers for menu covers. There were disco balls and beads hanging from the ceiling. The food was really good and it was only around 10 dollars to eat there.

At MoMA I saw two exhibits. One is the Pipilotti Rist: Pour Your Body Out. You take off your shoes and lie down on a lavender couch and watch a giant movie on three walls. The images have a kaleidoscope effect in the corners. The film flows from images of flowers, to fruit, to mud, to feet, to fruit squishing between toes, to a naked lady crawling in the grass, to a pig eating an apple, to the lady eating an apple, just like the pig, to the lady stuffing flower petals in another lady’s nose. I have to say it made me laugh out loud several times.

The second exhibit I saw was the Marlene Dumas exhibit, Measuring Your Own Grave. It was a collection of her works which are portraits. The artist did recordings for the exhibit, and I liked hearing her perspective on the work. According to Dumas’ exhibit recording, she believes that “Making art is like measuring your own grave.” Canvases are like coffins and figures struggle with the fact that they are images in a painting. She said, “They never breath so well in their painterly space.” I think my favorite part of the exhibit is a wall of portraits she did called Models. The wall was full of small black and white paintings, made of ink or chalk. They were painted very quickly with just a few loose brush strokes. Most of the figures look right at the viewer, but a few look across, as if seeing one of the other models. Each drawing stands alone and yet having the wall full of faces makes an interesting repeating pattern.

After the exhibit I decided to walk to Penn Station to catch the train home. It was snowing, but not that cold out. I headed to a place I learned about at Tripadvisor.com called The Perfect Pint. I am keeping my eye out for places with good food that are not too expensive. This was an Irish pub, and everyone had an accent. I don’t know if they were genuine, but they were good. I could hardly understand my waiter. I got the crab cake appetizer, which was very good. I think an average meal here is about 15 dollars.

Next I continued my walk to Penn Station. I began walking toward 7th and suddenly stepped out into Times Square. It was a giddy feeling to look up and see all those lights on every side. I realized that I should walk more often since you miss a lot when you ride the subway. (Not being 10 degrees out helped that night.)

Week Three

2009-01-26T19:30:00.002-05:00

Last weekend I stayed home tucked in bed with a cold, so I will tell you about my adventures from the previous weekend.

I learned a lot about the subway. I was going to MoMA's PS1, (http://ps1.org/), to see the Olafur Eliasson exhibition. Only one piece was still installed. I went to the room where it was and a poetry reading in honor of Bessie Smith, a blues singer, was happening. They had liv instruments and the actors wore wild costumes. The room had a revolving mirror on the ceiling that was part of the Eliasson exhibit, so you could see the presentation from many angles. It was pretty neat.

I had a bit of trouble getting there. I took the first train uptown too far, so I had to go back downtown, but I forgot to check the letter and took the F train instead of the E train. I was on my way to Coney Island. So, I had to get off the train and go back to where I was and take the E train to the Ely and 21st Street exit. One good thing about the subway is that once you pay, if you don't exit, you don't have to pay again, so it is a bit forgiving.

2009-01-11T13:26:00.009-05:00

The first week has gone by quickly. I was able to help some in the studio as well as in the kitchen, so I learned some about print making in addition to a few new recipes. BTW, things cooked in olive oil with sautéed garlic tends to be really yummy.

I went into the city Friday night for two gallery openings with some of my coworkers from ULAE. The first opening we attended was the George Adam’s Gallery. Enrique Chagoya’s show, “Adventures and Misadventures” is currently showing. The artist was there and I was able to meet him. He was born in Mexico City and currently lives in San Francisco.
Here is the URL for the gallery and his exhibit:
http://www.georgeadamsgallery.com/exhibitions/exhibitions_cur.php3 exhibitions/exhibitions_cur.php3

It was great to see the exhibit in person. I enjoyed the satire in his work and I would love to know more about the character in Those Specks of Dust. We could not stay nearly long enough. The work was engaging and I would like to have more time to study it. This image is Those Specks of Dust. I also saw this character in another of his works.

Next we went to the Larissa Goldston Gallery which opened a show by Jack Warren, of Brooklyn. The show is called Straight, No Chaser, and consists of collages, installation, and video. The collages are of found paper, with and without printed images. It includes a lot of bird images. His friends there that night said it is because "Jack likes birds". The work includes excerpts from the monologue by Werner Herzog in Les Blank’s documentary Burden of Dreams. The concept, as I understand it, is the violence of nature and the waste that humans tend to leave behind. Here is the URL for part of the film if you are interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PAsYkrEwjM

Here is the URL for the exhibit at Larissa Goldston Gallery, although the images online don’t convey what they look like in person. They lose the 3d quality that is very much a part of them.
http://www.larissagoldston.com/exhibitions/warren/index.aspx

Saturday I went into the city by myself for the first time. My foray took me to The New Museum in the Lower East Side at Bowery and Prince. I learned that the V train does not run on weekends, after I waited for it for 30 minutes. It is actually printed plainly on a sign, but I did not read it until later. I needed the F train to 2nd Avenue. I arrived an hour before the museum opened, so I explored a little. 2 blocks one way is the beginning of China town and 2 blocks another is Little Italy.
I ate at a genuine Chinese buffet. It was only 4 dollars for more food than I could eat. I did not know that they leave the bones in the chicken, so I mostly at the rice. :)

I also explored a lighting gallery with many custom designed lights. The chandelier in the picture was taller than I am and hanging from an eight foot ceiling in a small space crowded with lights of all sorts. This area is a historic lighting and restaurant supply district.

At The New Museum, the Elizabeth Peyton exhibit was showing. It ends this weekend, so if you want to see the website for the exhibit you should look right away. She is mostly a portrait painter. Her subjects are historical figures as well as well-known people and celebrities. She works a lot from photos and her work consists of mostly flat planes of color, which contrast light tones with darks or bright colors. She mostly uses strong brush stokes and not much modeling. Most of her portraits have bright red lips. I am not sure that shows up on the website.
The URL is:
http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/400/live_forever_elizabeth_peyton

My last stop was back uptown to the Museum of Modern Art for the Joan Miro exhibit, which also closes this weekend. I made may way back to the subway station, it was snowing by then. I had to take the F train to 4th Ave and change to the E train, which goes right to MOMA.

I have found the people in New York to be really nice. Any time I have asked for help, if they speak English, they are glad to help. There does seem to be an unspoken code that you stay in your space. Its like a bubble of protection and once they have helped you, they are back in their bubble. I really sort of like that. There are so many people that it would be uncomfortable if everyone was in everyone else’s space. Now, back to MOMA and the Joan Miro exhibit.

I loved this exhibit. We studied him in 20th Century art, and the instructor told us that the images he showed us could not do the work justice. I see now what he meant. The colors are so vibrant. He used them right out of the tube without mixing or diluting. The difference is remarkable. Thanks so much to Mr. Bill Goldston for the ULAE internship and the opportunity to see these works.

My favorite is Dutch Interior (I) (Image to right). If you don’t like Modern Art, you might not enjoy this piece, but I love color, and the composition. I also see humor in it. Miro said he wanted to “assassinate painting.” He took an image off of a postcard depicting a painting of a lute player by the Dutch painter Hendrick Martensz Sorgh. He took the body apart and like a puzzle spread it apart for the viewer to mentally reassemble. I guess I like art that engages the brain.

The URL for this exhibit is: http://media.moma.org/subsites/2008/miro/, but you need to hurry since the exhibit ends, Jan. 11, 2009.

Today, Sunday, I am relaxing at Skidmore, doing laundry and other chores and letting my feet recover from the New York sidewalks. Future interns, be sure to wear good walking shoes when you go into the city. If you need to be "cute," then carry the cute shoes and change when you get where you are going, if possible.

Later, I may venture out and find the ocean. I know it will be cold, but it will still be beautiful

Settling In

2009-01-06T20:25:00.004-05:00

I decided to drive my car to New York so I would have transportation. My husband, Ben, came with me and flew back. JFK is only 45 minutes away, so it was an easy drive. After he left, I drove around a little and found ULAE and the train station. Everything is pretty close by, but not really close enough to walk, at least not in winter.

I feel right at home at Skidmore Place. I grew up in a very old house, so this place seems familiar to me.

One of my responsibilities at ULAE is to get lunch every day. Monday, Bill Goldston taught me how to make a wonderful vegetable soup. This morning I had to find the laundry mat and wash the woolen blankets used in the print making process. Ed gave me great directions there, but I got a little turned around headed back. Hurrah, for the Garmin. It was not perfect, but it did get me back.

This weekend I plan to go to The New Museum in the Lower East Side to view "Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton." It will be my first New York Train ride. I will let you know how it goes.

Weekend in Brooklyn

2008-09-22T22:31:00.002-04:00

Turns out a lot of things are free on the weekend!

Anastasia, Jamie, and I (Tomas was working in his architectural firm) went exploring. The botanical gardens had free entry, so we went and looked at koi, trees, grass, more trees, and roses. Plus trees. So pretty. I love parks, and we all talked about Theta Pond and things around campus at OSU. My new friends are from Oklahoma, too, so that was pretty nice. I was suffering a bad case of homesickness and that conversation really helped me get over it.

We also went to the Farmer's Market near the library, and what a library. Practically a pantheon of a building. So the Farmer's Market was pretty fun, but I wasn't sure how fresh some of the food would be if I dragged it around all day and brought it home on the train. I didn't buy anything.

