Image: The world’s first Mini Halfwood Press aboard press-maker Tom Kughler’s sloop, Kadeca, 2004.

180311 If I were Sherry 

Sherry Krivosheev is sailing around the world. She leaves in September on a 43-foot sloop, the Eclipse, with her husband and their two sons. Sherry is a marine artist, and she’s planning to paint and, if possible, do printmaking.

Sherry is living my dream.

My dream is (or was until my lifetime became too short) to circumvent the world once more, evangelizing printmaking as the link between the world I was born into and the world that I will leave. I was born just as mechanical printmaking was morphing into the digital age and into the virtual world.

To explain, consider a recent demonstration in Italy of printmaking in virtual reality. As an artist and a teacher, this event fulfills my vision that connected my real art and teaching in a virtual, virtuous world. Education is the real thing; and as my knowledge is printmaking, I design tools and systems to teach it.

Sherry and her husband, Gleb, came into my life by chance (as so many good things have) as they were buying coffee at the Café Vita across the street from our Mini Art Gallery. She knew about our Halfwood Presses through Ethan Lind, another artist I met by chance.

When she mentioned she had experience in business – including experience with the famous Zodiac two-mast schooner – an idea was lit. Not only is she a sailor, she’s also a painter of sailing vessels. We agreed that we had two things in common: art and sailing.

She and Gleb are more experienced in sailing. I am not a sailor; I’m only acquainted with it through a lesson or two, a few day-sales with Tom Kughler, press maker, and a yarn I wrote about a fantasy ship I named the Emeralda.

When they told me they were sailing around the world, I could hardly contain myself. The thrill – notwithstanding the risk involved – reminded me of my adventure when I took my little family around the world over thirty years ago.

In addition, as Sherry plans to make art and videos on the way, and a blog to document it, I wanted to accompany them. Who would not? That they are going to utilize technology and, concurrently, old technologies of art will be enchanting to millions of people. We can all go, virtually – that is.

I personally have contact with hundreds of people who own the Halfwood Press which, as many of my customers know through my book, A Printmaker’s Tale, emails and YouTube, was inspired partly by sailing ships.

Here’s another thing: Gleb is a software engineer. When he spotted a USB cable dangling off my prototype Mini Halfwood Press, he immediately updated me on the technology potential of true, feasible ways in which the press could be merged with new technologies.

When I told him about Proximates – my idea of a social network of Halfwood Press owners – he instantly counted the ways to make this happen by piggy-backing on other social media.

For an engineer, Proximates would be a piece of cake.

Here, I thought to myself, was the pair who – if they so desired – could take my ideas and make them better.

If I were Sherry, I would subsidize the journey by giving subscribers a bound book recounting their adventure. No one has made a journey around the world on a sailboat making prints and used new media to give an account of the adventure.

Two items stand ready: the Halfwood Press and perhaps a Mini laser. Remembering that some ships in the old days had printing presses aboard I wrote my fiction, Vladimir’s Tale, describing it. I got my idea from obscure book I happened to find, The Sparrow.

Making etchings while sailing isn’t practical. Drypoint is practical, but laser-cut acrylic printing plates made from photos and enhanced by hand are more likely to sell. Keeping sufficient printing paper on hand to make editions is also not practical on a 43-foot schooner.

If I were Sherry, I would begin now to learn and train myself for creating an account of their saga with old and new technology. I would learn now to turn my digital photos and hand-drawn accounts into plastic printing plates. I would learn how to publish them on the web so that followers could “watch” and also buy the images both during and after.

I would take advance subscriptions through a crowd-funding effort. That’s what I’d do if I were Sherry.