SPRING 2017 — GOD EDITION featured artist: karen cassidy society of northern alberta print-artists message from 10123–121 Street, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, t5n 3w9 the board But I am not here to proselytize the 780.423.1492 | [email protected] | snapartists.com relationship of printmaking and religion The history of printmaking from a pulpit — or am I? From SNAP’s is steeped in the history of board of directors, I welcome you to the 2017 BOARD OF DIRECTORS message from the executive director God edition of SNAPLine! [email protected] religion. From early woodblock To those indoctrinated into the cult of Welcome to the Spring 2017 edition of SNAPline; the GOD Edition. president rubbings of the Buddha SNAP, I say thank you. To those hesitating Our 2016 shift to thematic publications has allowed us to develop on taking a leap of faith (to Sponsor Brenda Malkinson rich editorial content, when selecting our 2017 SNAPline themes, to the Gutenberg Bible — Membership) I say — do so and you shall vice president (shared) producing a print culture publication on GOD seemed potentially printmaking technology Megan Bertagnolli risky and also too exciting and rewarding to not do. Exploring this be rewarded with four limited edition fine theme through the long historied relationship between the printed translated the mystical and art prints. vice president (shared) word or image and religion has allowed our writers and artists to Some might ask, “How else can one Mark Dutton make some profound connections. SNAPline featured artist Karen unknown into tangible form. support SNAP?” As a charitable organization, Cassidy, a long time member and SNAP printshop renter, explores It provided thousands of treasurer the relationship between spiritual consciousness and creation in we rely on the goodwill of those who Elliot Kerr her limited edition series Spiritus in the Ovarium. A similar con- laypeople access to religious give. Simply put, a tithing in the form of a secretary nection is made in the special project contributed by Blair Brennan iconography without visiting charitable donation. This can be done in Marian Switzer Expect A Miracle. person or online. We were thrilled to be able to provide another platform for a church or palace. It was directors Borys Tarasenko’s Sweet Jesus colouring book project and we hope through religious leaflets By becoming a sponsor member or by Andrew Benson you might share your coloured interpretations with us online. making a charitable donation you are given James Boychuk-Hunter Wendy McGrath will be a recurring contributor throughout 2017 and tracts that robust the opportunity to support our belief that Emilienne Gervais producing the ‘My Process’ interviews that dig into individual conversations about god — printmaking is a vital form of contemporary Ashna Jacob artists’ studio practice. This edition explores SNAP member Tim art that builds diverse, creative and engaged Ferdinand Langit Grieco’s work in printmaking and music. Carolyn Jervis and Robin interpretation of who or what Laura Ritchie Willey have collaborated on an essay that opens up and digs into communities. Matt Whitson a mysterious link between Grand Rapids’ relationship to visual god is/was — would stir. In Although it may seem otherwise, culture and how their unprecedented art competition has infiltrated a way, religious printmaking publications committee reaching out to the board isn’t as and influenced evangelical circles there. intimidating as going to the confessional. Stephanie Bailey The SNAPline publications committee is proud of the work became a vehicle meant to Alex Keays we’ve accomplished and this beautiful inspire and/or question. It was Have a question for the board? Send us an Sergio Serrano publication wouldn’t be possible without email at [email protected]. Riva Symko the support of our print sponsor McCallum also a way for printmakers printing group. As always I encourage our to depict god through their STAFF readers to participate fully in SNAP’s pro- grams and events — a listing of upcoming own interpretations of the executive director classes and exhibitions can be found on subject matter they were April Dean page 30. We hope to see you here soon, [email protected] in the meantime happy colouring. hired to translate. As artists communications coordinator April Dean, began experimenting with the Alex Linfield Executive Director figure of god, the relationship [email protected] between god and the artist printshop & programs FUNDERS Ferdinand Langit coordinator changed. Ever murkier than Director, Amanda Mckenzie before, art and religion are SNAP Board of Directors [email protected] interesting bedfellows. And why shouldn’t a society of SNAP loves all the volunteers, northern Alberta print artists members, supporters and funders 2016 SEASON SPONSORS that make our organization not also engage with this long- just possible but also a thriving running dialogue? art community. A special thanks to our funders and supporters. snapline spring 2017 / 3 snapline spring 2017 Contributors GOD to this issue e d n i t i o

Blair Brennan combines his writing and art practice from his home in Edmonton. His drawings, sculpture and installations have been exhibited internationally in numerous group and solo Trust your masterpiece exhibitions. Brennan has contributed articles to a number of national arts and cultural publications. His favourite Ramones to us for cost effective song is “Strength to Endure”.

