The Graphics Shop at WSA

I walked into this shop in January 1991 and have never really left. There were only a few of us back then, unless you count the mice, which were legion, and the ghosts from the other eras who, in the early 1940s as residents of the NYA program forged wrought iron pieces, and in the late 1940s, ate liverwurst sandwiches in the “canteen” of the Art Students League summer school did. We still have a printed copy of the menu somewhere in our archives.

Almost to a person, every printmaker who walks through the door of The Graphics Shop at The Woodstock School of Art comments on the vibe of the place. It’s palpable. These walls have held different collectives and assemblies of assorted artists, and at every turn we’ve worked together, looked at each other’s work, eaten together, and virtually always become good friends. 

Whether we were three or thirteen, there’s never been anything like it in my life. It has made my work life feel more like a quilting bee, where handiwork may be primary, but camaraderie comes in a quick second. Next to the home that I live in and have shared first with my grandparents, twin brother, assorted Beagles, and now my partner for over a quarter century, Sarah, I have spent more waking hours in this studio than anywhere else on G-d’s green earth.

I will remain grateful to Bob and Mara Angeloch and Paula Nelson for the rest of my days, as they were the ones who first got me hooked on this place. It has been a wonderful place to make my work life  AND my life work.