She looked up at me as I took this picture with an expression that seemed to say, "Excuse me? I'm trying to get some work done here, okay?" However, Spradley, master printer and shop manager at Evil Prints (see the first post in this series about Tom Huck, the proprietor), could not have been nicer about letting me photograph her at work. In this picture, she is using tools and techniques similar to Huck but she has a very individual style. Her images remind me of the original pictures of the aliens in War of the Worlds as revised by R. Crumb (one of my cultural heros) and remixed by Marcel Duchamp. Check out her work here and here.
That's all for St. Louis artists portraits for now. Let me know if you liked the series. I've got a couple of leads and it may return on an irregular basis in the future.
WHAT WAS GOOD AND BAD IN MY DAY TUESDAY: Good - I got my precious Canon 5D back from the factory service center after the third repair for the same problem. It $%#^@ well better keep working this time. Bad - I had to talk to more crazy, annoying people at work than anyone should (and I never even looked in the mirror.) I guess I signed up for it.
TOMORROW: The Thursday Arch Series Returns.
This is as much an action shot as a portrait. Amy Thompson is a printmaker with an intense vision. She is also a craftswoman. In this picture she works at a manual press, full of wheels and levers and gears. The machine reminds me of the complex, non-electronic gizmos in Terry Gilliam's movie, Brazil. Thompson knows what to do with all this steel. She is developing a web site for her prints but take a look at her stunning photography on Flickr. Her pictures of China and Vietnam are fabulous. Note particularly the portrait Danny and the untitled photo here in the Vietnam set. I'd be proud to have takes pictures so good.
WHAT I MADE FOR DINNER LAST NIGHT: stir fry with yellow squash, eggplant (aubergine), chicken, carrot, portobello mushrooms, garlic, almonds and whatever herbs were lying around. I'm not much of a cook (and don't have to be in this family) but, hey, it was my night. Throw it in a wok and see what happens.
TOMORROW: St. Louis artists portraits continue with Danielle Spradley, printmaker.
I did not know about Evil Prints until last weekend's studio open house (must be getting old and out of touch). The place is full of young artists covered to one degree or another in tattoos and flesh-eating steel hardware. Tom Huck here is one of the mainstays. He's the kind of person the phrase "fevered imagination" refers to. Tom makes outrageous wood and linoleum cut prints. Check out examples of his work here. While I watched him work, Tom used only tiny hand tools. I cannot imagine my own hands working with such precision. TOMORROW: The Thursday Arch Series takes a week off as St. Louis artists portraits continue with Craig Downs, painter and singer
She looked up at me as I took this picture with an expression that seemed to say, "Excuse me? I'm trying to get some work done here, okay?" However, Spradley, master printer and shop manager at Evil Prints (see the first post in this series about Tom Huck, the proprietor), could not have been nicer about letting me photograph her at work. In this picture, she is using tools and techniques similar to Huck but she has a very individual style. Her images remind me of the original pictures of the aliens in War of the Worlds as revised by R. Crumb (one of my cultural heros) and remixed by Marcel Duchamp. Check out her work here and here. 