fine quality printing. Carolyn Jervis is an art writer and curator. She has a Master of Arts degree in Art History (Critical Curatorial Studies) from the University of British Columbia and has worked extensively McCallum Printing specializes in comprehensive in visual arts organizations in Edmonton. Carolyn’s most recent printing solutions for our customers. published work can be found in the current issue of C Magazine. We offer the broadest range of products Currently, she is preparing the opening and inaugural year of MacEwan University’s new art gallery, which will open Fall 2017. and services in Edmonton. Wendy McGrath is the author of two poetry collections and three novels. Her most recent book of poetry, A Revision of OUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES INCLUDE: Forward (NeWest August 2015) is the culmination of a long-term collaboration of poetry and prints between herself and Edmonton • limited edition • stickers & decals • order forms printmaker Walter Jule. She is currently at work on the final novel prints • banners • annual reports in the Santa Rosa trilogy, a collection of essays, and a poetry-jazz collaboration with local musicians. • posters • point-of-purchase • catalogues • calendars displays • magnets Borys Tarasenko is a multidisciplinary artist based in • postcards • letterhead • direct mail products Edmonton, Alberta. A BFA Art & Design grad from University of Alberta with a focus in Painting, his work examines spirituality, • soft & hardcover • business cards • newsletters human consumption, and cultural identity. Borys has been books • envelopes • cling film printing involved in a number of public art projects, released a colouring • brochures • flyers • warehousing/ book this past year, and shown work throughout Edmonton and • web based ordering • coupons fulfillment & parts of USA. • forms • note pads logistics Robin Willey has recently completed his PhD in sociology and is currently an instructor at the University of Alberta and the University of Alberta — Augustana. His research has generally focused on Evangelical Christianity in Canada. While he has STATE OF THE ART | ECO FRIENDLY | PRINT | CROSS MEDIA | MAILING previously published articles on the difficulties of conducting research in church communities, social theories of religion, and the sexual practices of Evangelical young adults, his most recent research looks to investigate the changing theo-political orientations of Canadian Evangelicals.

4 / snapline spring 2017 snapline spring 2017 / 5 Spiritus in the ‘Ovarium’

Our bodies are made The plush red garden atrium presents as a gathering place from which sentient up of the elements of female cells cycle through repeated this earth. What are opportunities to be human. Inside the chamber of the ‘ovarium’ one is the size our spirits made of? of the head of a pin yet one experiences an immovable sense of purpose. It is My art is a visual expression of a understood that a life experience in dreamtime experience. It is a story about a corporeal world is temporary and snapline spring 2017 spiritual consciousness. necessary for a sentient being to spiritually featured artist I dream that I am seated inside an progress. It is a familiar and routine orchid red chamber. There are many others phenomenon. Equally essential is male Karen Cassidy present. Assembled in perfectly organized energy to complete the master plan. rows are countless female beings of Inspired by a dream reverie my work “I am a graduate of Grant MacEwan varying ages, wrapped gently in folds of is a visual exploration of female and male School of Nursing 1977 and satiny warmth. It is a form of seedpod filled energies and the spiral of birth and rebirth. a graduate of MacEwan and with spiritual gems. Ever calm, expectantly, It is a theory of God and Spirit and mud. University of Alberta Schools of silently, all wait for a very momentous P. Yogananda in his book explains Fine Art 2008, 2011, majoring in event to transpire. Eventually each one will that the soul cannot be burned, drowned, Printmaking and Painting. issue from the crimson sanctuary into the stabbed, or shattered. The devotee realizes… Presently I work in the health gravitational flow of a silky current and care education field and maintain a traverse a physiology designed towards “I am not the body. studio practice at SNAP Gallery. the creation of a human being. To she who I am formless. In the current works I strive to ‘goes out’ before me, I send a quiet hopeful I am joy It Self. realize gender energies as spiritual wish for a fruitful union with the energy’s I am just coming from the consciousness. I see God in the downstream. She glides into a passage on inner perception of my Self. matrix of dynamic elements. the way to a potential human experience. I am not the body. Via collage and digital layering My time to ‘go out’ is approaching. The I am Invisible. my prints are created through outcome is uncertain. If fertilization fails I am Joy. photo-litho-graphic techniques.“ to occur, I will resume a place at the end of I am Light. the line within the velvety lush walls of the I am Wisdom. ‘ovarium.’ Here I will stay with the others I am Love. until the next rotation to ‘go out.’ I realize I dwell in the dream body through that this repetitive process may takea which I am dreaming this earth life; forever, but there is no doubt that all is well. but I am ever Eternal Spirit.”

— Paramahansa Yogananda, The Divine Romance.

top: Spiritus in the Ovarium 1 v1, ---, 2016 front cover: detail from Spiritus in the Ovarium 2 v2, ---, 2016 6 / snapline spring 2017 bottom: Spiritus in the Ovarium 2 v1, ---, 2016 back cover: detail from Spiritus in the Ovarium 1 v2, ---, 2016 snapline spring 2016 / 7 This essay was collaboratively written between Robin Willey, whose text is in the black font, and Carolyn Jervis, whose text is in the blue font.

