N.Rice Art

Monday, January 2, 2012

The Jackalope} Art Conference

I will be interning this week for The Jackalope Art Conference. In the words of the developers, "the Jackalope Art Conference concentrates on developing a sense of community through exploring nontraditional ways of making." It will take place this Friday and Saturday (January 6th & 7th) at Northern Illinois University's new Gallery 215 (215 N. 4th St., DeKalb, IL).

As of yet, my winter break has consisted of nothing but work (saving up for SGC in the spring!) and holiday-related activities, so I'm stoked to finally spend some time "out in the field." Check out the website and register to come (it's free).

Thursday, December 8, 2011

It's official!

I passed my entrance portfolio review today, which means I am officially a printmaking major here at NIU. I was given the advice to work a little more on sharpening my techniques, then do more print work in combination with other disciplines I love, like sculpture and performance art. I was told I'm very conceptually strong and that I need to think big and use whatever mediums are necessary to communicate my ideas in the best way possible.

Also, I'm on winter break starting tomorrow, so I plan to take some time updating this site with photos of my new work from this semester.

Happiness and relief...

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

"The Connoisseuse"

"The Connoisseuse" Woodcut by N. Rice 2011

My most recent finished piece was a woodcut entitled "The Connoisseuse." It was displayed in the "Chatter" printmaking show at Bad Dog Gallery on October 20, 2011, along with work by my fellow Relief & Intaglio classmates. My "Ribbed for Her Pleasure" woodcut was also in the show.

It features a woman contemplating a piece by Piet Mondrian ("Composition with Black, Red, Gray, Yellow, and Blue" from 1920). I thought Mondrian's work would be interesting to use as a subject because its flatness and precision contrasts to the imperfect nature of a reductive woodcut. The title is based on a Norman Rockwell painting, called "The Connoisseur" from 1962, in which a man is shown contemplating a work by Jackson Pollock.

The process used 4 different blocks: a key block + 3 other blocks which were each reduced one time.

Proofs of my key image


Key image transferred onto all 4 blocks

Block 1, Color 1

Block 2, Color 2

Block 3, Color 3

Block 2, Colors 4 & 5 (split color roll)

Block 3, Color 6

Block 1, Color 7

Key Block, Final Image

Finally, here are some photos of the artwork at the "Chatter" show, which was a fantastic evening. We gave away a limited number of free 4 x 6" woodcut prints to the earliest guests. Those are pictured below, along with the rest of the work in the show.