I missed a week of work because of another project I’m working on; it is good to be back. Last week, Lorraine Berry brought this paper bowl, to exchange for an etching of Goya (as an etching).

I spent the morning organizing my orders, and then preparing work. I cut down paper for both the Mazur and the Currier & Ives, and gesso-ed the paper for the Mazur. It is a pastel drawing whose copy has been ordered as a painting. I decided to do it on paper to refer back to the drawing. I drew out both images. This took me most of the morning.

In the afternoon, I started painting the David Lucas engraving (based on a John constable painting). It got a good rough underpainting; I’m starting to get the feel back for painting–it’s been a while for me. The engraving has much more detail to it than the painting, or at least my digital image of the painting.

I gathering some of the drawing I’d done to take home, in hopes of working on them over the weekend.

[June 4, 2008]

I was a bit tired today, and had hoped to finish my work on the Goya print and the Kollwitz print. At first, I thought my work on the Goya was going well, but as I continued with it, I became less satisfied. As I worked on it, parts of this image which at first were illegible became known: each woman is carrying a child, one is also holding onto a chicken, there are more faces in this image that I had seen at first. I finished this version of it, and then immediately began a second copy; the first now seems like practice, a chance to get to know this work. I didn’t work on the Kollwitz. I didn’t feel that today I could get the right expressive quality to her lines. Instead, I turned to the David Lucas engraving, and drew the image onto canvas, using Constable’s painting as a reference.

That’s about as far as I got today. A new donation, from Mayuko Miyamoto, appeared while Andrew and I were at lunch. I will need to contact her to find out what copy she would like in exchange. I did some paperwork: processing the new orders I received last night, and documenting the donations. I now have around 10 orders.

Reception from 4-6:30 pm

Directions

Article in the Cortland Standard [PDF]

Thanks to Tara, the “installation” is finished; I now have a studio within a showroom (gallery). Brian made these shelves, which is where my copies will be displayed before they are traded. The announcement cards and my order forms came back from the printer, and Andrew got them out. Joe, the photographer from the Cortland Standard came by and took some photos. And, my first order of supplies came in.

I moved a few more pieces up from storage. Andrew has to lock me in whenever I go down there (or else stay with me), and I discovered a few more pieces while exploring the flatfiles. I spent most of the day doing prep work for several copies: some ink work on the Goya image, some underpainting for the Le Foret painting, I stretched a small canvas for the David Lucas engraving (I am going to turn it back into a painting), and I scanned several pieces that I will be experimenting with digital prints. I am not happy with my Kaethe Kollwitz, so just worked on it to learn her gestures. Over the weekend, I’ll be working on the digital prints, as well as solarplate etching. I took some photos of other works to offer for copies, which are now on the Copy Orders page.

Today, we finished a lot of work in the gallery, thanks to Andrew, Brian, and Tara. Brian built a storage rack for me– I wanted to reference the storage area in the basement where the collection is kept. We moved a few pieces up into the gallery–those I am currently copying.

Katie Hall, a porter from the Cortland Standard came by today.

I didn’t finish any copies today, but got started on several: Le Foret’s copy of Mary Cassat’s painting, Annunziatas copy of Dupliessis’ painting, Ed Rusha’s book, and Kollwitz’s self portrait.

The stamps arrived this morning. Each copy with be stamped on the back with a COPY stamp, a stamp of my signature, and the date. These stamps are modeled after the stencil on the back of several WPA paintings that are copies of work from the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

There is still a little work to be done in the gallery space, but it’s almost there. I’m glad to have started this part of the work.

“Every passion borders on the chaotic, but the collector’s passion borders on the chaos of memories.” Walter Benjamin

Become a part of this collection: exchange any work of art that you own for a copy of a work in this collection. You will become part of the collection; and a part of the collection will come to you.

Go to the “Copy Order Page” page to view parts of the collection, and fill out an order form.

A large portion of the work in the Dowd collection was donated by artists and collectors, many of whom have a connection to Cortland. The collection also holds many prints–lithographs, etchings, engravings— works of art that exist as reproductions, which, in their repetition, are owned by many. The copy plays another role in this collection: its first acquisitions include paintings, created under the Works Progress Administration, that are copies of paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The practice of copying, for the copier, is often educational, but it also extends the reach of a work of art. Replicas have been commissioned throughout art history. Reproduction can strangely conserve a work, it can allow a work to travel, it can bring a work into your home. But you’ll have to make a trade.