Master of the craft to give Gallery lecture By Patricia Calnan A dazzling array of works by such artists as Manet, Degas, Goya, Rembrandt, Hockney and Lichtenstein is about to adorn the walls of the Bermuda National Gallery in an exhibition that promises to be as enthralling as any yet staged.

"Into Print: The Technique of Printmaking'', which opens at the end of this month, should be as much an eye-opener for the artist as for the layman, reflecting as it does, the printing processes which, over the last couple of decades, have revolutionised the art world.

This has been due, in no small part, to master printmaker Ken Tyler, whose technological advances have complemented, and even transformed the concepts of some of the world's leading contemporary artists.

Nowadays, many of them go to his increasingly famous Tyler Graphics workshop, just outside New York, which provides state-of-the-art facilities for such procedures as embossing, etching, lino and woodcuts, lithography, monotype prints and even paper-making -- all under one roof.

Several prints from Tyler Graphics Ltd. (including large works by Helen Frankenthaler, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella and Robert Motherwell) are being loaned for the Bermuda exhibition.

On November 2, Mr. Tyler will also be giving a lecture on printmaking at the National Gallery.

"Ken Tyler is very pleased to be working with the National Gallery on this exhibition and says he is looking forward to coming here. It's certainly an honour for us to be working so closely with someone who is one of the leading printmakers in the world today,'' says Gallery director Mrs. Laura Gorham.

The word "print'' is perhaps most closely associated with the photomechanical process which has flooded homes with inexpensive reproductions of famous paintings. For many, too, the word "print'' conjures up visions of school days, where potatoes, or squares of linoleum are used to create rudimentary designs.

In fact, a print may be more accurately described as any picture or design made from an inked or painted impression from an engraved plate, and involves a huge variety of different procedures. The earliest known method of printing, that of making woodcuts, goes back at least as early as the 5th century A.D., the first woodcut as we know it, believed to be that of St. Christopher, by an unknown artist of the 15th century. Prints were (and still are) also made from engraved stones.

One of the simplest ways of creating a print is to use a stencil, where the design is cut into a sheet and the ink brushed through to the paper beneath.

Another method, very popular during the Romantic Movement, was that of lithography, which involves the use of greasy crayons for fixing the design, thus capitalising on the natural antipathy of grease and water.

"We are going to show people that prints are a lot more than the copies you buy when you go to the art gallery and get a reproduction of a Monet. A print is an original,'' says Mr. Dennis Sherwin, co-vice chairman of the Bermuda National Gallery and print collector extraordinaire.

"It could be an etching in copper, from a piece of wood or stone -- something touching something to leave an image behind. A real print is not something that's just zipped off by a photographer.'' One of the reasons he became involved in prints, he says, is because quite early in his life he recognised that prints were a form of art that was affordable. "For instance,'' he points out, "you can get a Picasso print for $500 to $1,000. After all, I am a Democrat and it occurred to me that if I can have them, anyone else can, as well! I don't think people, generally, realise how much magic there is in prints.'' So far as he is concerned, prints are more aesthetically satisfying than paintings.

"I would rather own a Motherwell print than a Motherwell painting -- even though the painting would cost a lot more -- because I think the colours are purer. For one thing, there are no brush-strokes.'' Similarly, he feels his Matisse print is "a hundred million times better than the real thing!'' The reason for this, he explains, is because "the ink isn't in the paper, it is on the paper -- there is a human element.'' For Mr. Sherwin, the forthcoming exhibition is a dream come true.

Speaking in his Southampton home, where eye-popping prints, ancient and modern, seem to take up almost every inch of wall space, he says, "I've always wanted to do a show like this. My role,'' he adds modestly, "is really that of advisor -- it's ended up being a three-way effort between Laura (Gorham) and Marlee Robinson.'' Surprisingly, he reveals that he has "not needed'' to donate any pieces from his collection for the show. "There are an amazing number of people here who have been collecting fine quality prints for a long time.'' Also featured in the exhibition will be etchings and dry-point plates by sculptor Desmond Fountain, an ink jet with silk screen by David Robinson, and a silkscreen by Graeme Outerbridge.

Pausing by an exquisite Picasso print, Mr. Sherwin explains its acquisition.

"I bought this when I was 20 years old. Years later, I met the man who had sold it to me, a Mr. Silverstein who was still in the same store, and asked him why he had let me have it. He said, `Because I wanted to get you hooked on collecting!'' The ruse evidently worked, for Mr. Sherwin's collection now ranges from Toulouse-Lautrec, Matisse, and Salvador Dali, to spectacular-sized, brilliantly-coloured prints by such modern giants as Frank Stella, Robert Motherwell and Helen Frankenthaler.

In spite of this treasure-trove, Mr. Sherwin selects a woodcut by an apparently unknown Singhalese artist as "the one print I would rescue if my house were on fire''.

It was when he visited Sri Lanka in 1968 to be best man at future US Speaker of the House Tom Foley's wedding, that he was taken to see the work of a young student: "I think this woodcut evokes the relationship between humans and animals better than anything I have ever seen.'' Mr. Sherwin grew up surrounded by art, his family being closely connected with the Cleveland Museum of Art, "one of the finest collections in the world, an embarrassment of riches, especially in Oriental art''.

After obtaining a degree in Foreign Service from the University of Georgetown in Washington, D.C., Mr. Sherwin gravitated toward Congress, where he worked for a time as a speech writer for Congressman Foley. "Basically my work was divided between politics and the arts. I was very involved with the Washington Performing Arts Society, and the Kennedy Centre.'' When he moved to Bermuda, some 25 years ago, the talents honed by long years of work for the Democratic National Committee ("they do the best P.R. in the world!'') were put to good use, promoting the Bermuda Festival and then with the National Trust, where he served as President from 1989 to 1992.

"I love islands,'' he replies, when asked why he chose Bermuda as his home, "because there is a beginning and an end to them! In any case,'' he reveals, "I had relatives who lived here. I found this house (perched, cliff-side above a South Shore beach) and said, `anyone who buys that must be crazy' -- and promptly bought it!'' He reveals he also has a centuries-old Bermudian connection.

`Into Print' exhibition From Page 23 "Back in 1627 a Thomas Sherwin came here for two years. He had a ship here and I notice that there were some Bermudians whose first names were Sherwin -- it's in the Rich papers.'' Mr. Sherwin and Mrs. Gorham both emphasise that although "Into Print'' will obviously hold great appeal for the general viewer, the thrust of the show is on education, particularly for those in primary school.

"We would like to see teachers using it as part of their curricula, visiting the show and taking the simpler techniques back into the classroom for children to have hands-on experience,'' explains Mrs. Gorham.

To that end, special workshops are being run on September 26 at 7 p.m., September 27 at 5.30 p.m. at the Gallery, and on Saturday, October 7 from 10 a.m. to 12 noon at Dellwood School Art Room.

"Into Print'' opens to the public on Saturday, September 30 and runs through January 12, 1996.

Class Tours (at 10 and 11 a.m. and 2 and 3 p.m.) of the exhibition may be booked, starting the week of October 9. For further information on tours and/or the workshop, telephone 295-9428 or Fax 295-2055.

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF PRINTS -- Roy Lichentstein's "Reflection on the Scream'' (above) and Frank Stella's "The Affadavit'' (right) are just two of the prints that will be exhibited in "Into Print: The Techniques of Printmaking'' which opens at the Bermuda National Gallery on September 30.

(Photographs by Tyler Graphics Ltd.)