{"id":4280,"date":"2022-07-20T09:37:02","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T13:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/thelantern\/?p=4280"},"modified":"2024-01-24T11:33:44","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T16:33:44","slug":"finding-artistic-inspiration-and-creative-collaboration-with-a-twelve-inch-blick-906-floor-model-etching-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/thelantern\/2022\/07\/20\/finding-artistic-inspiration-and-creative-collaboration-with-a-twelve-inch-blick-906-floor-model-etching-press\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Artistic Inspiration and Creative Collaboration with a Twelve-Inch Blick 906 Floor Model Etching Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christine Zheng, the Mirken Family Postbaccalaureate Fellow in Museum Practice, visits the home studios of two local artists, Lucky Platt and Jim Macdonald, to discuss their artmaking practices, community engagement, and the inspiration they draw from the Colby Museum.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In what ways can an institution like the Colby College Museum of Art help strengthen connections between artists, their practices, and their respective communities?<\/span><\/p>\n

Artists<\/span> James (Jim) Macdonald<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Lucky Platt<\/span><\/a> are strong believers in the power of art making to inspire and connect people. Macdonald and Platt live and create out of a home and studio spaces Macdonald built in Unity, Maine\u2014a small town just short of twenty miles east of Waterville. They have been deeply embedded in the artistic community of Central Maine for over a decade, facilitating artistic collaborations and discovery through retreats and workshops hosted from their home. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Lucky <\/a>
Lucky Platt. Photograph taken by Daniel Zhang ’24. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jim <\/a>
Jim Macdonald. Photograph taken by Daniel Zhang ’24. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Macdonald and Platt turn to the Colby Museum\u2019s public programming as a vital source of cultural and artistic inspiration. Arts events organized by the museum are ways for them to stay connected with both local and internationally recognized artists and arts organizations. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBefore Maine I’d lived almost all of my adult life in major cities\u2014New York City, Chicago, Madrid. The pull back to a more rural setting was strong, but I worried about what I’d lose culturally,\u201d says Platt. \u201cThe Colby Museum is essential to living and working as artists in this part of the world\u2014it serves as a gathering point, an incubator for artistic thought.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Macdonald recounts a pivotal moment with a work he encountered at the museum: \u201cTo confess, when Richard Serra’s<\/span> 4-5-6<\/span><\/i> sculpture was installed in the courtyard in front of the museum, I was confused and offended. I went driving around Waterville taking pictures of what I thought were more interesting rectangles and hexahedrons than Serra’s work. I came up with a pretty good series of photos and also realized after a while how completely Serra had provoked me, challenged me, set me in motion. I have seen some of his other works now and have come to truly admire his work.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Programming at the Colby Museum has also encouraged Macdonald and Platt to expand their artistic and community-engagement practices. A drypoint printmaking workshop held at the museum, led by Fall 2021 Lunder Institute Residential Fellow Adriane Herman, became a welcome catalyst for the pair to purchase and install a press in their home\/studio. During this public workshop, participants were invited to experience drypoint prints by Mary Cassatt on view as part of the exhibition Inside Out: The Prints of Mary Cassatt<\/a><\/em> and then try their own hands at the tedious yet rewarding technique. Macdonald and Platt are both well versed in printmaking, but the workshop helped to reawaken their excitement for the tactility and quality of drypoint printmaking, a careful process that involves carving an image line by line into a bare metal printing plate, then inking the plate and pressing it onto a damp paper to transfer the ink. With a newfound hunger to integrate printmaking into their own practices in a bigger, more consistent way, the artists hunted down a used press for sale in Western Massachusetts, and drove over five hundred miles round-trip to obtain a used but sturdy blue twelve-inch Dick Blick 906 floor model. <\/span><\/p>\n

