What a great turn-out for WEN’s 25th year — we had 26 registered conference attendees with 5 first-time attenders and a several people returning after more than 5 years. Our deepest gratitude to Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum for welcoming our Wood Engraving Museum into its folds —a marvelous partnership we hope will only grow in the years to come. Also, WEN wishes to extend a HUGE thank you to Jim Horton, Tony Drehfal, and Joanne Price for all their efforts and financial support towards the Museum and WEN’s Anniversary celebrations. There is much to celebrate — Please join us in celebrating by contributing to our Autumn Block & Burin dedicated to commemorating WEN’s Silver Anniversary! Opportunities to contribute are here.
The Wood Engraving Museum is a two-part space:
One part is on the first floor where a permanent display and demonstration space highlight wood engraving and its history in the American Letterpress & Graphic Design industry.
The other part of the Wood Engraving Museum is on the second floor (right above the display & demonstration space) that will continuously display an exhibit of relief and letterpress prints with an emphasis on wood engravings, and a permanent display of every single Block & Burin journal ever produced. The second floor space will have two main functions: To provide a workshop space for wood engraving and other classes at Hamilton and to house WEN’s archive, a library of books specific to wood engraving, and an image library of wood engraved blocks available to researchers and visiting artists.
Of course there’s more work to do — stay tuned for updates on Museum specific projects!
David Moyer is a remarkable artist — it was a real treat to see his gorgeous engravings and books in person and hear about his work and approach to image and text.
Max Yela, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee’s Head of Special Collections, presented a delightful smorgasbord of books featuring wood engravings by Gaylord Schanilec, Barry Moser, Eric Gil, David Moyer, John Buckland Wright, Gillian Lewis Tyler, Mary Groom, and more. Max also talked about the resources of the Special Collections Library at UW-M and a bit about the curation process for posting Special Collections blogs on social media.
Rebecca Gilbert giving a ruling machine demonstration.
Impromptu demonstrations are common at WEN conferences and the free exchange of tips and techniques are shared and relished. Where else are you going to get this knowledge?!
Rebecca Gilbert talks with Al Holter and Jon Hinkel at the Open Portfolio event.
WEN’s informal “Open Portfolio” event is part wood engraving art fair, part print exchange, and part show and tell — just one way that WEN members share their knowledge and love of wood engraving with the general public and with each other.
The Wood Engravers’ Network Third Triennial Exhibition is on display at Hamilton until September 29, 2019. This is its second last venue concluding its third year of travel — don’t miss it!
WEN President, Joanne Price tries on the Medusa poster at Hamilton.
Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum is a wonderfully unique and fitting place for WEN to return to for its conference — and especially in its 25th Anniversary year. Vintage posters from the Enquirer Collection are too good not to pose with!
Happy Anniversary WEN!!
