Right to not be a Slave

I just finished these three and will send them to print this week. A number of iterations were done since I designed the first one in August when Justice Alito leaked that Dobbs and therefore Roe was on the chopping block.

I've been too busy to write about it's development. I had sat down and designed them planning to make RISO prints out of them. The printer who had printed "78" is no longer in business, and finding another printer who could do these was proving difficult.

I had a sneaking suspicion that what I wanted to do wasn't going to be possible using RISO; namely the blending quality doesn't lend itself to RISO giving predictable results. A printer in PA told me to either silkscreen it or print it digitally. Digital printing was out of the question, since digital printing as a printmaking art form is a no-go. And, screening something like these, forget it. Blend upon blend upon blend. I could do it and would so it, I just don't have the facilities.

Two paths taken: Line files were created, and a RISO printer who would take the chance was also sought, with success. Meanwhile, the work was submitted to Woman Made Gallery's ROE 2.0 show and accepted. Off to Chicago at the end of January.

The Peripheral Information

Watching the news--actually, at this point avoiding it--has become a project in itself. What is most annoying is the shifting realities; at the onset, the event didn't exist. Then, it never occurred.

With the admission that an event did, in fact occur, and that many, many people were involved in many, many incremental steps, the fact that our country has asked another to lie on international TV is being deemed a not-so-bad thing. An overreaction. Oh brother. I can't take it. Just can't.

This astonishing chain of events is leaving me with considerable unease and hence, the very stuff to concentrate on other things. Angst is a great catalyst for experiment.

I follow the media about the pay gap between men and women, especially in this time of "the lowest unemployment in US history". In 2019, according to

https://www.payscale.com/data/gender-pay-gap

women's pay has grown, in 2019, a whopping $ .01 to $ .79 on the dollar. So, my piece is obsolete.

[I could change the 78 for 79 without much hassle, but it's printing this week. I'll keep you posted on that.]

What I find far more annoying, but not surprising, is that, in CONTROLLED instances--job title, years of experience, industry and location--women still make less than a man at $ .98 on the dollar. 

You might think that's not too bad, right? What's a lousy 2 cents? Well, that "tiny" gap occurs when a woman actually reaches that salary level. If a woman finally makes it up that hill to reach the same status as a man in the same job, she still makes less than he does. 

The website explores minority women, who make less of all. Check this out: A Black  female executive earns $0.63 for every dollar a White male executive earns. In other words, a Black female executive earns 27 percent less than a White male executive. 

I'll be writing soon on an article I saw in this week's NYT, that relates to ICE, immigrants and the working poor throughout the Deep South. Turns out that poor minority workers are snapping up dangerous jobs in chicken processing plants that were left behind by the deported alien workers. They're happy to get $ 11.00 an hour to gut hens because it beats out the $ 4.50 an hour they get at a Sonic. $ 4.50? Is this for real?

OK, let's talk about prints:

78 Cents, as reported months ago on

https://democracyspokenhere.blogspot.com/2019/05/78-cents.html

has undergone a considerable re-design, for a number of reasons. First of all, I decided the color was ineffective, so I reduced it, and the colors of the upcoming pieces to two: red and black. It just works out better that way. Besides, it was fun to make two colors look like many, playing with the densities. The battered old penny, turning greenish red as its value further dissolves, transformed seamlessly.

RISO colors, the final destination of the file, works with colors that are like CMYK but not. To the left is the scale, taken from Secret Riso Club's website; the paper sample looks wooly, but it remains to be seen how this will print. I have a feeling it could go on for a while.

Here's the latest print iteration:
There's a lot of space around it because I've included the 1" border; and it looks rather dull here in the upload. I'm hoping that it will print as vibrantly as the .pdf or the .AI doc shows.

What's interesting about RISO printing is that the production phase requires the plates be separated, and I'm wondering what the steel graphic will turn into. I'm waiting to hear back from the pressman to see when I could go up there, possibly with a computer to adjust the file. The steel grain might need work, which, at a print shop, I'd like to avoid. Dying to see this.

Happy New Year to all.