Built from the ground up by Macdonald when he first moved to Maine in 1984, the couple\u2019s home encompasses two separate studio buildings and one woodworking shop. Platt, a printmaker, illustrator, and children\u2019s book author, primarily works out of her space on the top floor of their home, and Macdonald, a woodworker specializing in marquetry and intricate custom guitars, creates out of the shop.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Jim Macdonald and Lucky Platt in the Bunkhouse Studio. Photograph taken by Daniel Zhang ’24.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Both artists have been longtime stewards of their local artistic communities. Macdonald keeps an open door to his shop\u2014he regularly assists other woodworkers in troubleshooting their projects and hosts workshops out of the space for both artists and those interested in exploring creative making. Several years ago, he initiated an open sailing program to restore a 1950s sailboat and took people sailing on Unity Pond. Over the course of a decade, he was able to get hundreds of people out on the water, many for the first time. <\/span><\/p>\n

Besides regularly teaching art, Platt hosts a retreat for women artists, illustrators, and craftspeople, who gather to make work in a communal space, exploring new mediums, sharing new projects, and enjoying each other’s company. She looks forward to the next in-person retreat, when she’ll be able to offer the press as a tool for expanded artistic exploration.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Jim Macdonald stands in front of his woodworking shop, which he built from the ground up. Photograph taken by Daniel Zhang ’24.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Inside <\/a>
Inside Jim Macdonald\u2019s woodworking shop. Photograph taken by Daniel Zhang ’24. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jim <\/a>
Jim Macdonald\u2019s custom guitars in progress. Photograph taken by Daniel Zhang ’24. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Besides regularly teaching art, Platt hosts a retreat for women artists, illustrators, and craftspeople, who gather to make work in a communal space, exploring new mediums, sharing new projects, and enjoying each other’s company. She looks forward to the next in-person retreat, when she’ll be able to offer the press as a tool for expanded artistic exploration. <\/span>\u200b<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lucky Platt in her studio. Photograph taken by Daniel Zhang ’24.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now that the drypoint press has been set up as the centerpiece in a cozy space dubbed the Bunkhouse Studio, Macdonald and Platt are hoping to give the press and space a more public life. The two are planning ways to include the press in learning opportunities for artists, family and friends, and community members\u2014they are hopeful that Bunkhouse Studio will represent their collaborative work and joint creative ventures. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The blue twelve-inch Dick Blick 906 floor model etching press is set up in the artists\u2019 Bunkhouse Studio. Photograph taken by Daniel Zhang ’24.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe folk musician Pete Seeger said something like \u2018Settle into a place, fall in love with it, and spend the rest of your life there,\u2019\u201d says Macdonald. \u201cAs I get older, it seems more important that I pass my skills on. I see opportunity here, on this land I love, for people to explore their own creative passions through the variety of studio spaces we have developed. Our etching press opens things up to a lot of artistic opportunities.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The first prints created with the press\u2014an etching by Macdonald, and an inherited etching created by Macdonald\u2019s relative over a century ago. Photograph taken by Daniel Zhang ’24.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Platt remembers the art lessons she took as a child with a local artist, Penny Ross, who introduced her to professional art-making mediums not easily accessible in an elementary-school classroom. Inspired by that childhood art teacher, Lucky dreams of introducing local students to creative ideas, new techniques and mediums. After all, materials are at the core of how Platt thinks about community-building through artmaking. \u201cFor me it’s the shared experience of handling art materials and tools that builds connection and creates a special bond,\u201d she says. \u201cMaterials in human hands are unpredictable, humbling, full of possibility, often inherently beautiful\u2014all good qualities for fostering community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christine Zheng, the Mirken Family Postbaccalaureate Fellow in Museum Practice, visits the home studios of two local artists, Lucky Platt and Jim Macdonald, to discuss their artmaking practices, community engagement,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17386,"featured_media":4295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[351291,526146],"tags":[99394,101973],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/thelantern\/files\/2022\/07\/DSC_9679-scaled.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3U3TZ-172","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/thelantern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4280"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/thelantern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/thelantern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/thelantern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17386"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/thelantern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4280"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/thelantern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4315,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/thelantern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4280\/revisions\/4315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/thelantern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/thelantern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/thelantern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/thelantern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}