telling simple stories
A couple of friends of ours are the super geniuses behind Paulson Bott Press. Pam Paulson and Renee Bott work with artists from around the world to create limited edition intaglio prints out of their studio in Berkeley. For years I’ve been telling them that they should be blogging – they’re both chock full of personality, have great stories about the artists they work with, and the process of printmaking is super photogenic.
They finally took the leap earlier this year, and they’re not disappointing. Renee’s latest post, Getting to Know Ross, is about how they convinced painter Ross Bleckner to come make prints with them.
As huge admirers of Ross’s work, we decided to invite him to our studio. I found an address for him by sleuthing the Internet and wrote a letter introducing myself and asking if we could meet. I explained that Pam and I were going to be in New York in two weeks. The days passed and we never heard back from Ross. Time was running out. Katrina Traywick, our sales director at the time, was quick to point out that everyone in New York has their phone numbers listed (even famous people)*, and sure enough, I found his phone number in the white pages.
It’s a great post – a simple story told from a personal point of view, simply illustrated with photos (one of which I’m particularly fond of), giving a behind the scenes look into how something wonderful happened. As friend of the show Andrew Anker posted earlier this week, blogging is no longer a technology – it’s a state of mind. And I love seeing more great people – like Pam and Renee – enter that state of mind.
* Trina laughs at this now. But it worked then!