Lately I have been spending time thinking about my art making practice, the role it plays in our culture & the journey I am on.  It started most recently while I was traveling in Prague this fall.  We were in a very small gallery and noticed a bin full of dry point etchings.  These were small prints and very beautiful, lots to choose from. We found several that we liked and picked 2 to bring home. The thing is, they were not very much money, and at the same time it did not matter.  What was important is that the artist is a man from Prague who is 75 years old and loves to make etchings. Lots of etchings. So we collect 2 and we are happy, the artist is happy, and the gallery owner is happy.  I frame the prints and put them on the wall and how much they cost means nothing.  How they brighten my day and remind me of my time in Central Europe means everything. 

When I started making my photographs into photogravures I became more aware of the world of printmaking and I noticed a few things right away.  Printmakers make a lot of work, probably because they love to make art the same way I love to make art. All the time. If you attend a printmaking fair with a handful of dealers showing and selling work, what you will see is bins full of sleeved pictures - think record store.  I was struck by the fact that I had never seen other genres of art presented that way.  The other thing you will notice is the cost is lower.  Do the artists treat the work as less precious? Maybe so, and maybe it is a good idea. I sometimes feel like I have been encouraged to attach a false sense of preciousness to my work, and I notice many photographers, in a way, act when pricing their work like they are already dead….  

Back to our role as artists in culture.  Art is important.  It may not be as valued as we would like, but the role it plays in folks lives can be profound.  Collecting art feels good. Viewing art that we have collected is soothing and helps in times of concern and discomfort, and in good times as well. The effect of art is universal and I would like to think it is available to everyone.

I find myself working in the realm of hand made books and I love this as a way to both house my photographs and incorporate my new love for letterpress printing. The process is months long and I enjoy the project nature of the work.  I also long for printmaking outside of the current book project. I have lots of negatives and lots of desire to make prints. 

So I’ve been thinking.  My wife Kathleen has a face she makes whenever I say those words, but here is the deal….

I’ve decided to start making small prints of my work in open editions, think 4x4 images on 6x8 sheets (off cuts of the paper from the books).  I will be offering these prints on my website in a section called “Without Limits,” referring to both the open edition and the selection of the work. I want to print and show my work more like the sketches that the secessionist artists I so admire made all the time. I learned more about this group of artists on my trip and have been thinking about them ever since. As open editions I will sometimes add more inventory to pictures that have sold out and I may make the same pictures into numbered editions or include them in a book. Whatever feels right will be my goal. The prints will have the same quality without the limited edition and all that goes with that idea.  

The launch for Without Limits with be this Tuesday and I will announce new additions each week in the same way I’ve announced The Weekly Editions in the past. 

I get that this is a big ask, but I would love to hear from y’all about  how you feel in your role as artists and what best fills that role for you. 

 Be well,

Ray