From collection Great Cranberry Island Historical Society Collection

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Creative works by Gretchen Westphal
What I Did With My Lawn Mowing Money
The short story
Graduated from Mt. Desert Island Regional High School in 1974.
Received a Degree of Proficiency from Willmar-Area Vocational Technical Institute, Willmar, Minnesota in 1975.
Received a BFA in Printmaking from California College of Arts & Crafts, Oakland, California in 1982.
(Renamed California College of the Arts in 2003.)
As a teenager I mowed lawns, swept the SW Harbor theater (1971), delivered groceries, and painted boats and houses.
The long story
When I graduated from Mt. Desert Island Regional High School in June of 1974, I hadn't yet applied to any colleges.
I knew I'd go somewhere, sometime, but I focused on my studies and sports until I graduated. After graduation I took
up my usual summer jobs mowing lawns, delivering groceries, painting boats, painting houses. Mid-July I received a
course catalog from one of my mom's sisters, my Aunt Esther, showing the various and 2-year courses that were of-
fered at a vocational school "just across the cornfields" from her and Uncle Louis's farm in Minnesota. I signed up for a
1-year course in "Technical Art & Illustration," and in that one year I learned the basics of drafting, airbrush, typography,
paste-up and layout, and darkroom procedures - all outdated techniques now. Perhaps if my math skills had been stron-
ger I would have gone the drafting route, but instead I was drawn to type, images, and books. Former summer residents
Beryl and Burton Jones helped me get my first graphics job, doing paste-up and layout and darkroom work at a copy shop
in Harvard Square. From there I've worked at newspapers and print shops, including the Bar Harbor Times, Ellsworth
American, Downeast Graphics, and the Boston Phoenix. Later I was fortunate enough to have employers help me bring
those layout skills forward into the age of desktop publishing, and I worked at Boston-area textbook publishing companies
including Ligature, Inc., Houghton Mifflin Company, and Small Planet Communications.
In the late '70s and early '80s I attended California College of Arts & Crafts in Oakland, California. I enjoyed the
involved processes of fine art printmaking, especially letterpress - hand-setting type, letter by letter. I also learned the
processes of stone lithography, aluminum-plate lithography, etching, silkscreening, monoprints, woodcuts, linoieum cuts,
papermaking (western and Japanese), and bookbinding. The Art History, Anthropology, and English classes were interest-
ing, but I enjoyed the hands-on studio work the most. My friend Beth Herrick, with whom I ventured out there, and I had
a good small group of letterpress friends with whom we enjoyed working late into the night on our various projects. We
also shared memorable dinners and went on fun outings together. A midnight screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show
in Berkeley one Halloween certainly stands out. On the other end of the spectrum, attending a piano concert featuring
Alicia de Larrocha was also very special. Again, I was learning the "old arts," but it was the right thing to do at the time.
While some of my work may be humorous, even silly, I was always serious when it came to technique.
So, now you know what I did with my lawn mowing money. Big thanks to all who hired me over the years
you opened doors for me. Thanks. I hope you enjoy my show.
Gretchen Westphal
July 5, 2009
Drafting
before CAD
Table Adjustment Assembly
When I was attending vocational school in 1974-75, Computer-
Lead Pointer
Aided Design (CAD) and Computer-Aided Design and Drafting
(CADD) were just in their infancy and weren't being taught
Machinist's Vise
yet. So, each drawing started as a hand-drafted pencil drawing.
Trailer Hitch
After that stage was approved, the ink overlay was done. Here's
a selection of my drafting work from vocational school. Most of
Greenhouse
these were textbook exercises. For Lead Pointer we took mea-
FM Tuner (schematic diagram)
surements directly from the object. There are various uses for
these types of drawings, such as product assembly instructions.
Framed printmaking list
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Creative works by Gretchen Westphal
Document, program list of creative works by Gretchen Westphal, and a short biography "What I Did With My Lawn Mowing Money", for her exhibit at the GCI Library, 5 July 2009