I did buy myself brunch at Tom's Restaurant--yes, the one of 'I am sitting in a corner' song fame--and I highly recommend it. Mostly I'm a fan of the lime butter on top of the mango pancakes.

We window-shopped and ducked in and out of this massive garage-sale and looked at vintage furniture and went into random shops. I found these adorable cards to send to a pair of lucky people on their birthdays. I will post them on the blog once I've given them away, so as not to spoil the surprise.

There was an ethnic supermarket as well. I liked how they had a huge variety of olives and toothpicks available to sample each olive type. Some of the olives were revolting, while others were delicious.

We ate blueberry frozen yoghurt at a place called the YogoMonster. Good yoghurt, really strong flavor.

After that we watched a silly action movie at the apartment, and then I went home.

First Foray into the City

2008-09-22T22:25:00.004-04:00

(Just to clarify, I've actually been to the city several times since I first wrote this post, but here is my first experience there.)

Every time I asked someone where to go in New York, the only answer I got was "Blah blah blah museums stuff stuff...and stay out of Brooklyn!"

Uh. Well. I spent the night there.

Yes. In Brooklyn.

It was the weekend. I'm here at Skidmore on Sunday. I survived!

I was dropped off at the train station, where I bought tickets for the train--and really, I just stopped to ask a lady if I was on the right train, and actually I was! Hurray.

I had to rush--MoMa closed at eight, I got off of work at 5:30 pm. It took me two hours to get from Long Island to the museum, no joke. I didn't even have time to go home and freshen up a bit before going back out. I just ran, then caught some naps on the train. I got off at Penn Station and it was like jumping into a pool of sound.

To me, on first impression, the subway stations are magical. Tons of people pouring out like water. Pockets of music drifting around...Delicious smell of hot dogs...I refrained, but barely, because I had no idea if my friends were going for dinner.

After that, I was too nervous about the subways, so after quite a few nice people noticed me being lost on the streets (I must look oblivious naturally because I wasn't even consulting a map) I caved and grabbed a taxi.

Ten minutes later and ten dollars lighter (yikes) I found the MoMa, which was completely overrun by all different kinds of people who were taking advantage of free-entrance Friday. Now, I get free admission to MoMa, and I can bring one friend in for five bucks. It was still free Friday, so that didn't matter. It's cool that it's there though; I plan to take advantage of covered museum entry later.

I met my friend Anastasia there, and it was the very first time I'd ever met her in my life. I also met her sister Jamie and her boyfriend Tomas.

We walked around the Pre-Fab exhibit they had, and then were chased out at eight. I actually lost my ticket at one point and the people wouldn't let me in, even though entry was free? So one of the guards grabbed a ticket out of the garbage can and told me to go in, hahaha.

But then it was time for dinner, so after a few minutes of indecisiveness, I said that Cuban food sounded great, so off to (Cuban restaurant, forgot the name, will put it here when I remember) we went! I had smelly mussels that tasted wonderful and were only nine dollars. Oh, and a Pisco Sour, which is not a drink for everyone because it's made of egg whites and really strong brandy.

By that time, if I had gone home, I'd have arrived in the wee hours of the morning in search of a cabbie to take me there, so my friends let me stay in their apartment!

First we went to a club, though. Weird club; I forget the name of it. Some dumpy guy tried really hard to, ah, get to know me better, same ol' same ol.' Me and Jamie yelled at each other above everyone else about interior design while ignoring the guy. There were a lot of people and a few outlandish costumes here and there. The thing about New York is that whatever fits on your body is something you can wear, and nobody will single you out for having bad taste in fashion. I wasn't dressed up in the least, but I still felt cute.

After that we just wandered aimlessly, then crashed at Anastasia's apartment. Oh! She has an apartment that has a garden and lawn chairs on the roof of the building, so I got to see the skyline of the city! I don't care how cliche it seems: that skyline is gorgeous and golden and now it's forever in my heart.

Anastasia's cat is huge, gray, and named Java. I slept on an inflatable mattress that night. Inflatable mattresses always deflate whenever I sleep on them. Here's the funny part, though: Once I was nearly just sleeping on the ground because all the air was gone from under me, Java jumped on the mattress and the cat was heavy enough that I bounced upwards! How funny is that!

Train vs. Subway

2008-09-22T22:03:00.004-04:00

If you're not aware of this, the train is DIFFERENT from the subway, and both require different kinds of tickets. The train uses a one-way or round-trip pass that you can buy from a special machine at the train station. The same machine will ask you if you'd like a Metrocard as well. Buy a Metrocard; you can keep money on it to let you onto the subways later on.

The train. AKA Long Island Railroad (LIRR).

The train takes you from Babylon to Manhattan, which is the city. Babylon is a little town that's kinda smushed together with West Islip and Bayshore and all that. When you're going to the city itself by train, you're going to start in Babylon and end up at Penn Station. Coming back, you'll start at Penn Station and end up in Babylon.

Brooklyn's station is a little different, I can't remember the name, but if you're ever lost in New York City and need to get home, Babylon is where you want to end up. Sometimes you have to switch trains in Jamaica when going from Penn Station to Babylon.

These directions totally make sense once you're here!

Helpful website: http://lirr42.mta.info/index.asp

About Subways

The subway scoots you around the city and spits you out near museums an other stuff you might want to see in New York.

Get a Streetwise Metro Map to fold up into your wallet. It tells you all the different routes and stations. I'm leaving the one that Nick and Elaina gave me so that the next intern can grab it, but in case you lose that one, more are available at the local Barnes and Noble bookstore.

The Metro Maps have nice color-coded and labeled paths that each subway takes.

Pro Tip: Whatever direction the street is going where you enter the subway, the subway below is going in the same direction! So if you plan on heading east, make sure all the cars are going east before venturing below.

Green Cactus Mexican Grill

2008-09-22T21:55:00.001-04:00

It's not Pollos Mario, but consider it a step up from Qdoba. The hot sauce is actually hot, for instance.

I got three tiny two-dollar tacos that barely fit in my hand, but were stuffed to the brim with chicken. Kind of messy but tasty. They have a wider menu than that, so try something out that I didn't eat.

Newts

2008-09-22T21:31:00.003-04:00

Newts make great pets. However, this is an axolotl.

Salvatore's Coal Oven Pizza

2008-09-22T21:21:00.001-04:00

Often the ULAE orders food for everyone at lunchtime! Today we had this great pizza, thin-crust, topped with fresh ingredients and real mozzarella. So good!

If you're okay with possibly supporting the Italian Mafia, give this cash-only place a try.

Renting a Car in West Islip is Awkward

2008-09-22T21:17:00.000-04:00

Long Version of Below Story:
Avis, Budget, and other such car companies won't let you rent a car for four months unless you put a down payment for the first month, which will easily top a thousand dollars.

My particular insurance covers me to rent a car even though I'm under 25, and if you don't have that, then there's an additional daily fee slapped onto the original fee. TURNS OUT that my credit card, which I solely acquired for renting a card, has a limit that is too low for the one-month fee.

And I can't bump up that limit until the card is six months old. Nobody told me this at the outset, so I'm writing it here. Not a complaint, but more of...a call for awareness, I guess? Like, I understand that protocols like that exist for a reason, but this is the kind of thing that nobody tells you about until it's too late to do anything about it.

Short Version of Above Story:
Rent a car in West Islip? It's a mucky, stupid, horrible mess. Don't do it.

If you MUST rent a car, don't do so at the airport. If you go to a rental car place around town, you can apparently get a better deal. What's fishy is that some of the folks at the rental car place in the airport actually recommended going to a rental place in town.

Whatever. I'm looking into shipping a car that I already own out here. I had to fly due to time constraints. Erff. Hopefully my dilemma will help out future interns, though.

Also! If you have problems getting to work, everyone's very okay with helping you get there. As soon as Marie knew about my predicament, she asked Noelle to give me a ride and it was very kind of both of them.

Day Four (Aug 21st)

2008-08-28T20:42:00.001-04:00

More staple-picking and staple-gunning for me, and Noelle started etching a plate! I watched her paint it with chemicals. After that, they put the copper plate on a heating device and applied the Sugar Lift goop stuff. I think Sugar Lift would be a great name for a band, but the stuff itself is kinda nasty-looking. They said I might be able to have a plate to etch; I hope that's the case. I don't know what I would draw on it, but it would be nice to try it out.

Ed and Brian, two of the printers here, have a ping pong table. It's fun to watch them play after lunch. They keep ongoing scores.

P.S., Ed is totally a labradoodle-caveman. With glasses.

It was such a beautiful day; I felt like napping.

On a random social note, I was supposed to hang out with this pen-pal friend of mine after work, but her phone had died. I'm told that this happens a lot with her. I hope I can hang out with her soon. I like how peaceful Skidmore Place is, but being here by myself is psyching me out in the evenings.

No ghost encounters yet, at least.

Day Three (Aug 20th)

2008-08-28T20:40:00.001-04:00

Noelle gave me another ride today, and Bruce drove me home again. It's probably not that big of a deal, but I do feel like a pest. I hope I find a car soon.

If I want to ship a car, I found this site: www.shipcar.com

The problem is that shipping my car requires a quote. Ugh. This is annoying. Guess I may as well give it a try, though.

On another note, Brian (one of the printers) decided to dress up as Ed, to prepare me to meet Ed. Ed is apparently a labradoodle-caveman in a pair of pants.

