News from Downtown Partnership of Colorado Springs

The Downtown Snoopster reports that a weighty matter has surfaced on Tejon Street. And heavy it is: 1255 pounds.

Master printer Geoffrey Lasko has brought his etching press to the Lasko Fine Art Gallery, at 113 N. Tejon St. After arriving from Iowa, the press required Lasko and four friends to haul it from the truck to the entrance. Then, oops - the press was too big for the door. Off came the pallet, the gallery door, the molding, and pieces of the press. Finally, these hernia-hankerin' hombres were able to lift the press through the door (groan) and position it in the Gallery (whew).

The Lasko Gallery is the only commercial gallery in Colorado Springs (and perhaps in Colorado) to house an etching press operated by the artist/owner. This setup has a long history that includes Rembrandt and Dürer, whose presses, like Lasko's, were virtually identical to the Gutenberg press of 1450. Another tradition Lasko follows dates from the 8th century, when Japanese woodblock printers collaborated with well-known artists to produce prints of their work. One of Lasko's recent projects is prints of Manitou Springs street scenes depicted by locally well-known artist Charles Rocky.

Besides his own paintings and prints, Lasko handles an impressive selection of oil paintings and prints from other countries and centuries. The current show (through May 31) is Lew Tilley: The Broadmoor Academy Collection. Besides enjoying the featured exhibit, you can poke around through Lasko's drawers (of prints, that is) or just hang out and observe the artist in action. Lasko gets a kick out of explaining to onlookers his mezzotinting process.*

If you buy a Lasko piece, you'll be among notables that include the Library of Congress, the Colorado History Museum, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, the Pioneer Museum, Placido Domingo and President William Jefferson Clinton. And when your check clears the bank, the Snoopster will add your name to this list.

*Mezzotint is a process that involves rocking a spiky roulette wheel or other similar engravers' tool across a metal plate (either copper or steel) in different directions until the plate is covered with tiny burrs of raised metal. If inked and printed at this point, the plate will print completely black. The engraver, by burnishing or scraping away the fragile burr, is able to produce degrees of shadow from black to white without the lines common to etching or line engraving. This process most closely resembles and best recreates the effects rendered in oil paintings.