Yes, in the 19th century you would have had a job with your engraving skills.
Margaret Szvetecz
margarszv@earthlink.net
Carolyn,
I sure do love the artists I discovered when I was taking those art classes at UT Austin. I would have liked to add Jasper Johns and Jim Dine to the list, but they wouldn't do for Marilynn's purposes--for obvious reasons.
Regards to all,
Margaret Szvetecz
margarszv@earthlink.net
John wrote:
> Some times I wish I was born in a different time period I suspect I
> would have a job with my engraving skills if I was born in the
> 1850's.
You may have had a job, but would you have _wanted_ such a job? I get
this same comment sometimes here in Japan - that had I been born a
couple of hundred years ago, I would have easily found work as a carver
of ukiyo-e prints.
No thank you! Those guys worked umpteen hours a day, seven days a week
(only festival days were 'time off'). The pay was low, barely enough to
exist on; the standards were very strict, and there was certainly no
'fooling around' during the work.
Hey wait a minute - I've just described my work _now_! :-)
But actually, there is a _huge_ difference between their work then and
my (our) work now. Those guys had no choices whatsoever in what they
had to carve/print. Me? I _only_ carve/print what I feel interested in,
and by their standards that makes what I do into 'play', not 'work'. I
get this comment occasionally from other workers here, who of course
only work on what the publishers send them - they may find themselves
cutting a set of blocks for a reproduction of the same print design
they may have just finished, for another publisher. They can't allow
themselves the luxury of picking and choosing, as we do.
I rather suspect that's one of the main points that makes my very
repetitive work (and John's) bearable - _we_ chose it. If we were
'employed' to do this, it would be a different story.
Still want to go live in the past, John? :-)
Dave
THAT WOULD DEPEND I GUESS. You are more than right -- I do get to chose my
poison. But i do enjoy carving a block of wood.
I hear you may have to baten down the hatches, Dave -- seems a big typhoon is
heading towards Japan.
john center
> I hear you may have to baten down the hatches Dave seems a big
> typhoon is
> heading towards Japan.
Yep ... first one of the season to get up this far ... According to
this map it'll hit the Japanese [Baren] membership in order: Dave
Stones first, then me, then George Jarvis ... 1-2-3!
http://www.wni.co.jp/cww/image/typh_a.jpg
Dave