Monday, January 30, 2006
Aakhus recreates historic print pulling ceremony
 Michael Aakhus, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and master printmaker, reenacted history for a documentary film crew on January 25 by pulling an impression from an engraved copper plate of naturalist John James Audubon’s “Tell Tale Godwit” in the USI Art Studio.Aakhus first made restrikes from the plate, part of the collection of the John James Audubon Museum in Henderson, Kentucky, in a ceremony in August, 2002. That event was the first time prints had been created from the plate in 160 years. It is one of only 78 remaining plates from 435 in Audubon’s masterpiece, Birds of America. The current and former curators of the Audubon Museum, Alan Gehret and Don Boarman, were on hand as Aakhus, assisted by instructor in art Brandon Gardner, pulled a print for the Florentine Films/Hott Productions crew, led by producer/director Larry Hott. Hott’s production company is making a documentary about Audubon for the PBS American Masters Series. “Audubon: Drawn from Nature” is scheduled to air in September. |
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