Andrew Ogus, Incredible Artist

Andrew Ogus, I learned back in the 1980's, designed books, but I had only an inkling of his talent and imagination until I joined the Lewis Carroll Society of North America and started receiving the Knight Letter, the members' magazine, for which he has been the publication designer since 2003.

I missed his September show, and now, looking online,  I see how many others I missed:

http://andrewogus.com/shows

I'm so glad I didn't miss yesterday's! 

His printmaking and drawing skills are awe-inspiring, and talking to him yesterday  I realized how similar his creative process is to what writers say about theirs.  He says he has something in mind after he prepares the paper, but the muses take over after that, so he can and usually does surprise himself. 

Muses,  the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts, seems like the right word for the work of an artist so inspired by Greek mythology.  Our conversation  made me aware of how much I've missed or forgotten about Greek mythology.  

He told me about the story of  Castor and Pollux, twins, but not identical ones because Pollux was immortal, and Castor was not.  When Castor was killed, Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality with Castor, and Zeus sent them both to heaven in the form of Gemini!

 The word "saucing" is new to me but something he said he learned to do at Fort Mason. 

When I come back I want to relate the funny story of a sale Andrew made yesterday and show some of his work on paper--including Madonna and Child.