Unknown photographer, Oprah with Pastor In April of 2009, Rick DeVos, a twenty- Rob Bell at Oprah’s “The Life You Want” tour, something member of a family whose 2014. Retrieved from Maricia D.C. Johns’ blog billions make it one of Michigan’s thisisyourbestyear.com. wealthiest, announced the creation of Art Prize, an art competition in Grand Rapids where any artist who can find a venue, indoor or outdoor, Outside of worship music that usually can participate. The art event is references the musical stylings of the late unprecedented due to the scale of artist 90s, art is a rare sight in most Evangelical participation (1,262 artist participated churches. That is, unless you’re in the that first year; 1,453 in 2016), the former “Furniture Capital of the World.” enormity of its audience (over 200,000 In 2014, my research into the roots in 2009; an estimated 400,000 in 2016), of Canadian Evangelicalism led me from and the size of its cash prizes ($500,000 Edmonton, Alberta to Mars Hill Bible is awarded by popular voting and juried Church, just outside of Grand Rapids, voting each year).1 Art Prize eclipses the Michigan. I (Robin) was surprised to number of visitors at major international find the church, which is located in a biennales and art institutions by tens converted shopping mall, packed full of of thousands, all from a city whose art. This included the sanctuary (members population totals less than 200,000. endearingly call it “the Shed”), which Although there is no doubting that featured several paintings and installation Art Prize fundamentally changed the pieces, including two that were actually city’s relationship to art in 2009, Grand commissioned by the church. When I Rapids’ relationship to visual culture approached a woman at the church’s and design is not without precedent. It information desk and asked why there was known as the “Furniture Capital was so much art in the church, she looked of the World” for its booming furniture at me, rolled her eyes, and responded, industry from the latter half of the 19th “Because it’s Grand Rapids.” century to the 1930s.

snapline spring 2017 / 9 This proliferation of art in the Grand been taking place for over a decade; it that is not just a transparent reflection It was situations like the above story Rapids area has influenced the religious provided him the catalyst to write Love of a monolithic church. The changing that led Tarasenko realize that Sweet culture of the area. The most notable Wins and more thoughtfully articulate the relationship between realistic looking Jesus had become a “metaphor for the example is likely Rob Bell — the founder cosmopolitan God that has been evident figures in religious paintings and this Bible” — a text that many assume can of Mars Hill, former pastor and current in his work for some time and stands in moment with an artwork in Bell’s only be interpreted in a certain way, but Oprah Network star — who first ventured stark contradiction to the more tribal and former church are both examples is in fact subject to an endless number into speaking about the value of creativity parochial God that dominates Evangelical of how art plays important roles in of interpretations. Sweet Jesus became a and its connection to suffering in his 2009 theological discourse. making distinct religious discourses, place where various Christianities could book Drops Like Stars.2 That said, the and interpretations of religious ideas, interact in a way that is not normally made influence of art on Bell’s theology is most Art has long recorded changing visible. available. Mars Hill’s peacemaker show evident in the first pages of Love Wins, relationships with God. This may As Robin and I were working worked much the same way. It enabled his 2011 book that shook the Evangelical seem an obvious statement because through writing this piece, we realized an artist to feel comfortable enough to world and debatably forced Bell to step the history of religious patronage the significance of a local example submit a piece that included a quote by down as Mars Hill’s pastor: is more than clear in the seemingly of varying interpretations of what a a non-Christian to an Evangelical show endless supply of Virgin Mary and Jesus relationship with a Christian God looks in an Evangelical church; it enabled a Several years ago we had an art paintings in major art museums in like. On a Friday afternoon, we sat down more conservative congregant to feel show at our church. I had been the western world. There is, however, with local artist Borys Tarasenko and comfortable enough to leave a note critical giving a series on peacemaking, and a more subtle link that is relevant reflected on his exhibition,Sweet Jesus, of the piece; and finally, it provided a we invited artists to display their to this discussion: leading up to the which took place at Bleeding Heart space for a progressive pastor to see both paintings, poems, and sculptures Enlightenment, art trends reveal a Art Space in Spring 2016. Tarasenko interpretations and use that moment to that reflected their understanding of changing relationship with visuality starts his artist statement for that legitimize his own theological position. ▪ what it means to be a peacemaker. that is inextricably linked to a changing show, coincidentally, with a quote One woman included in her work a understanding of God. Over the course from Mahatma Gandhi: “I like your quote from Mahatma Gandhi, which of the 15th and 16th century in Western Christ. I do not like your Christians.”5 a number of people found quite Europe the relationship between God He told us a story about a visit to the compelling. and art fundamentally changed. Many exhibition, which featured a life-sized But not everyone. artists and thinkers were coming to colouring book of Jesus and various Someone attached a piece of understand that they could learn about Christian figures engaged in actions paper to it. On the piece of paper the world directly through observation, biblical and otherwise (such as Christ was written: ‘Reality check: He’s in rather than channelled through divine himself barbecuing hot dogs). Visitors hell.’ knowledge. They began interpreting the from a local church just happened to Really? observable world and experimenting visit Bleeding Heart while Sweet Jesus 1 “Welcome to Art Prize,” Art Prize, accessed Gandhi’s in hell? with representations of the fleshly body was on display, and in part interpreted January 10, 2017, https://artprize.org/about. He is? of Jesus. the invitation to colour whatever they 2 Rob Bell, Drops Like Stars: A Few Thoughts on We have confirmation of this? The early modern innovation wanted on the walls as an opportunity Creativity + Suffering (New York: HarperOne, Somebody knows this? that one’s visual observation was to promote their own church 2009). Without a doubt? worthy of consideration elevated community. This self-promotional text 3 Rob Bell, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, And that somebody decided to individual interpretation, displacing saw a further interpretive layer, as its and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived take on the responsibility of letting the prevailing conception of the artist letters and numbers were dissolved (New York: HarperOne, 2011), 3-4. the rest of us know.3 as purely a vessel for representing into decorative drawing by subsequent 4 David Mappes, “Love Wins by Rob Bell: A divine knowledge. This provides us people, who deemed the parishioners’ Biblical and Theological Critique,” The Journal Bell’s move towards a more universalist with a historical precedent for the choice of engagement inappropriate. of Ministry & Theology 16 (2012); James K. view of the afterlife sent a shockwave action of the person who placed that Both the assumptions made by the Wellman Jr., Rob Bell and a New American through the Evangelical world. Some critics note on the artwork at Mars Hill and church members and by the following Christianity (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2012). went so far as to declare Bell as “dangerous” the intellectual pivot it catalyzed for people engaged in the exhibition, much 5 For the full description of Tarasenko’s and a “heretic.”4 Nonetheless, the work Bell. We cannot take for granted this like the note-writer in Bell’s story, exhibition, see “Past Shows,” Bleeding Heart of art and note stuck to it legitimized idea that a particular artist can have reveal an otherwise hidden ideological Art Space, accessed Friday, January 13, 2017, alterations in Bell’s theology that had a perspective on a religious concept position on engaging with ideas of God. https://bleedingheartart.space/now-showing/.

