Not All Potatoes Grown Underground
A linocut by Ken Swanson
Old Man with a Young Memory
Broke, a block print
by Ken Swanson
Daisies
Game Piece
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When Ken Swanson took up whittling as a kid, he never dreamed he would turn that skill into being a full-time artist doing linoleum block prints. On a road trip to Florida in the mid-1970s, he mused that “in an ideal world, someday I’d own an art gallery” and yet he never dreamed of being an artist himself. Now, some of those early dreams are fully realized.
Some decades ago, Swanson became a collector of art, mostly block prints by mostly local artists. Then, during some “poverty years,” he looked for some creative outlet for himself. “I had no financial resources and I needed to do something with my time. I had no TV and so I tried working in lots of mediums – paintings , oils, acrylics, ceramics.” He eventually combined the whittling with printmaking. “I looked at it as a hobby — something to do when I got home to take my mind off the stresses of my job.
“I was working at Alexian Brothers Retirement Village in Milwaukee and it was more than a full-time occupation. It consumed a lot of time. The block prints gave me relief from this intense job,” he said. “I didn’t know I could be an artist. I just wanted to learn how to use the tools.”
He gave some of his creations to family members and spent money to properly frame them first. As long as he was spending money on his works of art, he thought, why not sell them? And so he decided to do three art shows that year, 1989. At the Harvest Zoobilee in Milwaukee, he sold his first block print. Shows at Bayshore Mall and at Brookfield followed. Within four years, he would quit his job and do art fairs full time.
It was a major move in his life. He married Barb Hoppa, a co-worker at Alexian, in 1991. Instead of the usual 13 to 15 shows he had been doing each summer, Swanson embarked on an ambitious 46-show circuit that year. He remembers, “As newlyweds, we only had ourselves to deal with, so it was with her approval and her help that I could do this. And I did quite well … at least until 9/11 and later when we got into the war.”
Swanson learned he had the “right stuff” to succeed — discipline, a budget and a plan. “I have a good foundation, a good work ethic, integrity.” He closely studied the works of Robert von Neumann, a prominent regional artist and instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Of course, Swanson’s work as a printmaker has evolved considerably since those early works done after a hard day on the job. Early on, he preferred to depict simple objects in order to develop some familiarity with his carving tools. “I started carving with wood and quickly learned I didn’t like sharpening tools and having to go against the grain.” So Swanson eventually turned to linoleum blocks.
One of the first pieces he finished was a self-portrait, a “head shot.” Later, he would reveal himself by including his likeness as an element of the work. One of the best known one of these “self-portraits” was “My First Year in Fifth Grade,” a scene of desk-bound pupils in a classroom.
And so Swanson began moving from carving still-life objects to “snapshots that tell an entire story.” One of these was “An Old Man With a Young Memory,” in which a stooped, aged man pauses to look at a Victoria Secrets mannequin in a storefront window.
“I grew up when radio was still important,” Swanson says. “Back then, we filled in with our own imagery and imagination.” He likens his work to “visual radio” in which the viewer supplies his own memory or meaning to the artwork seen. His work became more complex. Swanson recalls a cityscape that was “very busy, different from other things I’d done.”
He had met another noted printmaker, the late Marvin Hill, at the 1989 Burlington Chocolate Festival art show and sought guidance from Hill about something that had been bothering him. “I have a problem with continuity,” Swanson told Hill. “There’s no ‘look’ to my work.” Hill seemed unconcerned about Swanson’s perceived problem. “After all, you’re not the same person you were 20 minutes ago,” he said to Swanson.
Over time, Swanson was to discover some continuity in his work. “When you look at yourself in 1989 and in 1999, there will be a common thread.”
Or, the changes will emerge. When Swanson began doing art fairs full-time, he would engage people by telling them the “stories” behind his artwork. Now, this seems less important to him. “I do share some of it,” he says, “just not all the nitty-gritty.
“Carving allows me to put something down that concerns me. It’s a type of therapy or catharsis. When I put it out there like that, people are willing to tell me what they see and they often reveal something to me and it makes sense. I have a need now to express what I want and for me to be satisfied with the results.
It’s not as important to me now for (viewers) to know why I did the piece and what’s behind it.”
Swanson added, “There are some patterns I’ve discovered in my life. I once did a linear chart of the major events in my life … I noticed that in the good times, I produced almost no artwork. Stress causes me to think and feel differently.”
These days, Swanson does fewer art fairs than he did in his “salad days.” Now, he helps care for Elliott, age 8, and Celeste, age 5 . He deftly sorts laundry, makes a lunchtime picnic, answers the endless questions of children and works on his printmaking on the days he is not traveling and doing art shows.
“I am at a cusp,” he says about this point in his life. “I’m familiar enough with the tools now to accomplish anything with tools technically. But sometimes, I’m not able to translate what I feel, what makes sense visually. I’m still learning how to apply ideas to linoleum.
“So, yes, I’ve had some successes, but I’m not as fluid as I want to be.”
What does he want to see in 10 years? “Well, I intend to continue to do art, as a way to express myself. Maybe incorporate words in what I do. As a kid I always did some writing.
“I’d like to be more expressive personally, maybe do more social commentary. I would like to be able to do that.” More dreams ahead.
If you have questions for
Ken, click here to send
an
e-mail to
kswanson2@wi.rr.com
or visit his Web site at:
www.KenSwansonPrintmaker.com
Ken Swanson
301 Lakecrest Drive
Racine, WI 53402-3813
262-994-1310
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