Conor McGrann, Printmaking, Sophomore, Syracuse University
The Eloquent Nutsack satirizes the white, Anglo-Saxon, protestant (WASP) culture in the North Hills of Pittsburgh. The artist and friends took comments that they actually overheard and exaggerated them to the point of lunacy. He then illustrated the phrases depicting the WASPs as scrotums. All the illustrations and prints are hand silk-screened on cream Rives BFK paper. The book is sewn in a link stitch style with the covers directly sewn on. The hope with this book was to show WASP culture in a way that anyone from this country could understand. Even though everything from this book has a direct tie to Pittsburgh, the references to people and places are vague enough so that the reader can easily relate to the characters. Because of the sheer ridiculousness of the depictions of WASPs, it is hoped that even some WASPs could and would laugh at the way their culture is represented. Created in 2007 in an edition of three.
Conor McGrann first got interested in printmaking through his father's book collection. The illustrations in some of these books were the first prints he ever saw, so for him printmaking and bookmaking have a long history. This book is an exploration of the book form without relying on prints, and emphasizing the structure of books. Blank pages and patterned color folios help show the book's binding.