10 / snapline spring 2017 snapline spring 2017 / 11 HBD Jesus

Prayer is not always oral. It can take other forms. Creating art, for example, can have a similar

Book meditative quality. With SWEET JESUS: A Colouring Book, an eccentric supplement to the lore of Jesus Christ, Borys Tarasenko investigates a complicated

A Colouring and incongruous spiritual life. The audience must colour and complete the images with their own offering of visual prayer. Like the words inside a scripture, the lines inside a colouring book exist to Borys Tarasenko colour any way a person likes. ▪

12 / snapline spring 2017 snapline spring 2017 / 13 Jesus at his day job Jesus heals a Muslim stabbed by a crusader

14 / snapline spring 2017 snapline spring 2017 / 15 Jesus helps a traveller Jesus helps Richard Dawkins write The God Delusion

16 / snapline spring 2017 snapline spring 2017 / 17 this page: Gustave Doré, “Christ Feeding the Multitude,” from La Grande Bible de Tours, wood engraving, 1866. opposite page left: Unknown, Detail from the frontispiece of The Diamond Sutra, woodblock print, 868 (publication). opposite page right: Unknown, Madonna with Four Virgin Saints in a Garden, woodblock print, 1418 (dated). The Feeding of the Multitudes

An Incomplete Timeline of Religion and Printing

7th century: The importance Mugujeonggwang great Dharani Images printed on cloth for In the Gospels, the Feeding of perpetuating texts is set out sūtra, found at Bulguksa, South religious purposes could be quite As early as the 7th century, rubbings, with special force in the larger Korea in 1966. large and elaborate. When paper of the Multitudes tells the stamps and woodblock printing were Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra which not became easily available, around story of a miracle in which used to create numerous identical only urges the devout to hear, 764-770: Earliest known 1400, the medium transferred Jesus used only five barley images from a single matrix. In the learn, remember and study the woodblock printing in Japan, when quickly to small religious images. 13th century, demand for cheap playing text but to obtain a good copy and Empress Shotoku commissioned loaves and two fish to feed cards and devotional images drove the to preserve it. This ‘cult of the book’ one million small wooden pagodas 15th century: Originally about 5,000 followers. early print market. By the 15th century, led to techniques for reproducing containing short printed scrolls to Paupers’ Bibles took the form of developments with movable type made texts in great numbers, especially be distributed to temples. colourful hand-painted illuminated Baskets of food were passed among it possible for books that had once the short prayers or charms known manuscripts on vellum, though groups, bread and fish so bountiful that been rare, one-of-a-kind manuscripts, as dhāran·ī-s. Stamps were carved 868: The oldest dated printed in the fifteenth century printed by the end there were still twelve baskets to multiply like fish or bread. Printing for printing these prayers on clay text known: The Diamond Sūtra, a examples with woodcuts took over. of leftovers. This act of multiplication not presses were brought to the new world by tablets from at least the seventh Chinese translation of a key object The Biblia Pauperum was among only satiated the crowd’s hunger, but was missionaries seeking to reproduce century, the date of the oldest of devotion and study in Zen the commonest works put out in also seen as a further sign that Jesus was and spread the word of God. surviving examples found in India. Buddhism now preserved in the block-book form, mainly in the the true Messiah. This ability to mass-produce images British Library. It is a scroll about Netherlands and Germany. Both A similar miracle of multiples and words expanded the dissemination 6 27~6 4 9 : Woodblock printing 16-feet long found in 1907 by the text and images were done entirely occurred with the advent of printing. of knowledge, ideologies and language in China is strongly associated with archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel Stein in a single woodcut for each The technology that is now the basis in an unprecedented way. By the late Buddhism, which encouraged the in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang. page. Soon after, movable type of printmaking made texts and images 17th century, this new found access to spread of charms and sutras. became cheap enough to replace available to multitudes. The early history printed information fuelled the Age of 1300s: Printing with a press woodblock for the reproduction of of printmaking is intertwined with Enlightenment, asserting the virtues of 70 4~751: The oldest existing was practiced in Christian Europe text, woodcuts remained a major devotion and the expansion of religion. reason and individualism over tradition. print done with woodblocks is the as a method for printing on cloth. way to reproduce images.

