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one year I learned the basics of drafting, airbrush, typography, paste-up and layout, and darkroom procedures - all outdated techniques now.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