WEN Summer Workshop 2007

THE RIVIERA OF THE MIDWEST

The 14th annual Wood Engravers Network workshop was hosted by Kathee Kiesselbach, and was held in Niles, and St. Joseph, Michigan.

Our special guest artist was acclaimed wood engraver Judith Jaidinger (1941, Chicago). Judith has a BFA in drawing, painting, and printmaking from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She studied wood engraving with Adam Troy. Judith will give a brief presentation of her work, and do a demonstration of her engraving.

This workshop showcased some of Southwestern Michigan’s lush wonders, including Lake Michigan and the Lake District.

The workshop began in Niles, Michigan, at the Kiesselbach garden with a couple days to draw, paint, or photograph new subjects, as well as work on engraving. The garden is 1.5 acres of heavily landscaped property, on two levels. The lower level, or “downstairs” is surrounded on two sides by the Brandywine Creek, a top quality coldwater trout stream that flows through southwestern Cass County and southeastern Berrien County. It is a small, second-order 8.2-mile long stream that flows in a westerly direction through the city limits of Niles, Michigan, before it empties into the St. Joseph River. The “downstairs” garden also has a gazebo, a 40-foot long lily pond with waterfal, and gorgeous flowering plants and wildlife.

The “upstairs” garden features a 12-foot x 12-foot herb garden, two bee hives, fountains, Koi pond, the rhododendron garden, and shade gardens with rare plantings, a covered veranda where we will work, and much more. The house, in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright, is built of glass, redwood, and white Indiana limestone, has a flat roof, star-burst beamed semi-circular living room, lots of built-ins throughout, and was hosted by two friendly and sometimes over enthusiastic Newfoundland dogs named Brocka and Misty.

In the evening, a private viewing of historical broadsides and wood engravings (Private Press Collections include Cuala Press, Golden Cockerel Press, Kelmscott Press, Limited Editions Club, Overbrook Press, Perishable Press, St. Dominic's Press, Stamford Abbey Press) in the rare book room of the Hesburgh Library, University of Notre Dame.

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The second half of the workshop was spent at the Box Factory for the Arts, St. Joseph, Michigan (35 minutes from Niles, MI/ 2 blocks from Lake Michigan) where we worked, offering instruction and contacts to the public. The Box Factory has sculpture, ceramics, and printmaking shops, 40+ private artist’s studios, and boasts a small printmaking studio with a Vandercook 15-21 proof press (1955), three type cabinets of type, a Vandercook #14 proof press, a Charles Brand etching press, and a Charles Brand Lithography Press. The Box also has three galleries. The Box also has a cafe, and evening events, including concerts, poetry readings, writing workshops, and classes.

Participants could spend the day in St. Joseph on the beach, visit the Krasel Art Center, shop, or visit other famous artists’ towns, Saugatuk and Douglas. 

Nestled on the southern tip of "The Riviera of the Midwest," St. Joseph is located just 90 miles from downtown Chicago. The location is famous for sport fishing, and perfect for weekend adventure, antiquing, or walking through the many shops and art galleries—with some of the best stretches of beach on Lake Michigan.

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