18 / snapline spring 2017 snapline spring 2017 / 19 1418: The earliest dated woodcut: on the recto and the text on the 1590: The Jesuits in Nagasaki, Ko nga Pukapuka o Paora te international fame for her vibrant from left to right: Madonna with Four Virgin Saints in verso suggests the privileging of Japan, established The Jesuit Apotoro ki te Hunga o Epeha o serigraphs. Kent worked at the a Garden. the illustrations over the text. The Mission Press in Japan and printed Piripai (The Epistles of St Paul to the intersection of several powerful Unknown, The Buxheim Saint series brought Dürer fame and a number of books in romanised Philippians and the Ephesians). and at times contradictory cultural, Christopher, hand-coloured woodblock print, 1423. 1423: The earliest dated surviving wealth as well as some freedom Japanese language. political, and religious influences. example of a holy card, small, from the patronage system, which 1837: The invention of colour Albrecht Dürer, “St. John devotional pictures mass-produced allowed him to choose his own 1600s: Spain outlaws paper- lithography made it possible to Mid-1980s: Risograph Eating the Book,” from for the use of the faithful, found subjects and to devote more time making in the New World to reproduce colour images cheaply, duplicator printer invented by the Apocalypse with Pictures, in Southern Germany. A hand- to engraving. control the spread of information leading to a broader circulation of Japanese company Riso. Over the woodblock print, 1498. coloured woodblock print depicting and keep the colonies subservient. holy cards, including reproductions last 20 years, churches, schools, Unknown, Holy Cards from St. Christopher with the infant 1539: Juan Pablos became the of old masters. Catholic printing and political parties have been the Maison de la Bonne Presse, Christ. Later engraving or etching first printer in North America (in First printing press in houses produced large numbers biggest buyers. In the 21st century, 1734: colour lithograph, 19th century. were more commonly used. Mexico City) at the House of the Arabic at the Monastery of St. John, of cards, and often a single design Risograph printing has seen an First Print Shop in the Americas. Khenchara, Lebanon. was printed by different companies increase in popularity amongst Sister Corita Kent in front 1446: The earliest dated intaglio- Established by the archbishop in different countries. inpendent art book publishers. of her work, unknown printed engraving: The Flagellation, Juan de Zumárraga, the first 1833: The first presses were photographer, 1964. of a Passion series. book printed was Breve y Mas imported to China by Western 1866: French artist Gustav Doré 1986: Andy Warhol’s final series Sister Corita Kent, Look, Compendiosa Doctrina Christiana. priests for their missionary work published a series of 241 wood The Last Supper was commissioned serigraphy, 1965. 1454: The Gutenberg Bible was from Europe and America. The engravings for a deluxe edition by a Milan bank. Based on da the first major book printed using 1568–1573: Biblia Polyglotta earliest known, an albion press, of La Grande Bible de Tours. The Vinci’s painting, the series is a Andy Warhol, The Last Supper, mass-produced movable metal printed in five languages by was set up in the Portuguese engravings depicted scenes from collection of Warhol’s techniques: silkscreen ink on synthetic type in Europe. Christopher Plantin in Antwerp. colony Macao and later moved to the Old and New Testaments and the painting appears whole, polymer paint on canvas, 1986. Canton and Ningbo. the Apocrypha. double-silkscreened, washed 1498: Publication of Apocalypse 1584: First printing press in in flat hues, executed in outline. with Pictures, a famous series of Middle East, introduced by 1835: The first book in New 1960–70: Sister Mary Corita Kent, There is a black-light Last Supper, 15 woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer of Maronite Christians in St. Antonius Zealand was a Maori translation from the Roman Catholic order of a camouflage version, minimalist scenes from the Book of Revelation. Monastery in Lebanon, psalter was of part of the Bible commissioned Sisters of the Immaculate Heart Last Suppers, and various ones compiled by The layout with the illustrations printed the first time in 1585. by the Church Missionary Society: of Mary in Los Angeles, gained incorporating commercial logos. ▪ Sergio Serrano

