Bill Ritchie' design and art in Michigan
in the
Pat Austin Collection
About Pat Austin : I met Pat in the early 1970s when she took printmaking classes I taught at the UW. Pat taught art in Alaska until she retired, and then moved back to Washington State to reside in Port Townsend. She was very active and dedicated to the printmaking community in PT, and participated in the Port Townsent art scene--particularly supportive of the printmaking cooperative. She bought a Legacy Model Mini Halfwood Press in 2010 and a Galleon Halfwood Press the next year. In 2013 she moved to her home state, Michigan. We remain good friends.
Pat Austin poses with her press in 2010 on the day we delivered it to her
and showed it an opening at her gallery, Northwinds Arts Center, Port Townsend.
See the press tested in an art gallery, click here.
Testing at Northwinds Gallery, Port Townsend, Washington State
Specifications: 2010. Mini Halfwood Press. Serial No. 60073. Rollers are 1.5 x 5.75 inches top and bottom. The bed is 1/4 x 6 x 17 inches in polycarbonate (the standard); overall length is 17.5 inches; overall width is 9 inches; overall height is 10 inches; weight, 12 lbs.; drive wheel is 8 inches diameter in stainless steel; the woods used are black walnut and purple heart edge-laminated base, side pieces and flat top with with ipe cladding steel, walnut hood capped with purple heart. The instrument box is poplar, baltic birch trimmed in purple heart. Included are felts, copper plate, Allen Wrench, User's Manual (with an excerpt from my book, Halfwood Press-The Story, available at amazon.com. Shipping board is mahogany laminate and purple heart.
Pat's second Halfwood, Galleon Halfwood Press No. 5
Active and passive sides of Galleon No. 5
Galleon Halfwood Press No. 5
Specifications: Made in 2011. Galleon Halfwood Press. Serial No. 90005. Roller diameter 2 1/4" x 9" long, top and bottom. Bed is 3/8" polycarbonate, 9" x 26". The overall length is 27"; overall width is 13 3/4"; overall height is 15". Weight is 50 lbs.; Drive wheel is 12" diameter stainless steel. The bed is rack-driven, approximating a 3:1 mechanical advantage. Woods used are Brazilian ipe, American black walnut with wenge interlayering and trimmed with ipe. The pressure screws are linked and synchronized. The press included three etching felts and user's manual. In 2019 she passed this press forward to Cate Pfeifer in 2019.
This is a trial proof, a facsimile of Pat's impression
Collection III: Part of the Children's Game
Provenance: Print. Intaglio. Printed from two etched, aquatint & engraved copper and zine plates, printed in burnt sienna, black, red, ochre oil-base inks. Image 19 1/4 X 17 3/4 inches on 24 X 22 3/4 in Rives BFK. No. ___. Signed lower right. Also in the collections of Billie Jane Bryan, Don Marshall, Dr. Charles McCann, the University of Washington, Kobe Art Museum (Japan), Reino Randall Estate, Lynda Ritchie, Nellie Sunderland, The Evergreen State College, Trippe Collection, Rob Walker, Constance Speth and others.
Exhibitions: Collection III: Part of the Children’s Game was exhibited in the National Print and Drawing Exhibition at Western Illinois University, Macomb (1970); Invitational Group Exhibition, Dick White Gallery, Seattle; 40th International Print Exhibition, Seattle Art Museum; National Print Exhibition, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA (1969); National Print Exhibition, State University College, Potsdam, NY; Invitational Print Exhibition, University of Kentucky (1971); Invitational Traveling Print Exhibition, Kobe, Japan and Washington State (1970-71); National Print Exhibition, Honolulu, Hawaii; Invitational Print Exhibition, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay (1971); Seattle Art Museum’s Rentaloft.
Bill Ritchie's comment: “Over the course of about a year, this print incorporated states of mind I was going through in 1967-68, the animal creature and finally ‘planting’ the tree symbolically on the horizon. I introduced a fascinating game structure, like a playing field. ‘The Children's Game’ refers to the naïveté and the fun of game-play. But there is a sense of foreboding: the games children play can lead to games that adults play and not always in the best interest of human kind. This time was during the Viet Nam conflict. I saw the tree driving along the north side of Lake Union to my UW job. I became fond of it as it was solitary, growing on the brow of a hillock. I had photographed it and incorporated it into this print (which was my first photo-etching). Then, one day, driving by, I saw it ripped out of its place and thrown on a pile of dirt in the back of a dump truck to be hauled away to make room for a condo.” – Bill Ritchie
See the Patron's List for more peoples' collections - click here