“Endurance” used six plates printed onto navigational charts. These charts were used in navigation of the Ocean Giant, a heavy lift ship that makes a yearly voyage to McMurdo Station in Antarctica.
The Endurance was the ship that Ernest Shackleton set sail f0r Antarctica in January of 1914. The ship became ice bound in 1915 and sank in November of that year. Ernest Shackleton survived nearly insurmountable odds and managed to save his entire crew. He’s cited as one of the most admirable maritime leaders, though he died broke at the age of 47. In 1959, Alfred Lansing’s Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage was published, memorializing the voyage of the Endurance, and standing out as an enduring work of literature.
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This stencil mural was spray painted onto the bulkhead of the Ocean Giant’s Engine Room. Photos record the process and final result. The image is approximately 2 1/2′ by 3′. The ship tends to make a circuit between the arctic and Antarctic, and I was aboard during the 2023 trip to McMurdo station in Antarctica. I also used the stencil to make poster-sized prints onto navigational charts that had been used aboard the ship.
“Ocean Giant” is a single plate printed on Navigational Charts as well as Wanderings Handmade White Deckle Edge Blank Paper. These charts were used in the navigation of the Ocean Giant, SeaCor’s heavy lift ship. A shop press in the engine room of the ship was used as a printing press.
“The Age Of Exploration” is five plates printed onto Speedball Arnhem 1618 Printmaking Paper using a homemade printing press. It is based on an image of Ernest Shackleton’s ship, The Endurance, which was shipwrecked in Antarctic ice floe.
If interested, contact me via instagram DM @joshbarlas or email joshbarlas@gmail.com
“Nicholas Assists The Wayward Mariner, And All Those Aboard” is 8 plates printed onto Speedball Arnhem 1618 Printmaking Paper. It was made using a homemade printing press.
“Covid 19” is a woodblock print made using a single, laser-carved plate. I designed the image, and then commissioned Mike Stark at Pink Line Press to carve the block for me. The image is printed by hand, without the use of a mechanical press, onto Thai Kozo Paper.
“Becalmed” was my second successful print. It’s a reduction print made using four blocks. I used a homemade frame as a register. It is printed on Blick Masterprinter Paper, an inexpensive sulphite paper. The smoothness of the paper surface enabled me to print by hand, without a press or other device.
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