Work and Play in Seattle

I have just returned from a week in Seattle, WA working with the amazing team at Marquand Books and trying to enjoy the city at the same time.

The Work Part 

Working with all the various experts involved in creating Barbara Rogers: The Imperative of Beauty has been just one opportunity after another to learn something new and amazing every day of this journey.

Barbara and Leah Finger

I visited the offices of Marquand Books, the designer of my first monographic book, to complete the first stages of color proofing.  Our goal was to proof all of the 150 color images that will be reproduced in the book.   Leah Finger, the production manager, and the members of the staff at Marquand were in charge of my time and efforts at their wonderful space on Second and Union.   

Dave Novacek and Barbara

Dave Novacek of IO Color is an expert at translating everything he is handed into accurate reproductions using the CMYK color model.  Images on a computer monitor are visible in RGB (red, green, and blue) an additive color model, but printing is done in CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and key or black) a subtractive model.  

Adrian Lucia, Barbara, and Zach Hooker

In addition to dealing with all of the images and their difficulties, it also takes patience, years of experience, and a sense of humor to work with an artist who is alive and standing there directly behind you.  I realized that I see color in a different way then a printer.  We had to find words to describe color issues that we could both understand.  I see in paint colors and he sees in CMYK!  We adopted each others language where needed and found relational references from the real world, like the color of a Granny Smith apple.

Proofing booth

I have never done color proofing on this scale before.  Proofing the 150 color plates in my book was not easy.  The biggest help to this entire process was when a painting had been photographed digitally and a proof and print were made that accurately matched the actual colors of the piece.  As much as I can, my new work is photographed by Steve Stayton at Light Mechanics and proofed by Judy Miller.  The technology is fairly new, so many of the 4x5 inch transparencies and slides are not as accurate as one thinks they will be.   My advice to my artist friends is get your early work re-photographed digitally if at all possible.  Also, get your slides and transparencies digitally scanned as soon as possible.  You never know when you will need a good image of a work made earlier in your career.

The Fun Part

I was prepared for walking between my hotel, the offices of Marquand, and all of the great sites in Pioneer Square in the rain, but I never needed an umbrella.  The weather was sunny and perfect for walking up and down hills while drinking hot latte Ventis.  

When I first arrived, walking up the hill by my hotel felt like hiking up Half Dome in Yosemite.  By the end of the week I was running up and down it effortlessly without loosing a step.  It’s amazing how you can stay in shape in a city rather than the suburbs. 

 It was also so nice to be in a new environment for a week.  When you live in the desert, the scream of a seagull is so exciting and exotic.  Being so close to the water in Pioneer Square, you just start to love the sound.  First it scares you, but then it’s accompanied by the smell of the sea and coffee and it becomes a comfort, like the sound of the trolleys in San Francisco.

If I have any advice for those looking to visit Seattle, visit during restaurant week.  All of the best restaurants have incredibly inexpensive tasting menus that are exceptional.  Of all the wonderful food, I feel I must recommend a few: Wild Ginger for fresh Pacific Rim cuisine, Cafe Paloma for all things Mediterranean and middle eastern, Etta’s for great seafood, and dim sum sold on the street in Pike Market. 

 

There was also fabulous art in the galleries in Pioneer Square and at the Seattle Art Museum.  The Waterfall Park in the heart of old Seattle was almost like stepping into an entirely different world.  

Overall it was a very rewarding and educational visit.  I am excited to share all the hard work that has gone into this book with all of you.  We are still on schedule for everything to be sent to the printers in late December and for the books to be finished in April.