AUSTRALIA

Visit with Ruth Faerber

• Australia. NSW. Sydney. 1/16/83 This is the first visit to an Australian artist's studio. After a cup of coffee and a brief overview of her past work as a painter and printmaker, Ruth Faerber explains her interest in papermaking and how this craft has proved to give her the quality she wants to express her interest in Aboriginal culture and archeology. She shows her works which were part of a recent show of women artists and she explains her technique.
• Papermaking is a medium which has been found to be one of exceptional versatility to artists. No matter whether the artists are painters, sculptors, or graphic artists, the form seems to be attractive to any kind of user. Some artists use it to underscore the paradox of its own temporal limits, giving expression to ephemeral ideas about facts of enduring kinds. 30:00 Min.

Peter Laverty Compares Curricula

• Australia. NSW. Sydney. 1/16/83 Though the room was dim for the video camera, and only the light of his cigar can be seen clearly, the videotape recorded one of Peter Laverty's basic contentions for arts curricula: the tutor system. He is the former Dean of an art college, and is now a full-time painter.
• Teaching printmaking on the level of post-secondary schools continues to be an issue of some debate. Technical needs and esthetics seem unanswerable questions. Participants in higher education in liberal arts colleges still speculate on how best to teach courses in the printmaking media without sending the arts students into disciplines too far-removed from the arts. 7:00 Min.

Earl Backans and Friends

• Australia. NSW. Sydney. 1/18/83 Earl Backans, a teacher in one of Sydney's art colleges, summoned a group of his friends (many of whom used to be students in his art classes) to show their work to the Ritchies. The meeting began with the showing of several videotapes on Seattle artists in media arts. Afterwards Ritchie showed prints and slides. The recording includes views of the artists as some of them showed portfolios and commented on their ideas and techniques.
• Teachers contribute more to their students than a temporary experience in the art field when they encourage community involvement. Young artists sometimes find the intangible benefits to be crucial. Particularly when new techniques are the concern of artists or when a visitor is in town. The community sense can be of vital importance. 41:00 Min.

Fred Genis: Lithographer

• Australia. NSW. Sydney. 1/17/83 Fred Genis moved to Australia recently, having lived in other parts of the world, printing for artists and publishers. He shows the visitor around his new studio; he says it may be the last workshop he builds. In the videotape he talks about what it is like to be Australian after having lived in Europe, America, and South America. Technical needs of artists present no problem to Fred, even if it is electronic media; he has made it his business to meet the needs whenever they involve his lithographic craft.
• The so-called collaboration between printer and artist has a long tradition in European cities. Publication of original graphics has always been an effort involving at least a printer and an artist, and often a publisher or art dealer. The technical requirements are more realistically approached in this arrangement since the means provide for the solution to new problems. Schools do not work in the same way, of course, so there much to learn from these professionals. 14:00 Min.

The Victorian Print Workshop

• Australia. Victoria. Melbourne. 1/25/83 The Victorian Print Workshop is located in Melbourne. It is an access-based workshop, subsidized by government funds in exchange for easing the artists' access to printing presses under expert management. John Loane is the director; he allowed Bill and Lynda Ritchie to wander freely and videotape the facility. An offset lithography project was underway. The acid room contained safety equipment worth noting; the workshop as a whole had many excellent features.
• It is estimated that there are 150 to 200 workshops of different kinds for printmaking in the US In Europe, there are many such shops, as there are also in Japan's and Australia's cities. The municipal and state governments respond to the requests of artists' organizations and concerted effort of individuals. In most cases, the support needed is small compared to other facilities needing subsidy, and the indirect benefits are considerably larger when they come from the media arts. 23:00 Min.

Judith Schiff at the Print Council of Australia

• Australia. Victoria. Melbourne. 1/25/83 After a difficult beginning with the video camera, Schiff is recorded as she talks about the activities of the Print Council. For example, the PCA is the largest commissioner of prints in Australia; the PCA encourages young graduates by awarding them with certain privileges in the council programs; the PCA co-ordinates international exhibitions. Some prints and many catalogs are scanned by the video camera.
• Print organizations are well-organized around the world, providing support services for its members through exhibition, productions, and management. Judith Schiff at the PCA says exchange shows are arranged through other print organizations, and production is fostered by the PCA. This is an example of the maturity of art organizations founded on printmaking. 22:00 Min.

The Radio Talk Show

• Australia. Victoria. Melbourne. 1/25/83 Lynda Ritchie video tapes Bill while he makes a guest appearance at the studio of radio station 3AW in Melbourne. The moderator for the Billie Karen Show asks Ritchie about the differences between original prints and those being sold at that time by the Australian newspapers or being advertised as special bargains. Ritchie compares the investment aspect of these with purchase of prints from lesser- known, young artists.
• The maturity of printmaking brings about widespread interest in the art form - not only do people want to try their own hand at it, but they also want to collect prints; communications (and controversies) have been generated by the print media and the marketing of reproductions-as-originals. Offset lithography singularly caused recurrent stirrings in the hand-print societies of the US and Australia. 11:00 Min.

