Production of exhibition catalogue made easy

While sorting photos of a recent exhibition using iPhoto on an Apple Mac I explored the ‘book’ option in this free software. After selecting one of the many layout templates it was easy to populate the pages with images. The basic image editing tools in iPhoto also helped to improve the look of the pictures significantly. After tweaking the templates and adding the images and some text, I only needed to press the ‘buy’ button and through my Apple account the prove of my catalog was on its way to be printed. This is just another example of a web2 based production method.

iPhoto book interface

The price of about $25 (Australian) for each copy is good if one needs only a few copies instead of hundreds to make a traditional print-run viable. I also used a pdf export of this catalog to get 20 copies printed locally, the price was comparable but the quality of the ‘Apple’ print was superior. You can download (500KB) a low res pdf of this catalog.

I have now a lasting document that helps with promoting my work and a little giveaway for everyone who supported my work. In the process I also registered as a publisher and this booklet has an ISBN. This might sound like a lot of effort for a little 30 page publication, but this catalog documents my recent ‘highlights‘ exhibition, which in turn represented the outcome of an intensive period of research and work as part of my professional practice.

web 2 and distributed manufacturing for designer – maker

Based on web 2 technologies, a growing variety of production processes are becoming easily accessible for anyone.
An online interface makes highly specialized technologies available. Once you setup your account, payment and shipping options are selected you can start producing and in some cases have access to a network of like-minded users or potential customers.
Companies like Ponoko (laser cutting and engraving), RedEye (Rapid Prototyping) and blurb (bookmaking) can successfully contribute to a designer/maker practice. A competent level of computer skills are required to address these services to achieve the best outcome. For waterjet or laser cutting, which are essentially two dimensional processes, of flat or sheet materials the mastery of a vector-based graphics program like Adobe Illustrator is essential. To use the RedEye ‘factory of the future’ one needs to generate a .stl file of a virtual 3D object that had been modeled in a CAD program.
The underlying specialized technology, for a long time the domain of the manufacturing industry, is expensive and usually out of reach of a single craft practitioner. If acquired, such equipment would ‘tie’ the individual maker to this technology for a long time and introducing a high level of risk to their business. Not to mention high running cost and that these digitally based technologies become obsolete within a few years.

I have used several of these processes while designing and making the ‘desk light‘, it has a waterjet cut stainless steel plate, a lasercut lamp shade (Ponoko) and Rapid Prototyping parts. Using these technologies has led the design process to new solutions and made the making of this light relatively easy.

About Designer/Maker 1

Some contemporary craft professionals refer to their practice as designer/maker. Eight different models (designer/maker niches) of this approach to practice had been defined by Noris Iaonnou. (1) I like to add an other variation here, with a raised level of information literacy and competency, identifying today’s designer/maker practice. A literacy that goes beyond using email and ordering materials online, it will include administration, development, presentation, promotion and (partly) production of projects.

Much of the Design Arts degree at the Australian National University, School of Art is based on matching changes in craft practice, education and digital technology with the expectation of this contemporary designer/maker model.

The core of any craft practice has to be the skills of the maker in his/her respective field, using traditional processes and materials. If these skills are paired with ‘digital’ competence both hold great potential to inform each other and merge into a contemporary designer/maker practice.

from www.cinnamonlee.com

Canberra based jeweler Cinnamon Lee can be seen as an example of this approach. She applies a series of technology based processes together with a high level of manual finishing to make unique rings only possible through the application of high-resolution rapid prototyping together with casting.

(1) Noris Iaonnou, ‘Old paradigms for new: designer-maker models and the dilemma of globalism versus regionalism’. pgs 23 -29
‘Designing Minds – Contemporary issues in craft, design and industry’ Symposium, University of South Australia, 2000

Highlights Exhibitions

My first solo exhibition since 2001 called ‘Highlights’ opened in February 2009 at Craft ACT in Canberra and then in May at Metalab, in Sydney. Many thanks to Catrina Vignando, general manager Craft Australia and Grace Cochran who have opened those shows respectively. Highlights represents a change in my practice with the focus on light objects as well as highlighting how combining making processes (manual, digital and distributed) can address the designer/maker model as a contemporary approach to craft. See earlier post of the design/making of the light ‘Desk 30′.

The exhibitions were well received and successfully set up by Jason Hugonnet, curator and exhibition manager Craft ACT and Cesar Cueva, director of Metalab. Please find Jason Hugonnet’s exhibition review here.