And then, lastly, I ate a raw Leichi fruit for the first time. Did I spell Leichi right? Anyway, they look like those spiky balls that fall off of trees, except the spikiness is just a skin that you pull off to reveal the most delicious sweet white fruit flesh you'll ever taste. The bean inside is very bitter. I imagine this is a clever quirk of evolution. The animals eat the fruit, and spit out the bitter bean, so that it can grow somewhere new.

I want another Leichi! I support the survival of this species!

Day Two (Aug 19th)

2008-08-28T20:37:00.001-04:00

I picked staples. Staples! But it's what everyone does and has to do at one time or another.

I will eventually show everyone how I did this, although I can't explain why without a great deal more visual aide.

Pollos Mario

2008-08-28T19:52:00.014-04:00

Mom and I found this mysterious note in the kitchen:

It's easy to drive there. Take Main (Montauk) to Fifth street, and turn left. Then drive until you see the goofy-looking chicken mascot on a big white sign. Don't let that mascot fool you; this is a very seriously good restaurant. Amaaaazing and abuuuundant food! Watch out for the green chile salsa in the dainty glass cup. It's atomic. They must shred raw jalépeños into this stuff...

Most of the staff speaks Spanish, so you know it's authentic food.

PHOTOS:

Spoils of war.

Mom demonstrates how tasty the leftovers are.

The only reason you wouldn't like this candy is if you don't like coconut.
¡¡¡SUPERCOCO!!!

...¡Mamá! ¡Ése es mi caramelo del supercoco! :-(

Day One (Aug 18th)

2008-08-22T01:31:00.000-04:00

Mom and I went out from 5 Skidmore Place and arrived at the ULAE building at 8:00 AM. Turns out that this was way early, but hey! Better early than late. Usually, work starts at 8:30 AM. Just FYI.

Anyway, that was where I met Noelle, and she kindly showed me and my mom around. Noelle helps out with a lot of the printing at the ULAE. The thing about Noelle is that she knows everything that's going on, and she's super-nice about it, so whenever I need something to do I go find her.

After that, I met Marie, and we made coffee. Marie also knows everything, and she's also really nice. At the end of the day, she gave me her number in case I got in trouble.

I was immediately put to work on the Rauschenberg Lotus series with Jason, a printer. These are digital prints that are later soaked and run through an intaglio printing press. They're huuuge. I like the imagery on these. I think even if I didn't like the imagery, I eventually would, because I have to look at it over and over and over again. Oh man. I could write five essays about the Lotus series by the time they're fully printed.

Oh! And Jason's really cool. Every time I ask a question, I not only get an answer, but also details and a little history. And I ask a lot of questions, I think, so it's really good of him to explain everything so well.

I also made friends with the staple gun, despite its LOUDNESS AAARGH, and hope to get faster at it so I can help out more.

Mom made peanut butter cookies as a good-luck gift. There's more dough in the freezer, too, so I can bake a few myself. Aww, thanks Mom.

Don't Worry about the Blue Plate

2008-08-21T22:51:00.000-04:00

Hey Nick and Elaina, I returned these to the ULAE. Just thought I'd let you guys know while trying out some of the blog features.

I'm so cool...

King Cullen's

2008-08-21T22:41:00.000-04:00

One of the first things Mom and I did when we arrived in West Islip is...well, besides find 5 Skidmore Place, we found the grocery store.

Let me put this simply:

Consumers is to Stillwater, OK, as King Cullen's is to West Islip, NY. It's this grocery store and the one I'm typing directions for here has kinda narrow aisles and feels a lot like Consumers.

At the time of writing this post, I can't say if this is the best grocery store, but it seems like it's the closest one to 5 Skidmore Place.

Directions:

Take Gladstone (turn right if you're heading out from Skidmore Place) over to Union.

Turn left on Union.

Keep going until you see King Cullen's on your left.

There are other King Cullen's, but this one is fairly simple to find.

Plan to Pack (Aug 16th)

2008-08-21T21:02:00.000-04:00

I brought, personally, two rolling luggage cases of clothes, a soft bag with more clothes, and a messenger bag that had my sketchbook, laptop, and digital camera in it.

I sent the majority of my possessions through UPS because I took an airplane. I'm looking forward to receiving even more clothes, my printer, and my video camera in the mail. Apparently, if you send something to the ULAE studio instead of 5 Skidmore Place, it arrives there more quickly. The people who work there don't mind if your stuff shows up at work, either.

Airplane Tickets (Backpost; August 16th)

2008-08-21T20:22:00.000-04:00

I purchased a one-way ticket from Oklahoma City to West Islip, Long Island. I chose Southwest as my airline because they have never lost my baggage and you can choose where to sit on their planes.

I sent my electronic receipt for the plane ticket to the ULAE, and they refunded me with a deposit to my Bursar account. Nice, safe, quick and easy!

I bought the plane ticket a few months ahead of time. If you do the same, the tickets will be cheaper, which will make the kind people at the ULAE happy with you.

A Word From...: Riding the Subways in NYC

2008-07-18T14:49:00.000-04:00

Okay, so you're going to be taking the subway a lot, unless you like to walk literally everywhere. But this is a good thing! The subway in New York City is the most interesting part of the city itself. I think us folk in Oklahoma have misconceptions of the subway, and that's mostly from all the movies we watch. Well, they're not really misconceptions, they're just the only idea we have of the subway (unless you're used to subways from somewhere else). Anyways, the subway is not as bad or cruddy or scary as you may think it is. You will probably end up riding the A C E most while you're in the city. This is the one you'll take from Penn Station to where ever else you're going. The A C E is not the cleanest line, but you'll learn to love it. Another line we take a lot is the 1 2 3, the 1 in particular. This train is quite a bit cleaner than the other. So is the 6. The 1 and the 6 are both really clean and nicely air conditioned. But I don't think they have as much character. Only twice have the trains been so crowded that we've had to smoosh in next to people; and one of those times it was pretty warm and a tad sweaty (see picture of train in previous post). For the most part you're able to grab a seat.

The subway stations, on the other hand, are not as clean as the trains can be, but they have just as much character. There are all sorts of interesting things down in the stations. A few times we've seen the token New York City rat running around the tracks (not to mention one particular food place in Penn Station, but we won't name names... They were pretty busy). Many times you'll find someone in the station playing music or singing, or both. Sometimes they're really good, and sometimes they're not. By far, the best place to people watch in NYC is in the subway. Every stop has different people at it, so after a while you'll learn what area is above by what the people look like below.We want to ride at least one of the trains all the way to the end, just to see what it's like. Maybe we'll get a chance to do that before we leave.

So there's a brief run-down of traveling the subway. The Metrocards are only about $20 and the cost to get into the station is anywhere from$1 to $3, depending on where you are. Ride the subway to you hearts content! The NYC Metropolitan Transit Authority website is great to check out and can be really helpful.

A Word From...: Cars

2008-07-01T16:32:00.000-04:00

I have heard that some interns haven't brought their cars with them when they come to New York... I can't imagine how difficult it must be to be up here without a car. We wouldn't be able to do anything! It would make us very, very inefficient. I wouldn't be able to go to the store for groceries or pick up take out. We wouldn't even be able to get to work (it's much too far to walk and biking would be difficult and no fun, but possible). We couldn't get to the train station to take us into the city. We couldn't go to dinner in the evenings, or any where on the weekends (the ocean, IKEA, pleasure driving, etc.). In other words we'd be stuck. I highly advise all interns to bring their car!

A Word From...: Explore NYC on Foot!

2008-06-23T21:44:00.000-04:00

I think the best way to do the City is by foot, definitely. You may think I'm crazy, but it's not as bad as you'd think. First thing you have to realize is that Manhattan is not that spread out. The city blocks are really short, so it's nothing to walk around. Walking is the best way to really discover the city. This past weekend Nick and I did a big loop of mid-east portion of Manhattan, from Union Square in the Flatiron District, through East Village, Lower East Side, China Town, Soho, Greenwich Village and back to Union Square.

This is the way to get the real NYC, to really see the people and soak up the atmosphere. So far, my favorite area of the City is Chinatown, but I'm partial to the international population. But the thing I like is that you can fool yourself into thinking that you're in China. It's surreal, and I love it. The markets are so cool. The old people are so cute. The streets are busy.

It's fun to hit up some of the famous places in New York, however, I'm starting to think they can't stand up to the hype. We went to Katz's Delicatessen in the Lower East Side. It's the place that's supposed to have the biggest sandwiches you've ever laid eyes on, the one in the movie "When Harry Met Sally". I'll tell ya, I wasn't thoroughly impressed. The menu "dares you to finish" one of their sandwiches, and with everything that Nick and I have seen about the place we decided to split one. Heck, it was just a normal sandwich. Although, I thought that maybe since New Yorkers eat less, this is a huge sandwich. But no, it was normal. Unfortunately, we didn't take a picture when the thing was whole, but we wanted to make sure we had some proof of our disappointment, so we took a shot near the end. It was an interesting place, but not worth the money in my opinion.

Walking is nice, but after a while you do start to get tired and then you can take the subway.The subways are probably our favorite thing about the city. They're so interesting. Most of the time we've been on the subway they haven't been too crowded, but every once in a while you'll get on a full one. Then it's really nice 'cause you're all crammed in, and hot and sweaty. Yea. I'm just glad it's not like the Japanese subway where they have officials to shove everybody in the trains. Next time we'll write about traveling the subway for your convenience and entertainment!