20 / snapline spring 2017 snapline spring 2017 / 21 interview by Tim Grieco, Erect Reflection, Wendy copper plate etching, McGrath 11×19", 2012.

my process TIM GRIECO

I step into Tim Grieco’s apartment/studio on a bright, cold January afternoon and his etching, The Divine Council, gazes down at me. PROFILE Its energy is affecting and the maelstrom of mark making seems, at first glance, wonderfully discordant and disordered. However, born: Edmonton, Alberta favourite book: Siddhartha a closer study of the print reveals its elegance and more defined education: Bachelor of Fine Art, 2010, by Herman Hesse images. Two swirling elements propel from the print’s edges toward University of Alberta. I completed senior favourite films: Apocalypse Now, an iconographic vagina at its centre. The figure of a crucified Jesus level courses in Printmaking, Drawing, and Borgman, Jodorowsky’s Dune Welded Steel Sculpture. Usually people favourite albums: Blasphemy’s Fallen Christ hovers above a line of narrow, rune-like text. I wonder whether just do one. I took summer classes and had Angel of Doom, Mayhem’s De Mysteriis Dom Christ is emerging from, or returning to, the womb. Grieco welcomes more credits than I needed to graduate. I Sathanas, and The Stains of the Embodied this kind of ambiguity in response to his work. “I don’t want people was really into spending a lot of time in the Sacrifice by Raison D’etre to know what it’s about.” The line of text at the bottom of the etching studio and paid for the extra classes just so music playing while printmaking: I put reads: “Jesus Christ Crucified the Bene Ha Elohim and the Unknown I’d be obligated to work on art more. my iPod on shuffle and listen to a lot of folk, favourite artists: Hieronymous Bosch, world music, experimental, rock, metal and Mystery” — and the effect is evocative. Grieco, a musician in several HR Giger, Max Ernst, Richard Serra, and other kinds of music as well as lectures on bands, also incorporates text with image when working with lyrics world religious art religious studies and philosophy. and designing corresponding album covers.

