Silk Screen Posters

In the Oregon State University Memorial Union there is an exhibit on display. I walked in and found a long hall lined with posters. I chose to look at a playbill poster promoting the Ashland Shakespeare Festival. There are three phases to making the final product. There were drawings and sketches of the plays, events, and playbills. They were on sale from $7-$100. The sketches of Don Quixote, Shakespeare reading a scroll of his plays, Much Ado About Nothing, Music Man, and a list of plays were on the silk screen. The actual silk screen was framed with a broken and paint splattered worn trim. There was a dark blue outer rim and a lighter blue inner section where the actual screen was burned with the sketches. The screen has seven panels which are later put on the final paper and then cut into seven different bills. The original sketches, though on different colored paper and some different background colors, were exactly the same as the final product. The process of silk screening is on display with the silk screen before, during, and after. The screen is beautiful and messy. It isn't about the clean art that the posters or bills show in the end product. It was very attractive and seemed very difficult to design because I could see many layers of the paint so there must have been other screens.

Reflection: The exhibit was the art and silk screenings of Earl Newman called "Earl Newman: 50 years of Screening" on exhibit from April to August 2009. Other parts of the exhibit included fine art and hand screened silk posters of the Monterey Jazz Festival, OSU's Theatre department, political posters, cafe posters, the Newport Aquarium, and Pete Seger posters. The specific art of silk screening for Ashland Shakespeare Festival had the gallery notation about his process. First he sees the first viewing of a play for the season. Then he goes back to his hotel room and draws up sketches which he then takes to the people in charge of the events and poster planning. Then they are burned onto a silk screen. What was really interesting for me was how the tool which is supposed to be an instrument in creating art is actually a kind of art in itself. The silk screen with its stains and broken rough frame was beautiful with its blue painted edges. No clean lines and mostly the look of spilled paint that was cleaned up. I was suprised at viewing the genesis from sketch to silk to paper. The actual playbills sold for a lot from $7 to $50 or $50 because they are souvenirs that help fund the events. The actual screen was selling for $300. I could see its attraction and its appeal as a piece of art despite its use as a tool to make art. Would Picasso's paint sell? Would Salvador Dali's esle go for a pretty penny? I almost see the fame of an artist imbuing not only their works but also their tools and mediums with a kind of magic similar to that of a relic of a saint. Perhaps have a scrap of a saint's shirt is just as inspiring as having an artist's physical object. The only thing is that I think there are certain people who go too far, and I personally am not into material or physical objects beyond sentimental reasons. I think it is a sign of prestige and clout in an artistic community to have those instruments because they have more meaning in that community. Earl Newman's art seemed to me to be a great medium because it really represents how even mass produced products can still be art. They don't have to be unique, but handmade has a whole other meaning. Of course there are conveyor belt toys and art we can buy easily, but there aren't "artists" assembling them. When the artist hand makes something they are imbuing a kind of sentimentality and significance important to the keeper of the art piece. It adds to the value, and for me, it adds to the experience.