A Word From the Other Intern

2008-06-11T15:27:00.000-04:00

I thought it would be nice to post something for myself, as the wife of the intern. Well, things aren't really that different for me here at the shop than they are for Nick, except that I take care of lunch, run errands, and do all the menial intern work so he can print. And that's fine, I enjoy it. I should be a master chef by the time I get back, with as much cooking as I do. I can definitely tell that my skills are getting better.

I am surprised at how I get home sick much more often than I thought I would. I can see how it would be really difficult at times to be here by yourself. Exploring the City would be a lot less fun. The Skidmore house would be really depressing. It can be a little spooky at times with the both of us here, especially when you're talking your laundry all the way up to the bedroom at 11:30 at night. You can give yourself the willies if you think about it too much. But enough about that. I'm gonna write a helpful entry for future reference.

Okay, let's talk about the shop, as far as what I know. The lunches I've been doing have been more like dinners; for example, today we had chicken and veggie kabobs on the grill, cucumber and tomato salad, basmati rice, pita bread, and peanut sauce with a spiced honey cake for dessert. But I have Nick to help me out some too. It is the intern's job to take care of lunch, or at least do the grocery shopping. For someone who doesn't like to cook or doesn't know how, lunch will be simple stuff like sandwiches, salads, soups, etc. But everyone in the shop likes the simple stuff, so there's not really any pressure there. They do like it when you "shop outside of the box" and buy things that aren't necessarily on the list. I pick up different fruits and Craisins, things that look good, and things I think people might like, and of course anything I needed for lunch. But there are two important things to keep in mind when shopping and planning meals: there are two vegetarians in the group, and everyone likes to eat really healthily.

A bit about spending. They are pretty lenient about spending, as long as you don't go crazy. They've said that a lot of interns don't know how to handle their spending because they've never been given free reign with a credit card. The limits on your lunch and dinner amounts are only caps, $12 and $20 respectively. So if you spend $25-$30 dollars on dinner once in a while, it's not a big deal, as long as you are being responsible with the rest of your spending. DON'T BUY ALCOHOL OR CIGARETTES OR ANY OTHER QUESTIONABLE MATERIAL WITH THE INTERN CREDIT CARD!!! Remember that it not only makes you look bad, it makes OSU look bad. I do have to say that having all your gas, train tickets, metro cards, groceries, etc. covered is a sweet, sweet deal.

Speaking of train tickets and metro cards, I'll tell you how that works, so you won't goof up like Nick and I did the first time we rode the Long Island Rail Road. When you go to the Babylon Train Station look for the vending machines that sell tickets and metro cards. This is where you buy the tickets for the train, and you can also buy a metro card for the subway (just look around for other people standing in line). A round trip ticket to NYC during off-peak hours is about $16, the metro card is $20. The first time Nick and I rode the train we didn't realize that the metro card is exclusively for the subway and you must buy a separate ticket for the train. You can buy a ticket on the train, but it costs more. It wasn't a big deal, but we felt a little stupid. Oh yeah, when you pay for parking at the train station, you do that at a little vending machine too. It's easy. They are located next to the stairs to the platform (you'll see what I mean when you get here). Surprisingly, the subways are extremely easy to use; just remember that Uptown = North and Downtown = South, and East to West = Small to Big (meaning you go from First Ave. in the East to 12th Ave. in the West). Never be afraid to bust out a map and figure out where you're going. A lot of people do it. I think there may be more tourists/non-locals in New York than locals.... Also, the City is very easy to walk; the blocks are really small and it takes no time to get from here to there. Brooklyn on the other hand..... But that's another story. Explore every chance you get! Remember, you only have 12 weekends to do all your sightseeing, and believe me, time flies.

Hmmm, what else...Oh yeah. I think we said it before, but the restaurants on Long Island are HORRIBLE. Seriously. Over priced and bad food. However, there is one good place called Pollos Marios (picture below), Columbian food, located north of Bay Shore (where ULAE is.) But it's difficult to find a good restaurant in the City too. Who knew? Maybe we're too picky (but probably not). It might sound hard to believe, but you'll get tired of eating out. It's nice to cook at home some, too. The best grocery store to go to (the most fun with the best products) is Fairway. If you like to shop for groceries, this is the place for you! Nick and I love it. It's probably about 20 minutes from the house on the highway. It's a lot of fun. Check out the website for more details: www.fairwaymarket.com There are a couple of grocery stores right around the corner from the house, though. The Stop & Shop has a RedBox Rental inside. A lot of times we'll rent a movie (don't use the intern credit card!) and either pick up something quick or make something at home, and have dinner and a movie night. Nice and relaxing.

One last thing, I think, and that is - Prepare yourself for how different it is up here. It really is different. The people are very different. It is like the movies. And I would have to disagree and say that NYC is not the friendliest big city. People are rude and inconsiderate. Of course there are the exceptions, but that's true everywhere. Generally speaking, I don't like New Yorkers (at least in the Metro area; maybe it's different Upstate). It's a different world up here folks, and the natives have never heard of Oklahoma. But I don't want you to get the impression that it's horrible, but I didn't know what it really would be like and it's always nice to know ahead of time.

Well, hopefully this will give you some good tips. We'll definitely put up more as we think of them or experience them.

We've only been here for two weeks...?

2008-05-23T18:24:00.000-04:00

It seems a lot longer than that! Work at the shop is good. I keep busy helping the printers and Elaina takes care of lunch and cleaning up, and all that other stuff. We've been into the City several times now, and I have to say that it's starting to grow on me. The boroughs are cool. We've been to Chinatown, Little Italy, Chelsea (art district), and the Meat Packing District, which looks ritzy. We got to ride in a cab yesterday. It was crazy! That guy drove like a rally car racer. It was a little scary, but we got to see a lot of the City. It has a lot of charm. What doesn't have charm, though, are the restaurants. I think we've been to maybe two good ones so far: Joe's Shanghai in Chinatown and Hana Sushi in Chelsea. Joe's Shanghai is really good. They serve soup dumplings, delicious tender dumplings with meat and broth inside. Their food is fresh and the place is busy. Definitely worth visiting if you like Chinese food. Hana is not the best sushi ever, but it is good. The restaurant has a nice atmosphere, cozy and a lot like the pictures of little sushi places in Japan. We have noticed one thing, though; all the "Japanese" restaurants we see are really run by Chinese... Weird. I'll put up an "Eating Out" post later, with all the gritty details of the restaurants we've been to. Now it's time for the long weekend.

First post

2008-05-11T19:37:00.000-04:00

Yes, we have arrived. Just finished up the first week here on Long Island. Everyone at the shop is really nice and they are like a big family. Went into Manhattan yesterday and was somewhat unimpressed, I guess once you've seen one big city you have seen them all. Went to MOMA, eh. Maybe I just have a little travel lag. Maybe the boroughs will be a little more up my ally, not high class, tourism, money and fakeness of Manhattan. I will enjoy the Farmers markets that are going to open next weekend, and expoloring the ethnic regions will be a blast.

Spring Intern Rewind (thus far):

2008-04-01T21:40:00.000-04:00

UNIQUE NEW YORK:

My adventures into the city are usually limited to weekends - because the commute gets old (laughable to many ULAE employees who make it every weekday) and getting around manhattan really takes it out of you, especially if you travel to the boroughs as well. Here are a few of the highlights, in no particular order:

Museums (Covered by the studio!!! Go!) - I did the MoMa first, as it seemed the most exciting at the time, and it did have a really impressive spread of contemporary stuff, including work by many ULAE artists, and a great Lucien Freud etching exhibit.

However, I found the Met much more interesting and expansive. You could easily spend a week in there and never see it all. Plus - the Met is exhibiting a terrific Jasper Johns show which features many prints done by the studio, and one in particular that all of the current printers worked on. It focuses on his use of Gray though out his career - and emphasizes on lithographs, paintings and sculptures alike. I highly recommend this show - it is great homework for this internship. They also have a Gustave Courbet show up which is amazing.

This individual happened across our path in front of the Met one day. Charming!

The Guggenheim is a must - especially if you can catch the current show, detailed below.

The American Museum of Natural History of my p-fave. Again - I had to go twice to cover any ground, the place is huge. I saw the Bodies exhibit at South Street Seaport Science Museum - and found it quite compelling (though come to find out you can see a similar exhibit in any major city at this point.) The Museum of the American Indian at Bowling Green was really interesting too, though it is under construction. The Damian Hirst Installation at Lever House was amazing - though he is not liked amongst many in this crowd - and the sculpture outside is one of my favorite of his. It is adjacent to MoMa - so swing by if you're in that hood.

The scroll that Kerouac wrote on On The Road on is on display at the NY Public Library - an amazing sight to behold with a great display which chronologically studies his life in accordance with the writing.

I went to the Armory show at Chelsea piers this last weekend - a massive showcase of artwork sponsored by galleries from around the world. It was impressive in scale - but the content was mixed. It was an interesting way to gain perspective on the state of the art world (ie: lots of cheek kissing and too hip for you types.)

The guy with the sweet beard is ED, a printer at the studio, who I have befriended. We both dug that sculpture. Overall I really got a lot out of that experience. Scope NY was also going on that weekend - but I missed it sadly. I'm beginning to realize that my saturation point is rather low when it comes to modern art - especially current work.

Key museums left on my list are the Frick collection, the Whitney (currently showing the biennial), The New Museum at the Bowery, and PS1 at Long Island City (conveniently not located on Long Island.) The New Museum has "Hell Yes!" written on it in rainbow letters. MUST GO.

I had the pleasure of supporting a good friend from OK, Yatika Fields at his opening at Native American art show Long Island University (again, in Brooklyn.)

