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Andy Volpe: About the
Artwork
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My
path in Art: I
like the tell people I have been drawing since I was old
enough to pick up a crayon and eat it. I have been
drawing as far back as I can remember. I also remember
spending time doodling in my notebooks and on my brown paper
textbook covers in school, perhaps much to the dismay of my
teachers. (although I was always good in school) I
started taking private instruction around 1990-91 with the
late Christine O'Brien in Southbridge (L'atelier de
Christine). While in Middle & High School, I was
able to take some classes in Mechanical and Architectural
Drafting. I
loved it. I
really think that precision and detailed hand stayed in me
as I moved into more of the Fine Arts stuff in College. I
attended Westfield State College and hold a Bachelor's of
Art in Fine Arts, concentration in Drawing. My
"unofficial" minors were in Printmaking and Art History. Printmaking
is really where my focus has been the last few years.
Since my first print at Westfield, I was immediately hooked.
I am a huge fan of the Old Masters, and have been
researching and replicating their processes and techniques
since about 2004. Printing
experience (in college) consisted of the usual, Wood block,
Wood Engraving, Etching, Drypoint, Aquatint, Collograph,
Monoprint, and Lithography. (Professors Jaimie Wainwright,
Pat Conant, and Gerald Wise). I've picked up some
familiarity with Letterpress over the years as well. But
it was with Intaglio that I really enjoyed and wanted to do
more work in. After
College, I took classes and open studios at Worcester Art
Museum. I also had the pleasure of taking classes with the
late Tom Lewis, later with Randi LeSage, and Eugene Charov. In
2004-05, I really started to dig into the research and
experimentation of the Old Master techniques, using
references like Cennini's "il Libro Dell'Arte" (aka "The
Craftsman's Handbook") from 1437, and Gorgio Vasari in
1570. I
gave a lecture with Julie Collier of Wingmasters
in 2006, where I explained some of these techniques I had
just started to research, while she gave a presentation with
her Raptors on the sport Falconry.
It was to be a catalyst moment, during a
conversation with Julie and dear friend, author Resa
Nelson, about Art, Me, and where I was going.
Eventually it would develop into the
Medieval-Renaissance Artist and Printing School
presentations. I
continue my study of Old Masters techniques in drawing and
printmaking, and have displayed and demonstrated at a
handful of Renaissance Faires and the Museum
of Printing in Haverhill. Around 2010 when the
museum was in North Andover, I met Gary Gregory, who started
the Printing Office of
Edes & Gill, soon after establishing the shop at
the Clough House with the Old North Church, where I
replicate the engravings of Paul Revere and other important
18th century prints around the time of the American
Revolution. The Printing Office recently moved to
Faneuil Hall, and on March 7, 2020, we printed my
hand-engraved, full size exact replica of Revere's "Boston
Massacre" engraving, doing the same thing he did 250 years
earlier. Thanks
for reading. |
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C:
2008 – 2020 A. Volpe |