-Albert Pinkham Ryder on rice paper-

for the graphic's department assignment, I considered a photo of Albert Pinkham Ryder

printed on a Braziller Publication's book jacket featuring representations of Ryder's pictures and determined that I would cut his likeness into a block of wood.

so I purchased a 6x8 block, (resingrave) black printer's ink, one hard rubber roller, a couple of specialty knives, tools for gouging, and sheets of fascinating, tactile rice paper from

the school’s art supply store, then proceeded to the bowels of the printmaking department with my goods, and an art student's indefatigable attitude. 
when the block's inverted drawing was done, I began to cut into it for the image,–– 

the cut-away areas serving as negative spaces, then inked the raised surfaces of the block with the hard, rubber roller, placed a slightly oversized sheet of rice paper atop the block, and using the barrel-end of the knife, pressed and briskly rubbed the paper into the ink until I was satisfied that the image was completely transferred to the rice paper.

peeling back the paper, I liked the sharp-edged contrast of the black and white image and continued inking and transferring a number of sheets in the hope of selling some, as I recall

for around 15 bucks a print,–– with my personal signature, with "Ryder" noted as the named subject, a notation as to the numbers run in sequence to 30, with additional prints, each designated as an "art proof" and the date created: 1965.

some prints were given as gifts, or traded with other students for their own woodcut prints or intaglios of various luminaries, and others submitted to art-shows which is where the 15 bucks was applied.

the Ryder woodcut seemed to be a hit among my brethren, and even the visiting president of the "Underwood Deviled Ham Company" purchased one for his collection, Ryder's link to New Bedford being a contributing factor in Julian Underwood's deliberations.

I guess 15 bucks was a lofty sum to shell-out for a print from an unknown, snot-nosed art student in 1965.

emboldened by financial gain, I matted and framed another print, and presented it to my girlfriend who was on the run through the narrow corridor from "Art History" heading to "Figure Drawing" where she latched on to it with a quick, free hand, as slick as Wilma Rudolph to a relay baton.

along with my art school buddies, my scurrying girlfriend, and the "Underwood Deviled Ham" guy, my younger brother in Florida has one, and my son who lives in Los Angeles, has one, and a niece living in Brooklyn, with husband, daughter, and cats of her own, who was 2 years old when I gouged Ryder's image into a resingrave block, –– she has one.