Highlights at CraftACT, Canberra, Image by Creative Image Photography

Highlights at metalab, Sydney. Image 'Indesignlive.com'

I wish I had known about this site earlier. The “Rare Book Room”.

Many of my posts share findings about two particular prints published in Albrecht Dürer’s 2nd edition of the Painters Manual 1538 (Unterweysung der Messung). In order to see these woodcuts in relation to their descriptive texts and their ‘context’ within the book, I had to travel to Melbourne, Nürnberg, Munich and Vienna.

I could have had a very good ‘preview’ of this book on the “Rare Book Room” site where a good quality, page by page, reproduction of the Manual is available.

On the intro page of this fantastic site it says: ‘The Rare Book Room site has been constructed as an educational site intended to allow the visitor to examine and read some of the great books of the world.’ And it is a pleasure to turn the pages of these special books.

You can see the two prints by Dürer I referred in some of my posts in the rare bookroom here:

The Draughtsman of the Lute and A draughtsman drawing a reclining woman.

My blogs about the ‘Lute’ print are:
‘Did Albrecht Dürer get it wrong, a surprise discovery in one of his prints’
‘Ist Albrecht Dürer ein Fehler unterlaufen eine überraschende Entdeckung in seinem Holzschnittes der Zeichner der Laute’
‘Further to Albrecht Dürer woodcut The draughtsman of the Lute’

My blogs about the ‘Reclining woman’ are:
‘A page out of Dürer’s own copy of the Painters Manual’
‘Male or Female? One of Dürer’s prints in the context of gender, feminism and other theories.’
‘Dürer lost in translation? German Klartext and English translation of one page of Dürer’s handwritten manuscript of his 2nd edition of the painters manual’

Dürer lost in translation? German ‘Klartext’ and English translation of one page of Dürer’s handwritten manuscript for his 2nd edition of the Painters Manual.

The image below shows a word-by-word and line-by-line ‘translation’ of Dürer’s handwriting in clear text. In this text Dürer describes the use of his illustration of the ‘grid system’ as a drawing aid. Please find a discussion about this illustration here. Below the image is the English translation by Walter L. Strauss (The Painter’s Manual, 1977, pge 435). I matched the line sequence of the English translation with the one of Dürer’s manuscript to allow for an easier comparison of the two texts. Please click on the image to enlarge and read the German Klartext.

Translation of Dürer

(Ektachrome Signatur: 4 L.impr.c.n.mess. 119, http://www.bsb-muenchen.de)
Please find more details about this page in my earlier blog here.

Walter L. Strauss’ translation:

1. There is yet another method of copying an object and of
2. rendering it larger or smaller according to one’s wish, and
3. it is more practical than using a glass pane because it is
4. less restricted. In this method one uses a frame with a grid
5. of strong black thread. The spaces or quadrangles should
6. be about two fingers wide. For scanning,
7. one must prepare a pointer whose height should
8. be adjustable to be at eye level, which is
9. marked ‘o’. Then place the object to
10. be drawn a good distance away. Move it or bend
11. it as you like, and view it from
12. level ‘o’ to ascertain that it is in
13. the proper position, so as to please you. Then
14. place the grid or frame between the object and the pointer.
15. If you prefer to use fewer spaces of the grid,
16. move it closer to the object. Check how many spaces of the
17. grid will be utilized to accommodate the width and height
18. of the object and then draw a grid, large or small,
19. on which you wish to draw. Now begin to scan the object with your eye -point
20. o- placed above the pointer, and where it points on the grid in the frame, mark it
21. off on the grid on your sheet of paper. It will be good, and it will be
22. correct. But if you prefer to drill a small hole into your scanner,
23. it will serve the same purpose equally well. I have drawn
24. this method below.
notice on the margin (+ on a sheet of paper or a panel)

My thoughts about this text:
As I pointed out earlier here this text appeared in the second edition of Dürer’s painters manual together with a preliminary sketch for the woodcut ‘A draughtsman drawing a reclining woman’. This second and extended edition had 22 additional illustrations. It was commissioned in 1538 by his wife Agnes and printed by his friend Hieronymus Formschneyder ten years after Dürer’s death.
Several ‘inconsistencies’ appear when comparing Dürer’s manuscript with the final printed version. Firstly he makes references to the ‘eye-point’ marked ‘o’ in lines 9 and 12. He shows this point in his sketch, however in the printed version the text still shows the ‘o’ but the final printed illustration does not.
Secondly the ‘gender change’ in the illustration itself. Dürer drew a male model in front of the artist while the printed version shows a female model. This printed version has given rise to much discussion. Please see earlier blog about this print.

Sketch 1525?