Go see some live music while youre here. Time Out New York delivers listings for a majority of shows - but act fast, I've missed a few due to selling out. I did luck into a spare ticket for The National at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music - a wonderful, classy venue), James Blackshaw at Soundfix - extraordinary twelve string guitarist from London, The RZA at Studio B, and Caribou with F**k Buttons at Music Hall of Williamsburg. All great shows at very different venues.

CARIBOU

F**CKBUTTONS

Every live act you could dream of seeing will be here at some point, so keep your eyes peeled, but pick wisely - this can get expensive, and this kind of thing is not covered by the studio. Lots of shows are free - especially during the summer.

My parents spent four lovely days with me here, and I had the pleasure of showing them around Manhattan, Central Park, Jones Beach on Long Island, Battery Park and South Street Seaport. They also got a sizeable dose of the NY transit system and the Village. I also took them to the studio and gave them a tour of the facilities there. I consider myself lucky that two Johns and a Rauschenberg series are both in the works at this time (Though I find it depressing just how few people know those names when shamelessly name dropping about my recent shop work.)

One thing I will truly miss about this place is the food. One can eat very well, healthily, and for a reasonable price in most of Manhattan and Brooklyn - Time Out will help you with this too. In Brooklyn, Greenpoint Cafe, Enid's, Taco Chulo - all great for brunch. In Manhattan - Prune is an absolute must, Anthony Bourdain loves it, and it's just unbeatable for lunch or dinner. Also Green Bo in Chinatown for great Dim-Sum. Be adventurous - you can get anything here - and if you keep it reasonable the studio pays for it. You could eat at a different restaurant in this city every day for the rest of your life and never do them all.

I have tried to cram as much into my time here as i can stand - but honestly, NY is really overwhelming for me. Part of it was just learning to get around, but being an hour from your homestead is stressful too. But a some point I had to just go for it if i ever was going to - and it's worth it to see Times Square, Broadway, Central Park - and really take advantage of the things that are truly unique about this place. Granted - you could never do it all in one internship - but it's fun to try. Get familiar with a subway line and hit all the stops along that line first. Know that Uptown means the street numbers get higher and Downtown means they are getting smaller. That's half your battle. But for god's sake get an NFT guide! More later.

A Crash Course In Litho

2008-03-11T10:18:00.000-04:00

Having reached the half way point, I realize that I am desperate to make a print. I have learned a lot from working here, but it doesn't mean to much if I can't put it to use. Actually producing work here requires a fair amount of persistence - but luckily, I have gotten a lot of help during slow periods - and last week I ran my first litho print. The following is a loose outline of what I've learned about lithography. I feel like I've come a long way considering that I knew nothing when I arrived here. I's a complicated chemical process, with lots of steps - but it all
revolves around the principle that water and oil repel each other. The process i describe here involves printing directly from a limestone block. Lithography is derived from the Greek word "Lithos" - stone (or from stone), and is a very old and effective method of printing from a smooth surface to paper. However - in order to print effectively - the stone must be completely flat and totally smooth. Thus, before anything else, the stone must be grained, a process by which any previous image or "ghost" is removed from the face of the rock. This is done using a levigator - a heavy round tool which is spun across the surface of the stone after grain has been applied. The process is akin to sanding wood in that you start with a coarse grit and work your way to a fine dust - eventually polishing the surface. No scratches or rough spots can remain, as they will retain ink during printing.

Here is a stone during graining. A small stone like this can take several hours to grain if it isn't flat. It must be absolutely flat or the contact press will miss areas of the drawing that are low.

The grains run from 50 to 280, but the stones I have grained run through 60 to 80, 100, 150, 180, 200. It's a long process, but nothing is worse that getting almost finished and picking up a stray coarse grain on the levigator and scratching your rock. This means virtually starting over. At one point, I was assigned to grain several stones at 5:00 pm to be ready for Carroll Dunham at 8:00 the next morning. At the end of a work day this is the last thing you want to hear - but it is a reality of the print studio. So, putting a scratch in one of these at 9:00 pm would make me real sad.

The stones are then marked and set aside for the artist. It generally takes much longer to grain the stone than it does to draw on it.

A drawing is done with either Litho crayons (a range of soft and hard, waxy drawing pencils), touche (a water soluble waxy paint, which applies like water color and acts as a resist to water) or a combination of both. You can achieve some really cool things with touche - which reticulates as it dries, making some really nice solid washes, which can be manipulated with crayons as well. The thicker you apply these elements the thicker the resist will be and the darker your image will appear.

Moving these stones is a real pain - and sometimes they are just too heavy.

Here is my image. Before etching, talc and resin are dusted onto the stone to cause the ink to thicken. Some of the drawing is wiped away during etching - an important but difficult lesson. Regardless - the resist is so strong once applied that the subtleties re-emerge when inking. Drawing on these is fun - but you cannot erase. So be sure of your image and go gently. Here, gum has been applied to cool the etch, and preserve the stone while it is not in use.

My print will likely be a one block, black and white image - though I could add drawings to include color stones or plates to be done on the offset press. the Carroll Dunham prints pictured below include several stones for each print. registering them gets tricky, especially because the stones are all different sizes, and some have multiple small drawings on them. Each is a different color and represents a different portion of the image. All these elements are matched up with the key drawing - or in this case the black part of the drawing that has the most information in it, which is printed onto a mylar. The mylar helps indicate where the paper must lay each time the image is printed so that all the images match up, and every sheet looks exactly the same as the original proof.

Each stone has a proof of the image covering it to protect the drawing and identify which part of the image is on which rock. All of these separate elements add up to make the final product, pictured right.

A leather roller is used on many stones to ensure that the image retains the maximum amount of ink without drying the surface of the stone. During inking, the stone must be wet enough to repel the oil based ink from every part of the stone that doesn't have pencil or touche on it.

Here is the stone on the press, and after being inked to capacity. Asphaltum and tannic acid are used to cause the greasy drawing ares to retain ink effectively. The press bed beneath the stone must be totally clean - even a hair beneath the pressure of the contact press can cause a stone to crack. Inking lightly first, and then to heavy, the image comes up rather slowly.

This stone is ready to run through the press, and have proofs pulled from it. It will darken as the the first several proofs are run, and then the amount of ink and pressure can be adjusted to best suit the image quality. Spot etching can be done to increase the amount of detail in reticulation or heavy wash areas. In this case only the very darkest parts of the image need to be re-etched. To add to the drawing, you can counter etch the stone and add more drawing - but aside from small sanding areas, drawn areas cannot be removed.

You can see the progression as the ink builds up on the stone. At this point - unless I decide to further alter the image, this stone is ready to run prints from.

If I ever get the opportunity, I would like to run a small edition of this print, as I am pretty happy with it considering it is my first attempt. Some areas are light - but overall it looks a lot like my drawing after being run on paper. It will darken further, and look much better on white paper. will include an image of this work when I have a decent proof of it - but here is a poor consolation prize:

As I said - you must be persistent to get your own work done. Make it known from day one that you want to make prints and get started on them right away. I started week three, and this is as much as I've gotten done. You will need the help of printers to work in the studio - so buddy up. Otherwise, you will run errands and wash dishes the whole time - and it might not feel worth it.

I'm sure many have wondered why I haven't included any of my NYC adventures here, so that will be my next blog. Suffice it to say: I have done a lot, but could never do it all in four months. Plan things ahead of time! Make use of your weekends! Time Out NY is a great way to keep up with cool stuff going on in the city. Galleries and Museums are free - so that has been a bulk of my experience. More about that later.

An Intern Reflects!

2008-02-18T20:33:00.000-05:00

Being an intern can be hard on the soul - but but keeping a certain perspective on things makes all the difference.

The forklift at the studio has Mr. Goldston's 1984 Oklahoma tags on it. You might not be the butt of any Oklahoma jokes - but I would be shocked if you weren't. I have to admit, Oklahomans must seem pretty peculiar to this crowd.

Not much visual aid this week, or rather, what there is has little to do with the text. Suffice it to say I've been much busier and involved in the goings on at ULAE, so photography takes a backseat, and you get tasty leftovers that I couldn't fit in previous blogs.

It might be advantageous to discuss a few things I've noticed about this place, and the art world at large. I will try to keep this as positive as possible. Becoming more involved has led me to realize what a blessing an art related job such as this can be. If there is any single thing I have learned from this experience it is that there is life beyond art school. One simply must know where to look, and be willing to pay one dues. Certainly, this won't put anyone on a faster track to making it big as a visual artist, but it depends on how you use the facilities at your disposal, and put what you learn as a printer to use. The level of professionalism exercised at this shop has forced me to work on my own precision and attention to detail. It has effected the quality of my own work immensely, and my attitude towards art making in general. Then of course there is the development of new skills and familiarization with new aspects of the trade - but this will take years. Many printers here have a specialization, but broaden into other areas out of necessity in producing large editions of a certain type. Just in standing by and being a nuisance I have gotten a crash course in litho, aquatint, intaglio, and photogravieur. As I understand it, every studio has it's own methods in each area, so it isn't surprising that they do things differently here than at Gemini, or Tandem (or OK State).

A pile of broken lithographic stones sit behind Skidmore Place.

