George Roberts
Minneapolis, MN
Art is essentially a practice of slowing down and asking questions, then slowing down some more and looking for answers.
Message
Fairly rich and privileged childhood. Growing discomfort, and eventually embarrassment, about that.
Attended a liberal arts college famous for its commitment to questioning everything.
Became a high school teacher. Literature and writing.
Began writing poetry, seriously.
Acquired a small printing press and taught myself to print poetry.
Founded, with my spouse, Beverly, Homewood Studios, a place for eight artists to have studios, a gallery, and a community of curious individuals committed to asking questions and to express the questions as works of art.
Statement
I work slowly. Relish working slowly. Like walking on uneven stones in a Japanese garden, art makes me slow down, notice. Slowing down is a way of keeping things from slipping by or getting away.
Letter press printing, hand paper making and hand book binding are all practices requiring patience, a slower pace, a willingness to dawdle, to be tentative, to waddle. Tarrying honors the possibility of discovery. Making art is like searching for clues. What one finds is often what others have, in their haste, passed over many times.
I am interested in the intersection of visual images and printed words. I am curious about the clues hanging around that cusp. I am learning to draw to assist me in parsing this crossroad. I stand at its junction, sometimes for hours, wondering what will come along…