0h do
weekend
essentials
Nov. 12 to Nov. 15
CONCERT
Concert hopping on a
budget? Stop by The
Blind Pig tonight for a
four-pronged punch
of indie eccentricity.
The Javelins head-
line with their fluid,
angular space-punk.
Rounding out the set
are sunny-side-up
power-poppers The
Pop Project, blue-eyed
blues-smiths Looking
For Mammoths and
hoppity twee-boppers
Murder Mystery. Tick-
ets are $5 ($8 if you're
under 21), and doors
open at 9:30 p.m.
Wu 36
MARISSA MCCLAIN/Daily
-- ON STAGE
The Indian American
LiStudent Association
4 ( will host its annual
Cultural Show at Hill
Auditorium tomorrow.
This year's perfor-
mance, "Vistaara: An
EterniP siogrdc
combines song, d ance
d. " t c~ i~h i wic al
r
:
Inside the world of Ann Arbor
printmaker Takeshi Takahara
By David Riva 11 Daily Fine Arts Editor
anu s unning visuals
that are sure to make
for a truly unique
experience. Don't miss
your chance to see the
largest student-run
cultural show in North
America. The show
starts at 7 p.m and
tickets start at $12.
long a dirt
path some
six miles
outside
of Ann
Arbor sits
a white-
washed
house. It seems to be in the
middle of nowhere, surround-
ed only by a carpet of russet-
colored fallen leaves. Pristine
exterior withstanding, the
building's inside is lined with
a clutter of items strewn about
from constant use.
Crawling, reaching plants
sit in the corner, looking as if
they are impossibly climbing
upward into the sky. One wall
is covered in a flurry of rect-
angular sheets of paper, some
colored with bright hues: blood
red, royal blue; others covered
in black textured dots and lines.
Various drafting tables are set
up along the walls, the heavy
arms of drafting lights hanging
over them, the surface of the
desk covered in cans filled with
brushes, oil pastels, measuring
tape and etching tools.
Upon entering the house,
immediately noticeable is a
giant printing press made of,
gray metal. It's about eight feet
long, complete with knobs and
screws and a turning wheel.
The press itself is covered in
metal plates with lines and
images etched into them -
printmakingplates.
This is the thinking space of
printmaker Takeshi Takahara,
former School of Art & Design
Professor and Arthur F. Thur-
nau Professor Emeritus. Ie
faces this room every time he
seeks to create a new piece, his
mind perhaps as cluttered and
active as his drafting desk.
Takahara employs a print-
making technique known as
intaglio, usingetchings in metal
to produce a printable image
and capture his thoughts and
feelings taken from past experi-
ences, often based on his trav-
els.
His latest exhibition, "The
Four Corners," (on display in
the Residential College Art Gal-
lery through Dec, 4) focuses on
the Southwest United States,
known for its stunning red
and orange rock formations
and supernatural forces. It was
Takahara's goal to encapsulate
the feelings of this area in his
intaglio prints. The selection
of this unconventional method
of expression may appear to be
unusual on the surface, but for
Takahara, it pays off in the long
run.
Intaglio, along with lithogra-
phy, silkscreen and woodblock,
are the four basic printmaking
processes.
Growing up in Japan, Takar-
hara always saw woodblock
as the most popular form of
printmaking. Still, he always
had a desire to work with other
material and soon discovered
he preferred a stronger, almost
impenetrable surface.
"Metal is very hard and it's
is put on a press bed and paper
is forced to pick up the ink from
the grooves, resulting in an
image.
This prolonged and meticu-
lous process might seem exces-
sively laborious and drawn out,
but it's the perfect medium for
Takahara to fully realize the
ideas in his head. The process
also suits his tendency toward
constant revision. He claims
he's in a perpetual state of
reevaluation and correction,
never truly finishing a piece.
"People assume when you
have an idea, you get the result
right then, but that's not the
case," Takahara explained.
"The artist is changing (his or
her work) all the time before
arriving at the final product.
FILM
Free new movie alert:
If you're a member of
the freakishly devoted
cult celebrating "Boon-
dock Saints," you
won't want to miss the
free midnight screen-
ing of "The Boondock
Saints II: All Saints
Day" at the State The-
ater. But wait, there's
a catch. In order to get
in for free, you must
present a pass at the
door, and these passes
can be found scat-
tered across campus.
Let the hunt begin!
The artist is changing (his or
her work) all the time before
arriving at the final product.
That's exciting to me.
- Takeshi Takahara,
printmaker
very resistant," Takahara said.
"I like that dynamic between
my vulnerable idea versus the
solid metal."
Although he was initially
attracted to the materials of
intaglio printmaking, Taka-
hara would have to learn to
be patient, for the steps of the
technique are undeniably time-
consuming.
In intaglio, a copper plate is
coated with an acid-resistant,
asphalt-like substance into
which the artist scratches a
design. An acid bath exposes
the lines, their depth deter-
mined by how long the plate
is left in the bath. These
three steps are repeated mul-
tiple times on the same plate
to create variations of lines.
The asphalt-like substance is
cleaned off, which exposes the
etched lines. Ink is used to fill
in the grooves. Finally, the plate
That's exciting to me."
Even though Takaharaviews
the length of the procedure as
an advantage now, that was not
always his view.
"My instinct was to get a
result very fast, which many
people do when you don't
really understand the process.
You just want a quick result,"
Takahara explained of his early
work.
Takahara acknowledges that
drawingand paintingmayseem
like more appropriate art forms
for immediate artistic achieve-
ment and satisfaction. How-
ever, he prefers to meditate on
and rework his concepts.
"Drawing has a limit in its
own way," he explained.
"Printmaking allows so
much time to produce work.
You get to rethink, revise and
remake your original ideas. (It)
See PRINTMAKING, Page 4B
CONTEST
Do you think your
"Rock Band" group
is the best? Do you
dominate in "Dance
Dance Revolution?"
Display your skills
and prove your worth
at these music- and
movement-fused
games 6 p.m. tomor-
row at the Rock Revo-
lution "Rock Band"
and "DDR" Tourna-
ment at the Ann
Arbor District Library.
Admission is free so
grab some friends
and kick some ass.
DESIGN BY MOSTYCH