The downside of course is that the pressure is immense at times, and putting any of this knowledge to use in personal projects might be hard to do. Deadlines on large editions change at a moments notice, artists drop in to check on their work, or to create new work, and the level of craftsmanship cannot falter due to shortage of time. There is a lot of money involved here, so keeping it cool and staying focused is important. Things must be done right - and there is an enormous number of variables that ensure that things will go wrong. I have already noticed a decrease in my enthusiasm, though I chock most of it up to being the intern, and wading in the muck at the bottom of the heap. Some days I feel like a printer, and am treated as such - and other days I am DEFINITELY the intern. I am constantly reminded of my place. The other thing that I picked up on rather quickly is that many of the people who work here commute and hour or an hour and a half and the beginning and the end of each day. I thought at first it was just stubbornness - insisting to live in Brooklyn because of the cool factor. But I can honestly say that I never want to live on Long Island again in my life. There is no one above high school age or below mid forties that lives here as far as I can tell, and thus there is very little to do. I find myself, as well, living for the next chance to get into Manhattan or Williamsburg or Park Slope. So - if the printers seem grumpy, just imagine yourself in their position. It's a great job, but it is also a lot of baggage and stress.

A shot from the front room of Skidmore. On a nice days, Skidmore can be a lovely place to be.

It can be tremendously rewarding some days, and other days it can make you feel like dirt. I guess this aspect of being a working stiff has always eluded me - and I can honestly say I miss college a lot already. However - it has been a huge eye opener as to how the art world works, and as to what goes on behind the scenes. One printer said that he went to to Met to see the new Jasper Johns "Gray" exhibit, which featured many prints that he himself had pulled and handled. However his name is nowhere on that sheet of paper. Only Johns'. Not surprisingly, most of the notable artists who work with ULAE haven't set foot in Bayshore in years, but still have their prints editioned here. Is it right or wrong? I don't know - it just is. I know that part of the thrill of making prints for me is actually making the prints. I like to be involved in every step of the process - but I am not a famous artist, and if I were I can hardly say that I wouldn't let ULAE edition my prints for me and sell them for big money. I can't say it doesn't sound appealing. It is still awe inspiring to be in the presence of such history and legacy - but if I hadn't come out here to do this I may never have realized that such a place existed. I always thought the art and the artist were inseparable - as naive as it sounds - but it makes complete sense that the thing that can drive the two apart should be the almighty dollar. I might sound jaded - but I'm totally comfortable with it - not that it's up to me. It's just been a real eye opener. Strangely though - this awesome opportunity has really helped me reconcile with my decision to go into the arts. It is always breathing down my neck - what comes after school? Do I really expect to make a living on paintings? In a culture driven by media, fast news, flashing lights and dwindling attention spans, do I really expect to get anyone's attention? The average time a gallery goer takes to look at a painting is less than 3 seconds. The art world is subsequently very tough and fickle, and riddled with nepotism and politics - and all of these things should inform the student of the arts about the path before him. While there is a strange, naive comfort in being the penniless underdog, sticking to his genuine artistic ideals and creating meaningful but misunderstood work only to be praised after his death - seeing what these printers do gives me a great deal of hope and optimism. I can see myself in a job like this one day, becoming a master of a respectable trade, and living off of it in order to feed myself while kicking the dream around. There is one printer here who I relate to on this level - and he uses all of his time outside of the studio to create his own work. He makes use of the facilities at Clinton, and produces really nice work. I see this as an admirable use of his occupational situation - though the trade offs are great (he resides in Bayshore) he is still on track to a career as a professional artist. Being close to NYC with a stable income is a tremendous asset to this goal, because if there's one thing NYC has, it's money, where there's money there is much more likely to be an art market. Culture is one thing that New York is not shy of - and for a county boy like me, that's real derned excitin'.

Studio at Skidmore is like a litho library documenting the presence of people like Motherwell, Frankenthaler, Dine and Oldenberg. The litho images of their work are, by and large, untouched.

For a great bit of history and an awesome photo essay about ULAE - make sure to check
out their new website: http://www.ulae.com

Continued Studio Misadventures

2008-02-06T08:53:00.001-05:00

Having done a bit of etching at OSU didn't hurt - but they things are done here are a bit different. Once again, I was able to pick up a lot and stand in from time to time, until I was trusted with more involved tasks. Here is a run down - again, in no particular order - of my involvement in the etching process during the first month.

Ed, a printer from Norman, OK, staples a freshly printed Terry Winters to a wooden panel to ensure that is dries completely flat and even. Straps are used around the edges of the sheet to protect the surface, and the wood has a thick plastic sheet under it so the back of the sheet is not compromised either. These are very expensive prints, so great lengths are taken to ensure that they make it to the edition in pristine condition.

Ed lays a plate on the press for the last run on a Winters print. The prints are registered by ticks around the outer edge of the plate which line up with a grid on mylar. There were three prints in the particular edition - but the portfolio consists of ten different prints at 60 sheets each.

This is where paper gets soaked, and then drained when the screen is raised. It is then blotted before use. Damp paper draws more of the ink from the etched plate than a dry sheet.

Ed and Jason ink an enormous Kiki Smith plate. The plate is set on a hotplate and ink is applied to it while warm, which helps the ink settle into the deeply bitten areas of the plate. Excess ink is then removed from undesired areas with tarletans, cotton wipes and a fine paper which picks up ink from the plate without removing it from etched areas. This process is done before every print is run.

Here, a print is being run. This is truly a two man job - as the plate is very heavy and akward to move, and each printer must pull the wool blankets snug as the print runs underneath the roller, because any crumpling or creasing could be disasterous. I have spent many morings at the laundromat cleaning these blankets. (Incidentally, Planet Laundry is the place to go - an impressive facility as far as laundromats are concerned. Don't forget the Woolite!)

The printers move the plate from the hotplate to the press bed. Shiny!

Before any printing begins, the plate undergoes a process called "Steel Facing." During which, the plate is fully immersed in rust filled water. The water is highly ionized, and highly conductive. While one end of the plate is connected to a power source (pictured below) a long steel pole, also charged is run across the surface of the plate. The pole never touches the plate, but the plate draws ionized steel particles to its surface during the several hundred passes it undergoes, and comes out coated in a very durable metal which will hold up to many more runs through the press that a plain copper plate. This is a painstaking process - but fortunately is only done before printing begins, unless the steelfacing begins to break down, in which case printing must be stopped, and the plate stripped and refaced, making everyone quite grumpy.

Do't let this image fool you. This really isn't very much fun.

The plate must be washed with marble powder, ly and nitric acid to remove the existing steel facing, should a new face need to be applied.

Here is the power source. The Kiki plates were to big for the facing tank you see in the back, so the flat bath was used. Were it a smaller plate, it would simply be suspended it the tank for a decided length of time, and the charged poles and hangers would do all the facing work.

Here is the plate after steel facing, which would be printed from the following morning. You can see it apears silver, but that is really just a sheen of protective steel. When this plate was etched it still apeared copper. Behind it you see two large aquatint boxes - an area I hope to investigate while I'm here. Anyway - from the last two posts you can see tht simply making yourself available makes the days go by a lot faster. The more you hang out in the office, the errands you wil run. (You will still run errands.) Days where I am busy helping and learning make for a happy intern. And the more i have helped and shown enthusiasm, the more responsibilities I have been given, which feel really good.

I Helped.......?

2008-01-31T12:34:00.000-05:00

SOME THINGS I DID IN THE FIRST MONTH:

As an intern, I have been unsure about my position - though I am certain it is at the bottom. Still, it is pretty hard to know where to you stand. Some days the intern will feel as though he can do absolutely nothing right - but it gets better. Just remember that you are here to learn - and try not to be shy. It is good to know how to keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth shut - but nothing will be handed to you at ULAE in terms of learning. I mostly have just hovered over the printers and picked their brains - asked questions about everything they are doing, to which some printers respond much better than others. Don't feel like a nuisance - you are one - but don't let it get to you. Besides the alternative is running errands and doing office work. Since I've been here, I have helped the printers with a number of things, including helping with a Rosa Loy Litho edition. This has included some menial press operation tasks, wiping plates and cleaning rollers. I feel good about this work because it saves the printer a whole lot of time and elbow grease. On the Loy edition we ran abut 80 sheets, which means a lot of work on ach individual sheet at mant different stages. I started out by tearing paper, then cleaning plates, and wiping the litho block on the stone press. I was then assigned to tear paper AGAIN, which is the last step before curating. I will go into a bit more detail about litho and etching in later blogs - but suffice it to say, just by making myself available I have learned a whole lot through proximity and practice.

Sorry these are not chronological by any means -- damn technology!

To tear down paper for the finished prints, a tear down block is constructed to ensure that every sheet of the edition is exactly the same. The borders round the image must be the same for every sheet. The paper is held in place with pins in the registration marks, and then weighted so the paper doesn't move. It seems like a male job - but these are very expensive sheets of paper, so it must be done right.

The offset press is an essential element of the editioning process. It allows an unlimited number of prints to be run in a very short amount of time. That doesn't make it easy - it is a high maintenance machine and there are many variables that can cause printing to be a nightmare if overlooked. The Rosa Loy prints were three base colors - so 80 sheets of paper run 3 times with a different plate - thats 240 runs, then black, run on the old litho press - which in itself took an entire workday, and we only got up to the 60th sheet. In between each run, registration must be checked - ink added or removed, blankets wetted, and routine trouble shooting. The printer must also make sure every print looks exactly the same in terms of color. You can see where an apprentice is a huge help.

Here is the whole edition prior to printing the black. Some editions are several hundred - and when you get into the Johns and Rauschenbergs, even more. Each sheet is worth a TON of money. Printers get printer's proofs, which are only saleable after the edition sells out.

