As you know, we are homeschooling our daughter, who has an interest in art. Who would have guessed? We are doing two classes this semester: pen and ink and composition. My wife was rummaging around in the flat files looking for some examples to show Emma and she ran across a couple of old etchings I did in undergrad school at U.T.
I had done a lot of pen and ink drawing and it lead me to an interest in etching. I took several classes with Lee Chesney, who is a great teacher. I went on to grad school at the University of Iowa and studied printmaking. I had a difficult time getting the drift of what my main professor, Mauricio Lasansky, was trying to get me to do in the printmaking program. He thought my work was too cerebral and wanted me to work from my "gut". He was right but I couldn't work from my gut in printmaking. My work for two years was pretty dismal. I finally switched over to drawing and painting and found I was able to work the way he had been encouraging me to work. Since then I haven't done any printmaking. I guess I lost my taste for it. I haven't done much pen and ink drawing either.
The first etching is called "We Could Never Save the Whales". I suppose you could call it an environmental piece, mourning the slaughter of these most majestic animals.
The second etching is one I did of my Grandmother's house. It is really a self portrait as I appear in it four times along with the rest of my family. My family lived with my Grandmother for four years while my Dad saved up enough money to buy his own house.
These were done around 1977.
