#fredgenis

So, watching this video of lithographer Fred Genis has made me want to research a bit about the history of lithography in my country of origin, Australia. In my spare time I’m going to start. 

When I first learned lithography in 1992, I was very lucky to have a string of talented and experienced lithography lecturers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. There was such a buzz of energy in the litho rooms. We even had our own ball graining machine! Gradually over the course of my 5 years there, it just dwindled and died as the experienced lithography teaching staff were gradually cut down and hence I think new students coming to lithography didn’t feel the support needed to hang in there with the medium.

This led to less students and eventually the selling off of equipment to make way for other areas of arts and design involving new technology. By the time I went back to do a residency there a few years later and also offer my knowledge to students in need of tech help... I can’t really even remember anyone much doing lithography. This is only a personal perception and can’t be taken as gospel.