Print 1538

Male or Female? One of Duerer’s prints in the context of gender, feminism and other theories

Dürer drew a man not a women. See for yourself:

Duerer's preliminary sketch showing a man not a woman.

(The woodcut based on this sketch by Dürer’s appears ‘mirrored’ in the printed version as a consequence of the printing process. Ektachrome Signatur: 4 L.impr.c.n.mess. 119, http://www.bsb-muenchen.de )
Please find more details about this sketch in my earlier blog here.

This blog intents to question the basis of some of the interpretations of the woodcut ‘Draughtsman drawing a reclining woman’ by Albrecht Dürer. This image is the basis of discussions in the context of gender, feminism and post modernism. This is the widely known image on which these discussions are base:

Duerer's 'Draughtsman drawing a reclining woman'

The following sentences are taken out of some of the texts, with links to the full text where they are quoted from, followed by my own thoughts on Duerer’s intention in regards to this illustration.
Purdue University:
The result confirms our suspicion that vision exists in Dürer’s image as the scene of sexual possession. Dürer’s engraving presents us with a specular economy that sublimates touch into sight and dominance into art. And we, by implication, are present as a third party to these events….

Suny College at Oneonta:
The opposition between male culture and female nature is starkly drawn in this image; the two confront each other. The woman lies in a prone position; the pose is difficult to determine, but her hand is clearly poised in a masturbatory manner over the genital. In contrast to the curves and undulating lines of the female section, the male compartment is scattered with sharp, vertical forms; the draughtsman himself is up and is alert and absorbed. Woman offers herself to the controlling discipline of illusionistic art. With her bent legs closest to the screen, the image recalls not simply the life class but also the gynaeocological examination.

Even at Stanford University someone cannot help but to make a comment about this image:
A wooden frame covered with a grid of black threads, together with an eyepiece – represented here by a small obelisk – permitted an artist to replicate the scene before him onto a drawing surface ruled with a matching grid. We will repeat his demonstration in class. Nobody will be asked to undress.

Now my thoughts:
What leads me to question these readings is a handwritten text and preliminary sketch by Albrecht Dürer himself. I came across these sources while sighting an Ektachrome reproduction of one page in Dürer’s own copy of the 1st edition 1525 Painters Manual at the Bayerische Staatsbiliothek in München, Germany.
Please find more details about this sketch in my earlier blog here.

Dürer had planed further additions for the 2nd edition of his Manual. The sketch and descriptions were inserted as a loose leaf in a (his own) copy of the 1st edition.
Now what is interesting is that this 2nd edition was printed in 1538 commissioned by his wife Agnes Dürer – 10 years after his death. As is obvious from this initial sketch that he shows a man – the artist – drawing another man and NOT a woman.
In my view Dürer’s intention was how to best illustrate this particular drawing system – subdividing the picture plane in squares as reference areas to be reproduced on a drawing surface with the same number of squares.

That he used a human figure as a ‘subject’ in this print follows from his intense study and documentation of the human proportions he did at this time– also published as a book after his death. In other illustrations about the use of aids to achieve a perspective drawing, he had used a simple object, like a vase or more challenging objects eg a lute. In this image he uses the complexity of the human figure, especially when observed in such a way that it will display foreshortening; difficult to capture even for an experienced hand.

I have absolutely no problem in ‘taking a work of art’ to support one or another theory or point, but in this case I believe the authors of the texts above might have reached different conclusions if they would have known about Dürer’s own view as shown in the sketch of this so well known and discussed print.

There are further ‘clues’ in the text that he had written on the same page. I will blog soon a transcript/translation in German and English from his handwriting.

A page out of Albrecht Duerer’s own copy of the Painters Manual

I visited several print-rooms in Europe in April this year in the hope to find evidence in support of my theory of the ‘misaligned perspective’ . (see earlier blogs: ‘Blog 1 English version’ , ‘Blog 1 Deutsche Version’ , ‘Blog 2′). Using funds from the Carrick Award, I saw original versions of the wood cut of ‘Man drawing a lute’ at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum (Nürnberg, Germany) and at the Albertina (Vienna, Austria) as well as high quality ‘Ektachrome’ slide at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (München, Germany) this slide held the biggest surprise for me, but more about this slide later.

In Nürnberg I was able to see a copy of the print in question as a single leaf (proof) and several (historic) books holding references to this print. In Vienna I got presented a copy of Dürer’s Manual which was cut at the margins and included also some drawings about medieval defense installations from an other book by Duerer. It was a special moment when these original Renaissance works were brought out of the vault and presented for close inspection.

