O'Kane Gallery to feature works by Leamon Green

Steamroller prints, hand drawings, hand paintings, and rough drafts highlight the Leamon Green exhibition entitled “Look At Them Now.” The exhibit opened September 1 and runs until October 13.

           

Steamroller prints involve the artist carving the image into a piece of wood, pouring ink into the carving, and then driving over it with a massive roller. The weight of the drum literally lifts the image onto the canvas paper. There are currently four of these on display. Weight of the World, Scales, Recovery, and Wandering Eyes are the highlight of the exhibit. The rest of the exhibit is all hand paintings or drawings. Some of the works are accompanied by rough sketches.

Speaking with Mark Cervankea, I found out a lot about what goes into making a steamroller print.

“We wanted to use the four steamroller prints as the centerpiece of the exhibit since they are larger,” Cervenkea said in an interview. The entire exhibit is focused around the four steamroller prints. “The areas that are white are where the wood was carved out to make the piece. This gives a unique relationship and reference to the subject,” Cervenkea stated. There are very few places that do steamroller prints since the pieces tend to be quite large.

“The idea of this exhibit was to build around the steamroller prints since they have a bold and expressive look to them. It’s a completely different form of artwork.”

Mark Cervenkea and Leamon Green have known each other for a while. Green’s work has also been featured in other shows.

“There was no specific work that we wanted for this exhibit. All we wanted was to build around the steamroller prints,” Cervanka said.

Steamroller printing is known for its relief style. Ink is poured into a carving and the canvas is placed over the carving. A heavy metal drum or steamroller then presses the canvas into the carving. This differs from etching in which a copper plate is carved out, ink applied, and then dipped into an acid bath. The acid eats away at the high areas, leaving the low areas as the artwork.

An advantage to steamroller printing is that it allows an artist to print large-scale while keeping the price affordable.

Leamon Green is a local artist and also is the head of the Performing and Visual Arts Department at Texas Southern University. Green is also considered to be one of the best draft artists around.

Green has been doing steamroller prints for five years with Houston Print Matters. “I always wanted an exhibit at UH-Downtown. Mark and I went through some ideas together and decided on the pieces that would be put on display,” Green said.

Steamroller prints require a group effort and donated paper. “Most of the time, it takes an entire day to make a few prints. It also requires organization,” Green said in an interview.

“I have been doing art for as long as I can remember. My parents were very supportive and I decided to major in art during college,” Green said.  

Green wanted to use the steamroller prints as the centerpiece and build around them. After talking to Mark and discussing the pieces to be used, the two of them decided to use the large prints and build around them.

“I wanted to build off the content of the steamroller sketches since they have a bold and expressive look to them,” Green said. “It really is a different animal.”

Since very few places do steamroller prints, it can be hard to find a venue. Luckily, Saint Arnold’s Brewery let Green use their parking lot to create the prints.

Steamroller prints are carved onto large pieces of wood and then printing ink is poured into the carving. Wherever there is a white space, that represents the actual carving. “It’s a very unusual way to create a relief print.”

School's out, but starvation is not

For the majority of us, we never need to worry about having enough to eat. But for many low-income families, food insecurity and starvation are summer problems. With school out, the free and reduced lunch program also ends. This puts many at risk of starvation.

           

According to CNBC, summer puts a strain on food pantries and food banks as they struggle to provide meals to families. Kevin Concannon with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said that the time of year that a child is likely to go hungry is during the summer months. This is because school is out.

           

You’re probably wondering how I know so much. I volunteer at Catholic Charities in their Guadalupe Basic Needs Center. Summer is always a strain since more families rely on food assistance than any other time of the year. This means that food banks and food pantries are strained to fill the gap for those who normally rely on other services and federally funded food programs.

           

According to Feeding America, Texas is home to six of the 10 counties in the country with the highest rate of childhood food insecurity in 2011. Almost 2 million children or 27.6 percent lived in a food insecure household.

           

Food insecurity means that a household struggles to provide enough food for everyone in the family due to a lack of resources, according to CNBC.

It’s not just Texas. The situation is reflected on a national level too. About 21.4 million children receive free or reduced-cost lunches during the school year, according to the USDA. The neediest kids receive breakfast, snacks, dinner, and even backpacks of weekend food through school or after-school programs.

           

But last summer, only about 3 million kids were fed through the summer program, which provides meals to kids via school and community programs, Concannon said.

           

Kids usually have trouble getting to feeding sites when school buses aren’t running and parents are not always aware of the programs. When kids don’t have regular, nutritious meals, they learn slower and have more behavioral problems, experts say. They also start to develop unhealthy habits including binge-eating that can put them at risk for diabetes and obesity. Hungry kids may also resort to desperate measures such as intentionally failing a class so they can go to summer school and be assured of a meal.

           

According to CNN, a record 21.7 million U.S. students get free or low-cost lunches during school. But fewer than 4 million or just 18% of those in the student lunch program are fed through the USDA’s summer food program. While it’s a record, many say that the government can do more.

           

One of the biggest hurdles for summer meals is that it be served in an approved location and consumed on-site. This is to make sure that the children are the ones receiving the meals. But poverty and violence in an area can deter kids from wanting to go and receive the free meal.

           

Audrey Rowe, a USDA administrator, said that the department is working with lawmakers to increase flexibility around the summer meals program. It is also trying to expand the number of sites to include health centers and children’s hospitals.