22 / snapline spring 2017 snapline spring 2017 / 23 Tim Grieco, Erect Reflection, of knowledge and consciousness that pops in my head and I execute it. The way copper plate etching, 2012. exists. As we learn more about reality, God I picture songs and how I want them to Detail on following spread. continues to be created. I am aware that in sound is very visual as well. For music or some anti-gnostic religious interpretations, art I will come to the table with an image in what I’m describing could also be called mind and experiment to find the best way the Devil. Sometimes, I also think God to execute it. The inspiration comes from is all the void that exists between every the same place for both art forms. inspires me — surrealism, atom in existence, the vibrating force that religious art, symbolist activates these atoms and holds them all What printmaking processes do you prefer work and expressionism: in place. Yes, God is present in my work by and why? Etching, because I like how it Max Ernst, HR Giger, either definition. combines the drawn effect with an almost Basquiat, Bosch. God is the ball of consciousness that photographic aesthetic. I often work in a transcends our individual self-recognition. loose, chaotic fashion at first. I encourage Your 2011 exhibition at If all consciousness exists simultaneously accidents and allow random occurrences, The surface of Grieco’s kitchen table is SNAP explored the origins of human then our misconception of individuality then edit and revise. This is akin to the barely visible, scattered with sketchbooks, consciousness with particular reference represents a tendril of that consciousness grattage paintings of Max Ernst and other materials, and two recent untitled sketches. to stories in the Hebrew Bible. What attempting to reckon itself in a new way, automatic surrealist methods of art making. He says, “You get pretty strange when you interests you about these sacred writings? in the instance of each occurrence of cope with chaos. You can swim in those I was raised in a Christian (Pentecostal) what we perceive as an individual unique Where do your ideas for printmaking seas but you can’t drown in them. You home. My Dad was a minister so I formed life. These tendrils occur as experiments originate? Aside from constantly looking at need to take control once in a while.” The my own consciousness in the context of breaking off and becoming separate interesting imagery, the main sources are two sketches reflect some early ideas for hearing these stories since I was a child. from the main conscious mass in order to dreams and imagination. a large-scale project referencing religious The thing that interests me the most are the attempt to gain new self-recognition in an iconography using 3-D Op Art elements. parts that reflect the same themes. interesting, unique way. It can only happen What project(s) are you currently working Some recent pieces he has created also There is an undercurrent, sort of a if the place consciousness is born from is on and are there references/connections incorporate 3-D elements and are more hidden sub plot, in the Hebrew Bible of forgotten. The innocence in each case is to God or spirituality in this work? sculptural. Grieco tells me the process for interplanetary/interdimensional sexual what allows for new unique experience I’m writing a new Antediluvian album these pieces involves stapling camouflage transgression, believe it or not. This that is ultimately fed back into the whole which deals with the theme of sexual netting to a stretcher. The piece displayed fascinates me, also, because many consciousness that existed pre-birth. transgression and explores the idea of the on his apartment wall looks writhing and Christians are not even aware of it. God is an immoral algorithm. It’s a sexuality of God. chaotic. It appears to have heft, but when program made with the intention to make he touches it, it seems weightless. As the How would you define “God” and, based us try everything and learn about itself. Can you describe your creative process? light changes, the effect is both visceral on your definition, is “God” present in Usually an image just pops in my head and and fragile. The concepts of creation, your work? I think that understanding You are also a musician. What bands I execute it. The inspiration for the imagery destruction, death, birth and renewal of God comes less from being explained are you in? What instruments do you comes from dreams and imagination, are central to his creative process: “I’m from another’s subjective insight than play? Do you write lyrics? Antediluvian: and is often referencing the body in a starting to get ideas that seem more like from being revealed through personal all lyrics, lead vocals, guitars, effects. macrocosmic or microscopic sense. visions of the future than ideas.” exploration. The absolute truth can only Revenge: session bass and session live come directly from the source, as opposed bass. Malsanctum: guitar/bass/lead vocals, When did you begin printmaking and What do you consider to be the greatest to from another person explaining their effects, lyrics. S.P.: guitar/backing vocals/ what drew you to it? I started during my influence on your work? Work that deals own perception. The thing I personally effects. Ver Sacrum: guitar/effects/lead time studying Fine Art at U of A and was with themes of transgression, sexual define as God is knowledge and I think vocals/lyrics. drawn to it by the graphic visual aesthetic. tension, attraction vs. repulsion. My morbid that God is attempting to know himself curiosity often leads to exploration of the through our knowledge and experiences. How does your music influence your art What is the most inspiring part of the strangeness of the body and the internal I think the universe may only exist as and how does your art influence your printmaking process for you? The way, mind as well, the parts of ourselves we a perception and that as we learn more music? I used the lyrics for songs to make in etching, the acid creates marks in the sometimes push aside or distract ourselves it expands. God doesn’t know any more individual art pieces and album covers copper that print in a photographic and from. So work that deals with such themes about himself than the entire collective etc. for some time. Usually an image just organic looking aesthetic. ▪

24 / snapline spring 2017 snapline spring 2017 / 25 “And there this poor Divinity, degraded and half annihilated by its fall, lies some thousands of centuries in this swoon, then awakens slowly, in vain endeavouring to grasp some vague memory of itself, and every move that it makes in this direction upon matter becomes a creation, a new formation, a new miracle.”

— Mikhail Bakunin, God and the State

“You know what a miracle is. Not what Bakunin said. But another world’s intrusion into this one. Most of the time we coexist peacefully, but when we do touch there’s cataclysm.”

— Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49

26 / snapline spring 2017 Expect a Miracle

Blair Brennan

In Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49, a character proposes that miracles are merely another world’s intrusion in our own. For Pynchon, this simple idea is equal parts spirituality, literary metaphor and physics.

