Re: the history of gum queens (and kings)
This is all so confusing to me.
I sometimes use 4 or even 5 colors in my gum layers. A huge issue, of
course, arises from the fact that I usually have this nasty layer of
palladium and platinum underneath. All of a sudden, I feel adrift in
a sea of imprecision: What I am actually creating with these blasted
prints of mine?
My first inclination was to coin a new term along the lines of 'quad-
color gummist', or maybe even 'quint-color gummist'. But then I ran
straight into the greek-latin dilemma. Maybe I am actually a 'tetra-
color gummist' or a 'penta-color gummist'. The whole issue added a
whole layer of stress to what would normally be a typically Sunday
afternoon spend deciding whether to watch the reruns of America's
Funniest Videos or head to the darkroom and make some prints.
Fortunately, this particular Sunday, the answer came from outside the
art world when my 8th grade daughter announced that we were going to
complete a science fair project. For those interested, the burning
scientific question she chose to research was whether the shape of a
toy balloon had any influence on the ultimate burst pressure of a
given balloon. After using a compressor combined with a pressure
gauge from a basketball pump to explode 75 balloons of various
shapes, I feel we may be closing in on an answer that will sit side-
by-side with such discoveries as quantum mechanics interest-free
checking.
Happy X-gumming to all
Clay
On Jan 28, 2007, at 8:17 PM, Christina Z. Anderson wrote:
Dear All,
Oh my goodness...
I thank Judy, Mark, and Sandy for being aware that I am, in fact, a
gum
printer, and a tricolor one at that. I did think that was pretty
obvious in
the last 8 years I have been on the list....hmmmm. Makes me wonder
if all the time I have spent posting to the list about gum has been
worth it...And I didn't start tricolor over cyanotype until Clemson
in 2003. I have made gum printing my process of choice since 1998
after learning it from Rudi Dietrich at Montana State University.
Rudi's gum prints were in Hasselblad magazine in the 1980's.
In fact, the reason why I went to Clemson University for graduate
school was
specifically to study under Sam Wang after I saw his amazing
tricolor gum
prints at APIS. I would consider Sam a tricolor gummist first and
foremost, and though he is known in Barnier's book for promoting
gum over cyanotype, I have seen his tricolors without a cyano
underlayer, too. But lately he has been an alt slut because he is
doing a lot of platinum/cyanotype.
For the record, I do monochrome gum, duotone gum, tricolor gum with or
without the cyanotype layer, gum over platinum, in fact, I put gum
anywhere
it can go except where the sun don't shine.
My grandson who lives with me asks me, "Gamma are we going to gum
pint [sic] today?" He knows I am a gum printer and he is only 2
1/2. He doesn't know the "tricolor" distinction yet...And yes, he
does gum print with me and no, he does not eat dichromated
sausage. He is a vegan. Otherwise he would.
To answer Diana's question of why cyanotype (and thank you Diana
for a wonderfully reasoned post--we need more like that), it is a
great layer to register on, it is smooth, sharp, and detailed. But
it can just as equally be thalo blue. The benefits--cyanotype takes
5-15 minutes to develop out, so it speeds up the process. And
generally, with a cyano underneath layer, the image is plenty dark
with only a yellow and magenta coat on top, in fact, if the cyano
layer is not curved correctly it becomes too dark and the resulting
gum is ugly. Unless "dark" is the correct device for the image.
Sometimes I print a very light cyano underlayer and three coats of
tricolor (thalo included) on top.
If invalidation was not a continual list issue between particular
members, a simple question about "who is a tricolor gummist" would
have evoked no heat. And, sorry guys, with the history of
invalidation that occurs on this list, and the question's timing, I
would be hard pressed to believe that "who is a tricolor gummist"
is an innocent question. Call me supersensitive, PMSy, menopausal,
the "B" word, psychotic, or maybe even astute.
I just don't stand a chance ANYWHERE. You see, I had a convo with
an unnamed but famous gentleman about the history of alt. We were
talking about gum queens, and he firmly and unequivocally said that
Judy Seigel was the one who warranted "gum queen" without
question. Whoa, shot down! I tried to spirit away her Post
Factory Journals sitting on the shelves in the Eastman House Rare
Books Library....I even thought to expunge the images of hers I
showed just this week on PowerPoint to my alternative process
class...hey, she did that T-Shirt book that I am going to lecture
about tomorrow in my documentary class, with NO gum in it...even
SHE is fickle and I stand a chance...but, no, now, my identity as a
tricolor gummist is in question?????
Can I at least be "gum princess"?
Chris
CZAphotography.com
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