Manifest Hope DC: January 17-19

Outside the Manifest Hope DC exhibition in Georgetown on January 19--Shepard Fairey's iconic Obama image as a gigantic decal on the window. There were over 150 amazing artists in the show from all across the US. We made a special collaborative woodcut for the show, "America the Beautiful," that we finished (in black + white proof state--we're still working on the color) just in time for the show. It was such an honor to be a part of this fabulous event--and making the trip down to DC to see it was such a treat! We tried to chronicle it as best we could in the photos that follow.

The front doors that opened into the gallery.

"America the Beautiful" in black + white!

"America the Beautiful" in Black + White

We finished cutting, ran 3 proofs and put the best in this frame for the Manifest Hope show--all within a 2 hour span before the Fed Ex closed. Ack! We made it with very few moments to spare!

Though we had seriously hoped that we would have time to have the color print done for the show...we have learned a lot about what we are physically capable of handling in woodcut with 2 week deadline. The full color edition is available pre-order right now on our website as we work to print the edition over the next 6-8 weeks. The price will leap from the pre-order price when we have the juicy color version up.

"America the Beautiful" matted + ready to go into her frame. Excuse the washed out pics, we were working like trolls in our basement.

Finishing the text "America the Beautiful" in the eagle's banner...

Detail of Hawaii and twirled flag across the bottom of the image.

The eagle!

Almost finished cutting...you can still see traces of the red we drew into the flags...

Close up of South East US and Nashville...

More drawing, more cutting...working in shifts...

"America the Beautiful" for Manifest Hope DC

We were absolutely thrilled and honored to be invited to show in the MANIFEST HOPE DC exhibition that took place January 17-19, 2009 in DC. We decided to funnel that patriotic enthusiasm into a new print "America the Beautiful" for the exhibition. The pictures below show the development of this latest woodcut over the first week working on it. We finished the block in a 2 week window before the opening of the show--working alternating drawing + cutting in shifts all hours of the day. Whew!

We are currently offering "America the Beautiful" at a pre-order rate on our website until the color production is finished.



Though "America the Beautiful" in the MANIFEST HOPE show was hung as a proof in black + white, this print will be editioned in full color. See the flag banner work above for an idea of what we are thinking our color will be like...


Valerie drawing on the block.


Filling in the East Coast...




Sketching in the mainland...






We first drew in the country outlines by hand and then reversed the drawing that we made.