None of the works I saw at either location could provide me with any further inside about my theory. The senior curator at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Dr. Rainer Schoch, made me aware that the Bayerische Staatsbiliothek in München holds a copy of Dürer’s own copy of the 1525 Manual with handwritten comments and additions, an advice which let to very exciting new insides about this Manual.

My visits to Nürnberg and Vienna were prearranged so I could see the original artworks, however the visit to München was spontaneous with only a few hours to spend allowing not enough time to retrieve Duerer’s own copy of the Manual from the air conditioned vaults but I was able sight an ‘Ektachrome’ reproduction of the page with ‘Man drawing a lute’. As this Ektachrome shows the book opened, two pages are visible. On the right side is the print of ‘Lute’ but the left page is covered by an inserted loose leaf with a hand written text and sketch by Dürer himself.

On this loose leaf he has described the use of an additional drawing system to achieve a perspective drawing. The published print of this sketch is usually referred to as the ‘(Daughts) Man drawing a reclining woman’ or in German ‘Ein Mann zeichnet eine liegende Frau’. It was printed in the 2nd edition – the 1538 edition of this Manual which was published by his wife, Agnes Dürer, 10 years after his death, it appears in a significantly altered version. Here is a low resolution of digital reproduction of this slide. I will blog a translation of the text and some further thoughts on Dürer’s sketch and its printed version in the near future.

One page out of Dürer

Ektachrome Signatur: 4 L.impr.c.n.mess. 119 (http://www.bsb-muenchen.de) (I purchased a digital reproduction of this Ektachrome and have permission to publish it as part of my research)

I like to thank Frau Barbara Fellner for her assistance and her skillful navigation to make the findings in Munich possile.

Preparing for Highlights, 3

Further to my last blog, Preparing for Highlights, 2.
Yesterday, my first Ponoko laser cut pieces arrived and it was worth waiting for. After peeling off the protective sheet, that still showed the impact of the laser’s heat, clean clear pieces popped out of the cut Perspex sheet. I had used the clear 2mm thick Perspex material out of Ponoko’s material catalogue.

Peeling off the protective layer

The edges are clean and appear almost polished and do not show, as I had expected, some ‘burn’ marks. As Ponoko suggests in their ‘starter kit’ the dimensioning of interlocking pieces might need a bit of fine-tuning, I found that while having a good fit the slots I had designed have been a bit too wide. This will be easily fixed in Illustrator, as I have in mind to get more of the same parts cut in different colours for further variations of this lamp.

close up of the lamp

These parts form the ‘head’ of the desk-lamp for which I had already made all other parts. The assembly was straight forward as everything, the rapid prototyped and laser cut parts fitted very well together. I used sandpaper to make the surface of the parts opaque as the clear was ‘too’ transparent. Now the LED’s make the whole head light up.

Prototype put together

Opaque surfaces

I am very pleased about the straight forward way Ponoko’s system enables me to include precision cut pieces as part of my designs. Living in Australia made it a three week turn-around-time which was somewhat testing. But I already look forward to the next shipment with parts that will combine laser cutting with laser engraving. Ponoko has great instructional videos about this on their site.

Preparing for Highlights, 2

I just put together the prototype of a desk-lamp. This object uses polished stainless steel, ABS plastic (rapid prototyped parts), an aluminum tube coated with carbon fiber, laser-cut Perspex and 3 warm white 3 watt LEDs.

Desk lamp computer rendering

For the first time I will use a net based producer for part of the making process. Most of the lamp’s head part – the laser cut Perspex – will be produced by Ponoko . A clever (company) setup that laser cuts and laser engraves materials based on ones own design. Ponoko’s well working website makes it easy to get started. From selecting the materials to producing the right file formats for cutting and/or engraving all is explained in easy to follow steps. I am eagerly awaiting the first shipment of the 2mm thin cross-sections for the ‘reflector’ part of the lamp’s head.

After modeling the lamp shade as a ‘solid model’ first in CAD (formZ) I then sliced it into the cross-sections, these sections were then imported into Adobe Illustrator and saved out in the right format for Ponoko’s processes.

Cross-sections for laser cutting

Before uploading the file to be laser cut, I printed and cutout the Illustrator outlines and put together a mock-up of the lamp shape to see if I like the design and to get an idea if the pieces fit together.

paper mock-up of the lamp

Computer simulated lamp head

I also rendered a simulated view of the final head-piece as well as the whole desk lamp. I hope the final ‘real’ object will closely resemble this simulation.

prototype of desk lamp with paper shade