Front cover by Maureen Outlaw. Hand-cut linoleum block with photopolymer type, two colors.
Maureen Outlaw, artist of the calendar’s cover, is a full-time art teacher who paints in her spare time. While Outlaw ran the press, Geri McCormick ran her finger along the end of each sheet, guiding it around the cylinder to avoid ink smudging at the tail-end.
The 2010 and 2011 calendars sold out, so this year’s print run has been increased to 300. Geri McCormick, president of the center’s board, coordinated production of the multi-artist calendar. By day, McCormick is a designer at the Simon Graduate School of Business, U. of Rochester. She loves wood type, which is a very wonderful thing (another “vwt”), since her husband, Bill Jones is the founder of VWT. The calendar grid is a one-of-a-kind set from VWT. It proved so painstaking to print that Jones decided not to offer it commercially. McCormick printed most months’ grids, with some help from studio manager Sue Sims (also the artist of August) and Mitchel Cohen, the center’s director. Most of the artists printed their own illustrations on one of the center’s three Vandercooks.
February by Geri McCormick. Wood type, four colors, including the grid.
Geri McCormick used a lovely profusion of wood type, some from VWT and some from decades past. The most venerable is Aetna, produced by William H. Page, and McCormick fondly describes the wood as “pieces of chocolate.” She adds, “This type is 150 years old — we know that because the company’s logo changed. Typically a foundry stamped its logo on the uppercase A’s, and the logo on this font was in use from 1850 to 1859. William H. Page is the godfather— or the granddaddy — of some of the most fantastic wood type, the two-color chromatics.”
January by Chris Charles. Hand-cut linoleum block (aqua) plus photopolymer (black), two colors. She was inspired by a book of WPA posters and her wooden bank from the ’50s that says “Save for a trip to the Moon!”
March by Bill Dexter. Photopolymer plates, seven colors.
Bill Dexter’s seven-color illustration is a combination of two photos, including one from tug44.org, a site whose owner travels around the eastern seaboard on a 44-ft. houseboat built to look like a tug, taking pictures from the deck. Dexter comments, “The fact that there is an M on the smokestack seemed perfect for the month of March.”
April by Colleen McCray. Hand-cut linoleum block with wood and metal type, three colors.
Colleen McCray worked at a farm last summer. Henrietta, a hen ousted from her flock because of her bad habit of pecking at eggs, found a home at the farm. McCray offers, “I wanted to make a print of her as a gift to my coworkers at the end of the season. I’m happy that many people will meet her and be able to admire her as I have.”
The hand-cut linoleum block (black pass) for June by Victoria Brzustowicz includes a favorite quote from William Carlos Williams.
Victoria Brzustowicz teaches “Introduction to Linoleum Block at the Center.” Her early summer fantasy, full of flowers, sunshine and butterflies, was inspired by the Polish folk art cut-paper tradition.
June by Victoria Brzustowicz. Hand-cut linoleum blocks, three colors.
Victoria Brzustowicz enthuses, “This was the first time I played with transparent white as the base for my tints. I was pleased how the colors turned out, especially the overlap of the blue and yellow shapes making green. It was like getting an extra color for free!”
July by Karin Marlett Choi. Vector drawing, photopolymer plates, four colors.
Karin Marlett Choi has a 2-year-old son who loves the family’s sprinkler. And the artist loved hearing him “squeal with delight as he darted through its spray and the explosions of color it created — also when he would pick up the sprinkler and spray me, the house or anything else he decided needed some wet relief. That sprinkler was our spectacular July fireworks!”
Top image: Love reveals all — Geri McCormick’s print annotated for wood typophiles. AWT = American Wood Type, HWT = Hamilton Wood Type UN = Unknown, VWT = Virgin Wood Type,WHP = William H. Page.
The Genesee Center for the Arts 2012 calendar is printed on Mohawk Loop Smooth, Thai Gold, 110# Cover (front and back covers) and Via Smooth Bright White 80# Cover (months). You can see all 12 months, plus front and back covers, here. The calendar is available on the center’s Felt & Wire Shop.
