Printmaking in Portland, Oregon

“Like your computer that is hooked up via the internet to an infinite amount of information, you - by virtue of being a human being - are hooked up to everyone else in the world.” -Pam Grout

I was in Portland, OR on September 23, 2001. I flew there right after 9.11 happened in New York. I happened to be walking near the Pearl District and I found Tracy Savage's gallery doors wide open. There was an open call for printmakers. Any artist could make a monoprint.

I had just been working as a silk-screen printer at Country Tees in Tequesta, Florida for a year and flew out to Portland, OR in hopes to find employment as a printmaker. I have already had tons of experience, after watching printmaker, Ron Prokrasso, who created the Monothon, and other master printers, while I assisted them at the Monothon at College of Santa Fe.

Spring©Anna Torlen

My print was about blessing America. I wanted to conserve hope in that moment of grief, loss, and terror. 

We had never experienced any amount of terror like that in America. The fear was real and that is all I know. Aside from blame, humanity suffered. I wanted to conserve hope. 

Artist's React to 9.11

"Anna Torlen has arrived in Portland just four days ago, circuitously from Greenwich, Conn. - "and Greenwich is the bedroom of the World Trade Center." Her print is a flurry of red and white and blue, with a shock of black. "Just kind of shattered and splattered, you know?" It is called "God Bless America," and it has hints of pink: "After terror you want some hope."

 by Bob Hicks, The Sunday Oregonian, September 23, 2001