The advanced physics’ Brane Theory of Comic book writers are still providing multiple dimensions may provide evidence me with answers about my physical world of what that other world is or where it or, more precisely, presenting ideas in a comes from when it intrudes upon our own. manner that I can understand and further In an attempt to pull together the comic scrutinize. In Morrison’s work and for my book multi-verse that he has created and own metaphorical use this “hologram inhabited for the last four decades, Scottish projected onto a flat mega-membrane” is comic book writer Grant Morrison invokes printed, rather than projected. It is the ink Brane cosmology in his book Supergods: on the page of a comic book, a print or a drawing. Brane Theory’s thin emulsion “on Our universe is one of many, grown a celestial tissue” may then be the chine- inside some unimaginable amniotic collé in this process. Simply by living our hypertime. It may even all be a lives we are constantly transferring the hologram projected onto a flat “celestial tissue” of images and ideas on to a mega-membrane, which is, in turn, heavier support. embedded, along with many others Making an image on a piece of a paper like it within a higher dimensional is a process that appears quite simple. It is space some scientists have dubbed however a miracle. It is a complex mix of “the bulk.” In the brane model of spirituality, metaphor and physics; when it the multiverse, all history is spread is successful, it is the intrusion of another as thin as emulsion on a celestial world into our own. ▪ tissue that floats in some immense, Brahmanic ocean of…meta-stuff.

28 / snapline spring 2017 snapline spring 2017 / 29 SNAPLINE SPRING 2017 — GOD EDITION Winter & Spring 2017 Upcoming featured artist: karen cassidy Education Programs Exhibitions at at SNAP Printshop SNAP Gallery IN THIS ISSUE Etching: Level 2 february 2 — march 4 Expect a Miracle ...... Blair Brennan March 14 — April 11 / 5 Tuesdays / 6—9pm Instigators What Kind of God is That? ...... Carolyn Jervis & Robin Willey $230 for members / $255 for non-members Guillermo Trejo Jonathan Green / www.jonathansgreen.ca re: how many reasons do you need? My Process: Tim Grieco ...... interview by Wendy McGrath Marie Winters Sweet Jesus: A Colouring Book ...... Borys Tarasenko Silkscreen: Thursdays March 16 — April 20 / 6 Thursdays / 6—9pm march 16 — april 22 $260 for members / $286 for non-members The Formalist’s Library Morgan Wedderspoon / meghanpohlod.com Jason Urban SNAP MEMBERSHIP Great White North When signing up to become a SNAPline Member Relief Print Jordan Blackburn you’ll take part in a limited edition mail art program! March 15 — April 5 / 4 Wednesdays / 6—9pm $180 for members / $198 for non-members may 4 — june 10 At a cost of $150 a year, you will receive 4 limited edition fine-art prints Meghan Pohlod / meghanpohlod.com Influence along with the quarterly edition of the SNAPline Publication. Through this Ericka Walker program SNAP commissions 4 exceptional, diverse and exciting artists a Mixed Media Printmaking: Sahtúot’ine: Stories year to create a limited edition of prints, one of which is sent to your home Photo Transfers & Screen Printing from Deline Elders each quarter. You’ll also receive all other SNAP member benefits including May 10 — May 24 / 3 Wednesdays / 6—9:30 pm Laura Grier discounts on SNAP’s classes; special event tickets and discounts at retail $175 for members / $192 for non-members supporters around the city. Caitlin Bodewitz / caitlinbodewitz.com june 22 — july 29 Monument: Coding a Woodcut For more information on how to become a SNAP Member visit: Beth Howe & Clive McCarthy www.snapartists.com/membership Fractures Weekend Workshops Emmanuel Osahor

Introduction to Letterpress august 10 — september 9 March 11 & 12 GIVE UP AND PARTY 1 Weekend (Sat. & Sun.) / 10am—5pm Morgan Wedderspoon $183 for members / $202 for non-members Last Resort Dawn Woolsey / woolsey.ca Leanne Olson Bring your plates, stencils, 12—5pm paper and inks as well as Every Second Saturday Letterpress Portraits september 21 — november 4 your ideas and creativity for $20 plus $5 supply fee April 8 & 9 The Story So Far: a day of printing at SNAP! 1 Weekend (Sat. & Sun.) / 10 am — 5 pm An Exhibition of Artists’ Books March: 4 + 18 $183 for members / $202 for non-members Curated by Sara Norquay Please RSVP a day in advance April: 1 + 29 Sara Norquay / slnorquay.wordpress.com if you require a screen rental. May: 13 + 27 november 18 ($10 for screen and chemistry) June: 10 + 24 Visit snapartists.com/education SNAP’s Annual Members for more details on classes at SNAP. Show and Sale For more information visit www.snapartists.com/shop-and-studio

REGISTER for classes in any of these 3 ways: by phone: 780.423.1492 / by web: snapartists.com / in person: 10123 1221 Street SNAP - Society of Northern Alberta Print-Artists Alberta SNAP - Society of Northern All classes take place at SNAP printshop located at 12056 Jasper Avenue. For further society of northern alberta print-artists information please contact SNAP Gallery. All materials are included in the course fee. 10123–121 Street, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, t5n 3w9 facebook: 780.423.1492 | [email protected] | snapartists.com @SNAPgallery twitter: @snapgallery / instagram: 30 / snapline spring 2017 snapline spring 2017 / 31 32 / snapline spring 2017