Here is a shot of the press at Skidmore. The surface of the sone must remain wet at all times during the printing process - so having someone to wet the stone is a neccesity. The registration setup took a little trouble shooting - but the printer eventually devised a very simple and efective system, and with two people, the last step of the editioning process went very smoothly - though it took about 8 hours of standing over the press.

Jason (the man who taught me everything In know about Lithography) carefully adds ink into the rollers, which will even distribute and oscillate the ink so it prints completely flat. The printer must often rely on sight and intuition to add and remove ink or pressure so that all prints match the matchup proof, which has been aproved by the artist prior to editioning.

Jason checks the registration. A hairs worth of misalignment makes all the difference. The image is comprised of several plates, and each must match up perfectly to get a quality print which will be ready for introduction to the art market.

This is a very breif overveiw of my apprentice work with litho. Next week - what I've learned about etching.

The ULAE Studio at Clinton Ave., Bayshore

2008-01-28T16:21:00.000-05:00

The facilities here are unbelievable - and there is a lot to take in. I may not have time to learn what everything does, but I have already gotten some time in helping printers, and there is simply no better way to learn than hanging with these guys. This is a very, very brief tour of Clinton, I couldn't possibly cover it all - but you will see a lot more of the studio in the coming week as I outline my experiences as an apprentice. (Note the use of the word apprentice: it has much nicer sound to it. There are intern jobs, and there are apprentice jobs. If you have any interest in learning about these presses, you'll have to get in there and get your hands dirty.)

A master printer work on an offset press in the studio "across the street." The offset press is used to produce large quantities of lithographic prints. There are three of such presses at ULAE.

This is a motorized press used for printing very large intaglio prints, or etchings.

Here is an old school letter press, which as far as I can tell is used primarily for portfolio type, but I have also seen it used to generate text on litho plates.

This press hasn't been used since I've been here - but it is one of the three offset presses here.

This is the press I've become most familiar with. One of the printers has let me help him with a few proofs and even an edition. I will go into the details of my first hand experience a little later.

The ceilings of the main studio have large portraits of artists working here and at the studio in Skidmore Place. It's fun to pick out where the are in each photo and try to picture Barnett Newman or Lee Bontecou standing in that exact location when you get home.

A portrait of Tatyana overlooks it all - if you mess up, she'll know.

The nicest house I may ever live in....

2008-01-22T17:15:00.001-05:00

LIFE AT 5 SKIDMORE PLACE:
Here is where the interns stay. This place is totally beautiful, and has been the shelter and workplace of some of the most famous artists of our time. Reading this blog is one thing, but nothing will prepare you for your first experience at Skidmore.

5 Skidmore place, today.

Early 60's: Tatyana Grosman and Jasper Johns
This is the original site of the ULAE facility. The company was started here.

It will be isolating at times, as I mentioned last week. Try to take advantage of this new place, and the facilities. I opt toward cooking for myself, or trying a new restaurant. Ask the ULAE staff where to go, or venture out on your own. Be aware: even though the island seems small - it is easy to get lost. Just know that your major highways and roads are all east/west, and that you will often not notice when you crossing from town to town. Street names change back and forth - just mapquest everything for awhile.

Here is the main living room. The house is full of art books and Russian literature. Every wall has a print or painting on it, many signed artists proofs by Johns or Rauschenburg.

As I understand it - this was at one time, Jasper Johns' personal studio space. It is a bit hidden away from the rest of the house, attached to Tatyana's old bedroom by a tiny doorway.

This is a sort of sun room, totally full of books. A great place to relax and look at great art. Again, many of these are Tatyana's personal books, signed by Rosenquist, Winters or Johns.

This kitchen is amazing. I spend a great deal of time here.

There are a great deal of things not pictured here - as I said, noting will prepare you for what's in store for you here.

Knowing your budget will help in advance:
INTERN EXPENSES COVERED:
- expenses to and from NYC up to 400$ (all subway, taxi and trains are paid for)
- food 18$ per dinner, 10$ per lunch (no booze or cigarrettes will be covered)
- museum entry, art lectures and tours
- telephone bill
- hygeine and other neccessities
- gas and routine maintenance for your vehicle

INTERN EXPENSES NOT COVERED:
- Theatre tickets, Concert tickets
- General sightseeing
- Travel beyond NYC
- Nightclubs
- Magazines, Books, CD's
- Extra Curricular classes, Materials

Plus: You will be expected to clean, and keep an eye on the heating and electric. you will have a landline and cable. Just be practical and reasonable with your expenses. Be up front and keep all of your reciepts. You will be reimbursed for anything you spend out of pocket for neccessities. Bring some funny money with you for uncovered expenses.

The studio here is at your disposal IF: You make sure not to disturb existng plates, stones or work. Guest artists work here quite frequently, as do the litho printers. This press is the only press at ULAE set up to run stones.

This is a shot of the stone storage behind the Skidmore litho press. Yes, this is all at the house. Behind the house there is a massive deposit of broken litho stones.

I highly recommend getting a printer to help you get set up with a plate to etch, a stone to grain or a litho plate to draw on. You might also bring some of your own work to keep you occupied. I have several things in the works - which I will touch on next week.

A BIT OF ADVICE:

Everyone here will tell you that Skidmore is haunted - and the general consensus is that it is Tatyana. She lived in this house, and started the company there. This house has a tremendous history, so it isn't suprising that it might feel a bit off. I can tell you that you will hear a lot of things. Some house sounds, and some unaccounted for. Tatyana might keep you up at night, and you may feel not alone at many times, but just know that the energy is good. She was an amazing lady who touched a lot of lives. Be good to the house, draw from it's energy, and you will be fine.

You can take the boy out of the country.......

2008-01-13T14:40:00.000-05:00

I arrived in Bayshore early on the morning of January 4th. It is a bit like arriving on another planet - and if you're like me the first week will be a bit strange and hard - but it gets better. By week two - you'll really be living it up. Here is a brief account of what I've encountered in the first 7 days.

ULAE STUDIO: First Impressions

A photo of Jasper Johns suspended above the offset presses in the main studio.

In the first week I have already learned so much. I have spent a better portion of my time at the studio picking the brains of the printers about their current projects and processes. This takes initiative and a little gumption. It's easy to feel like you are in the way as an intern - but just make yourself available and try to get to know the people around you. If you seem uninterested you will be ignored. Generally, everyone is very nice and fun - so be yourself, but remember why you are here. You will be running some errands, taking out the trash, and doing the dishes - but my advice is, do these things quickly and regularly. Sweep and clean whenever it needs to be done - don't wait for someone to ask or tell you to do something. Make it known that you are eager to work. Your attitude during the first week will make a big difference. However - be sure to set aside some time each day to get started on a project. Many interns do not accomplish any original artwork here - which is a shame, because when you see the facilities you will realize how unique this opportunity is. So treat it that way - and the printers will take a shine you right away. This internship seems nebulous because it is what you make of it. Ask questions, ask if they need help - and make it known you are here to learn about what they do. I have already made progress towards two etching plate and am grinding a litho block with the help of the printers. They are awfully busy - but have made it a point to help me start projects. Litho is new to me, and Jason has been great about helping me understand the offset press in the studio, and the litho press at the house -- where you will be living. More about 5 Skidmore Place below.

5 SKIDMORE PLACE: Home Away From Home

There is a fully functional litho studio in the center of the house. Get started on that block, baby!! When you first arrive you will likely be overwhelmed by the amount of art and literature surrounding you. There are plates for Rauschenberg etchings, Cy Twombly etchings and countless litho blocks in the studio area. I can't imagine a creative individual not flourishing here - this place is inspiration at every turn. There are three studio spaces, a sun room which has become a sort of reading area, and beautiful kitchen and a great patio. There are three beds, and a huge basement for laundry - but which is transitionally becoming a fourth studio area. I have my materials set up there. Word to the wise: bring lots of stuff to work on. Get busy right away and keep yourself occupied. This place gets a it lonely. You will have a TV and DVD in your room, and a insurmountable number of art books. If you know people in the city - that is great. They can help you get around and get you out of the house on the weekends. The first week will probably be a bit strange - until you get used to the sounds of the house. It can get pretty spooky and dismaly isolating. do yourself a favor a get out as much as you can, try a new restaurant every night (Babylon has a zoning ordinance that allows NO chain restaurants!) or get some fresh fish and cook up a nice meal on this massive range. Remember if you get bummed or lonely that it gets better, and most interns have felt that way at some point. You are really close to the beach - so weeknights could be good for a night time beachfront mosey. You will be living the life after you get adjusted.

NYC: Just go!

Don't be scared of the city - just know it will take a little time to get used to the transit. All your travel is covered (I will post a breakdown of the Intern budget below) as long as you keep it reasonable -- carry a bit of cash with you and always keep a train schedule with you. Make absolutely sure you know when your last train is coming back. It is about one hour and fifteen minutes to Penn Station. From there you can get around with the subways - get a Metrocard at the station. If you use cash, keep every single receipt or ticket stub. It seems daunting - but you'll get it. I have generally limited my trips into the city to the weekends. The commute isn't long, but getting around and back to the train on time can get damn tiring. You will be expected to be at work at 8:30 every morning. Be sure to get a Not For Tourists Guide - you can get them at Borders or Barnes & Noble - and this little book will make getting situated much easier. It contains maps of all the Villages and townships, and plots all bus, subway and train routes for the city - including your train, the LIRR. The best place to catch a train is Babylon - about a five minute drive from Skidmore House. Grab a LIRR train schedule and keep it on your person at all times. Cabs can be sketchy here - make sure to carry cash for this. (In general I would say having your car here is a must. All of your auto expenses are covered for your drive up and your stay. It will very hard to get to and from work without your own means of conveyance.) As for the city - you will want to go every night. Bayshore and Islip are a bit boring. Make a list of your key destinations, look them up in the NFT Guide, and plan accordingly. Your time here will fly by - so don't put things off too long. I highly recommend the Strand book store - one of the country's largest. The art book section is pretty mind blowing. More next week!

