As a child, I had some artistic ability and dreamed of growing up and becoming a professional artist. However, I didn’t have any serious instruction until my senior year of high school when I took a class with artist and teacher, James Wright. I had worked in many mediums, but Mr. Wright introduced me to linoleum block printing, which I really enjoyed.
Life intervened and I didn’t pursue an art career, but I still dabbled in art as a hobby over the years. I also liked to periodically visit the University of Rochester’s Memorial Art Gallery to admire exhibitions and works in the permanent collection.
In early-2001, I visited the gallery and was pleasantly surprised by a temporary exhibit, “Woodblock Prints by James Havens: A Centennial Celebration,” which included forty prints from local artist, James D. Havens (1900-1960). Wow! Having had some rudimentary training in block printing, I really admired Havens’ masterful work.
Havens was born into privilege in 1900. His father was a U.S. Representative, and afterwards, a legal counsel for the successful Eastman Kodak Company. But young James was a stricken with childhood diabetes at the age of fourteen. The disease was a death sentence in those days, however, through his father’s influence, college-student James became the first person in the United States to receive treatment with the new “miracle” drug, insulin.
Havens began studying art at the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute (which later became the Rochester Institute of Technology, my alma mater) and further honed his printmaking skills under the direction of nationally known artists, Troy Kinney and Charles Woodbury. Havens co-founded the Print Club of Rochester in 1930 and became one of the region’s most beloved artists. He died of cancer in 1960.
While recently engaging in some internet sleuthing, I discovered that Havens’ former home and studio, built in 1938, is only two miles from our house.
It’s amazing how gifted artists, like Havens, can take a scene out of nature that we would casually pass by without a second thought, and invite us to focus on the intricate beauty and design of God’s creation. Enjoy a few of James Havens’ woodblock prints below:
Made it here today!
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👋 Hope you’re having a good day!
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I’m having a blessed day!
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👍🏻😊
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Awesome artwork! It’s also awesome to see he lived so close to you!
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Thanks, Jimmy! I really enjoy his work. It’s amazing how much society has changed. Sixty years ago, Havens was a somewhat popular figure here in his hometown. Today, I imagine 99 out of 100 Rochesterians could not name a local fine artist.
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” I imagine 99 out of 100 Rochesterians could not name a local fine artist.” True. This reminded me of how I went to a comic bookstore this week. They had a comic book signing and apparently he’s someone famous but local; and I don’t even know who he was! I felt bad and tried to avoid eye contact lol
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Yeah, technology has pushed all of the hand-drawn art aside. Comics are still one of the holdouts!
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I need to review some comics tomorrow…long overdue!
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You’ve been teasing a comic review for quite awhile – it’s starting to get like DC and the LSH! 🤣
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Lol! It’s so much work and time for me to write reviews I’m backlogged like how backlogged I am with back issues of Silver Age comics….
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Yup, as we talked about before, writing reviews are helpful on one hand because they force me to look for the main themes and bottom line as I read and after I’ve finished reading, BUT it’s definitely arduous work compared to just reading.
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Agreed!
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Wow. Ty. Tell how you did Linoleum printing process. Ty:)
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Thanks for asking, Bonnie! It was a lot of fun. We would scratch out lines on a linoleum tile with special knives to make an image, roll a thin layer of ink onto the tile, then use a special press to press the tile against a sheet of paper. The cut-out areas in the tile would appear as white areas on the paper.
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Oh ok. Grandson does this with metal.:)
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Interesting. I never did any work with metal.
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He is a Graphic Designer.
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Cool!
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