Bill Ritchie at Melbourne State College

• Australia. Victoria. Melbourne. 1/26/83 Ritchie handed the video camera to a student with a few words of instruction and she tried, with fair success, to record his presentation. Ritchie is shown introducing his work to students in the printmaking class of Jim Taylor. Most of the recording goes in and out of focus and is interrupted by cuts and starts.
• There were few opportunities to visit college classes in session, since the month of January, Australian Summer, is the school vacation-time. It appears that art schools are strongly similar to those of the US--with students watching the same tapes, e.g., Shock of the New by Robert Hughes). 6:00 Min.

Visit with William Kelly

• Australia. Victoria. Melbourne. 1/28/83 William Kelly, a painter in Melbourne and former Dean of a college, is recorded as he first looks at Bill Ritchie's collection of his own work; then he shows the work he has done himself on computer graphics systems. He describes his use of lighting in his painting, an influence of his work with live theater. He shares with Ritchie speculations on the uses of technology and his own central interest in the performance arts.
• Artists have not ignored the opportunities afforded by technologies, and purpose and uses are not predictable. Sometimes the advent of a certain technical change in the performing arts for example, creates an opportunity for a visual artist. Visual communication technologies, (computer graphics for example) may be of use to the visual artist, but the visual artist may find computer-aided stage lighting to be richer. Technology produces another effect when the artist's attitudes are altered in some fundamental way; an example is the idea of weightlessness as demonstrated by astronautical research. 36:00 Min.

Introducing Garry Coleman

• Australia. Victoria. Melbourne. 1/29/83 The conversation takes place in the kitchen as Garry Coleman introduces Bill and Lynda Ritchie to his innovations in printmaking hardware and methods. He re-invents screen-stretching, adhesives, photosensitive emulsions and lithograph plate graining systems in order to adapt it to the least professional users: his evening classes at Prahran School.
• Disregarding the disputes about printmaking being too technical to be seriously regarded as an art form in its own right, educators are responding to the interest of their students. Technical projects in schools and workshops help to popularize printmaking, resulting in lower-costing methods. Educators theorize that printmaking is an introduction to the fine arts for some people who are otherwise less apt to become involved. 56:00 Min.

Visit to Bea Maddock, Part 1

• Australia. Victoria. Melbourne. 1/29/83 Maddock is visited at her home/studio in the country not far from Melbourne. She is a book artist and looks for awhile at Ritchie's journal of computer graphics while Bill and Lynda look through books she has made. They compare their views on printmaking and photographic processes and on teaching printmaking. (Continued on Part 2).
• Artists create bookworks, using hand-made papers and hand printed words and illustrations. Sometime unique, or one-of-a-kind books result when the book is treated as an object instead of something with which to communicate. Technical processes are not an obstacle to experienced artists who want to do bindery work; artists who have had teaching duties are especially adept. In today's discussions of technology, such artist's views are of special interest. Sadly, it will be noted, a few months after this videotape was made, wildfires in Southern Australia burned large areas, and Bea Maddock's home and studio--and her lifetime of works--were destroyed.) 26:00 Min.

Visit with Bea Maddock, Part II

• Australia. Victoria. Melbourne. 1/29/83 The visit to Bea Maddock continues, showing her bookworks. Her studio is then explored and her linoleum blocks are shown. Then her print drawers are opened and she begins to show work from 1976 onward. She shows her darkroom--most of which she herself built--and her backyard paper mill.
• Some artists have had no choice but to re-invent or re-design expensive production equipment to fit their bank accounts. Scarcity of money and equipment have not stopped some of them from using such technologies as color photographic printing, paper-making and publishing. Teaching seems to provide the impetus to innovate and adapt creative ideas for technology and art. 21:00 Min.

Visit with Stephen Jones

• Australia. NSW. Sydney. 2/2/83 As one of Sydney's earliest workers in video, Stephen Jones presents his viewpoints on current offerings by Sydney's art schools. He offers a survey of the technical facilities in Australia for video art and then some speculation on the future of popular television. As for the art world, he had little to say: (1)"I think it's well provided-for" and (2) "I don't like it." He shows videotape recordings of his work he made with rock music groups; he believes there's more excitement to be found in the music world, and more that is creative.
• It might be said thre is a second generation of video workers. It is conspicuous that they do not attach the word "art" to their works, only they refer to what they do as "video making." Music, rather than the visual arts, is the primary form relating to their development. 43:00 Min.

Stop by Metro Video

• Australia. NSW. Sydney. 2/4/83 Sydney's Metro Video is the access production center, the equivalent of the more traditional community printmaking workshop. They provide pre- and post-production facilities for independent and not-for-profit projects in video. This tape recording gives only a brief glimpse, but conversation with one of its people, Rod Sewell, helps to provide an overview of Metro's activities.
• To address the high cost of technology--such as videotape production--centers have formed within major cities which allow independents and entrepreneurs an opportunity to develop non-commercial works. Not only in so-called "video art," but also in community interest, educational, and social projects. Co-operation among city or other government funders and innovative, energetic new producers yields the tools needed to make video programs. 12:00 Min.

Some Graphics in Paddington

• Australia. NSW. Sydney. 2/4/83 On the walls of the building where Metro Video is housed are many large, crude graphics, torn from their paste and forming a collage of strong visual impact. Most of the posters are related to artists' and political performances, rallies, and shows. This videotape is a substitute for slide film.
• Graphics can still give quite a boost to daily experience, despite print's ubiquity and the facts of the electronic life we live in. 3:00 Min.

Next stop: Tokyo

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