A Perk.....

2007-12-03T17:10:00.000-05:00

As the intern at ULAE you have the opportunity to visit any of the Museums in the NYC area for free. There are several large Art Museums in and around the city including....

1. The Museum of Modern Art

(212) 708-9400
11 West 53 Street,
between Fifth and Sixth avenues
New York, NY 10019-5497

Museum Hours
Saturday 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Sunday 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Monday 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Tuesday closed
Wednesday 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Thursday 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Friday 10:30 a.m.–8:00 p.m.

http://www.moma.org/

2. PS 1 - Moma's Contemporary Museum division

http://www.ps1.org/
22-25 Jackson Ave at the intersection of 46th Ave
Long Island City, 11101
by Subway

E/V Train
Get off at the 23rd St./Ely Ave. stop. While still in the station, follow signs to the 7 train to exit onto Jackson Avenue. Walk right one block to 46th Avenue.

7 Train
Get off at the 45th Rd./Courthouse Square. Exit onto Jackson Avenue and walk right one block to 46th Avenue.

G Train
Get off at the 21st St./Van Alst stop. P.S.1 is the large brick building across the street to the left. Walk around the building to come to our front entrance.

L.I.R.R.
Take the L.I.R.R. to Hunterspoint Ave. and take the 7 train towards Flushing (see directions for the 7 Train above)
-or-
Take the L.I.R.R. to Jamaica and take the E Train towards Manhattan (see directions for the E Train above).
-or-
Take the L.I.R.R. to Woodside and take the 7 Train towards Time Square (see directions for the 7 Train above).
Hours:

P.S.1 is open from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Thursday through Monday.
It is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day.
Le Rosier Café and artbook@ps1 are open during regular museum hours.

3. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street
New York, New York 10028-0198
General Information: 212-535-7710
TTY: 212-570-3828 or 212-650-2551
http://www.metmuseum.org/home.asp

Hours*

Friday	9:30 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
Saturday	9:30 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
Sunday	9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Monday	Closed**
Tuesday	9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Wednesday	9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Thursday	9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Closed	Mondays (except as listed below), January 1, Thanksgiving Day, December 25

Map of where you will be staying....

2007-12-03T16:53:00.000-05:00

You will be living at Skidmore in West Islip
You will be working in Bay Shore
The Train Station to NYC is in Babylon

View Larger Map

For your viewing pleasure....

2007-11-13T17:07:00.000-05:00

I choose the following prints out of ULAE's back catalog as pieces that I really enjoyed and found interesting.

Carroll Dunham
Titled: Undone 1

Jasper Johns
DecoyRobert Rauschenberg
Soviet American Array V
Kiki SMith
PuppetJasper Johns
Primaries and Secondaries

Prints

2007-11-13T16:52:00.001-05:00

I am adding some images of prints that have been created during my time at ULAE, so you can get a picture of what is being produced and by who.

This is a print by Chagoya
Titled: Border Patrol on Acid
Intaglio/ Hand Panted with Water Color
This Print is by Chagoya
Titled: Thinking of Ensor and my cat Diego
Intaglio/ Hand painted with Water Color
5 Prints by James Siena
Titled: Backs (Sold as a set)
Lithography10 Prints by Terry Winters
Titled: Secret Knots
Intaglio

Getting down to buisness!!!

2007-11-09T11:15:00.000-05:00

So as a intern here you will be expected to do work....Duh! So what types of work will this entail you might ask? (Sometimes I still ask myself the same question) Well my answer is it all really depends, it can change day to day or week to week. What you really need to know is that it varies greatly and can at times be frustrating. You could for instance be working on a print for several weeks and when thats done you might be raking tons and tons of leaves. Alot of what you end up doing is based on what needs to be done around the studio and what other people don't have enough time to do. You run alot of errands, pick up lunch, pick up people from the train station, and various other such things. Sometimes you will be required to go to the city and help out with a gallery opening. Since I was here during the 50 year celebration I did alot of work to help prepare for that. You do dishes, read through magazines to find ULAE artist, sweep, take out trash.....etc. One might ask why would I want to do this stuff, and my answer is that though the work sometimes might be boring or menial there is a huge possibility to what you can learn or do while in NY, and its basically FREE. Because when it really comes down to it, its what you choose to do with your time and what you choose to learn that matters most. NYC is a beacon for possibility.....To expand your mind, expand your future and expand your wallet.

Free Concerts

2007-11-08T16:11:00.002-05:00

A wonderful thing that I happened upon while being in New York is the Free Summer concert series. These take place at two "venues" the one above which is at the Seaport in Manhattan as well as the Pool Party's in MCcarren Park Pool in Brooklyn. (Which after this year may or may not continue due to the city trying to decide what to do with the old abandoned pool.) So many great bands come to both of these venus through out the summer and into fall.
The best thing about the Seafront venue is that it is located near lots of good food as well as a awesome bay view back behind the shopping center its located next to. Another great thing about this place is the stage is right in front of the port so there are huge boats sitting in the water directly behind the stage (when are you going to get that in Oklahoma?)

The great things about MCcarren Park Pool are many. First it is in a old city pool which has been abandoned and a stage added to the front of the pool. I mean really everyone just hangs out in this empty pool in the hot weather. Though you can cool off in several different ways, like the really big inflatable slip and slide, or in a game of water volleyball. You can also get into a intense game of dodge ball with teams of 8. Watch out though these kids take their dodge ball seriously. If getting wet and getting hit with a ball don't appeal to you they have brooklyn brewed beer on site as well as shady spots to escape the sun (if you want a shady spot though you better show up early) Best if all.....FREE

Take a Break....Montauk Style

2007-11-07T16:37:00.001-05:00

Thats right everyone needs to take a little vacation once in a while, so I decided to go with some friends from the city to take a day trip out to Montuak Beach out by the Hamptons on Long Island. Its about an hour drive away from West Islip, and there is plenty to look at on the drive. Like crazy rich people with gigantic houses. (Where they only live several months out of the year) Here are some pictures that I took while there.

We stopped by an Reservation Museum on the way

They had this awesome hand carved door
Then on to Montauk, where they have a Lighthouse

And the Ocean!!!!!!

Always good to have some friends along

Your Second home.....

2007-11-07T16:11:00.001-05:00

The actual studio space for ULAE is located at 1446 s. Clinton ave in Bay Shore, NY. Which it is important to note it is three towns over from Skidmore place where you live. Now not being here it is hard to understand just how the towns here are laid out, it is really a lot different than in Oklahoma, for being three towns away from where you live it is still not the distance if you drove from one end of Stillwater to the other. They a mostly very small towns in which you can not easily tell where one ends and another begins (Aside from signs.) Though it does make having a car a real necessity. I personally came thinking I would be just fine riding my bike here, since thats all I did in Oklahoma. Not so, everything as far as groceries and eateries is no where near where you live and the ride to work takes 30 min on a bike, making it an hour commute day. Plus the fact that you are inevitably going to be running errands almost everyday. Its just the way it is, for being so close to NYC this is a very, very residential area.
Below are several pictures of the studio space at Clinton Ave. Just so you get a idea of where you will be working. Hours are from 8:30 - 5:30 mon-fri. You have the weekends off to roam the city.

My First Project at ULAE

2007-11-06T14:51:00.003-05:00

When I arrived here at ULAE I was given the task to take over where the previous Intern had left off hand painting two prints by California artist Chagoya. For this process one of the printers (ED) would make the black and white (Intaglio) print, and I would come in afterwards and hand paint each one based on the artist's hand painted B.A.T. (this is what they call an artist print that has been
completely approved
and from which all other print will be measured
for accuracy) Each of these prints had 80 copies printed and painted, and the final number used for the edition came out to be 24 and 26. I was engaged with each step of the process on these prints and found it to be very fulfilling to be able to be apart of the finished prints. I am attaching some photo's that were taken during this process.

Where you'll be Living

2007-11-05T10:17:00.000-05:00

Interns will be staying at 5 Skidmore place. West Islip NY 11975 at the house that the original studio was created in 1957. Its a large three bedroom house located in a small round about it, it includes two studio spaces as well as a Lithography studio that interns can use. There is also the possibility that a Intaglio Press will be added to the studio space as well. Interns will be given a list of things that need to be kept up at Skidmore. There is a guest bedroom up stairs that is open for artist and guest of ULAE. There was also a deck just added to the back of the house which is really nice.

P.S. - There have been reports of this house being Haunted...Strange noises happen at random times as well as disappearing socks.
Below are some pictures taken from the House

This is the front of the house

Front Room
Second Room
Kitchen
Dinning Roomartist Studio/computer Room

More Pictures to come soon

Welcome to the first Intern Post

2007-10-26T16:27:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to welcome everyone to the new Universal Limited Art Editions Intern Blog. Basically this is an outlet for OSU students who are currently interning in NY to share their experiences with the OSU Art Departments student body (whom might be interested in this opportunity.) I hope you find the information here in helpful and informative!
Granger