Printing in the Coastal Bend

Here are some shots from a printmaking workshop I taught at the Rockport Center for the Arts in Texas. I had a blast working with the community in the beautiful Coastal Bend.

Many workshop participants had never done printmaking before but they quickly picked up the techniques and made some amazing work. I taught additive/reductive monotype and then discussed ways to combine monotype with drypoint, collograph, and chine colle.

Monotype plate and print with chine colle

Success!

Monotype print with chine colle and plate

CAC residency - new work

I have been working now for about a week at the CAC. The residency is in a beautiful church built in the 1880s which has been restored and converted into an artist workspace and exhibition space. The detail is truly amazing in these buildings, not to mention all the windows are stained glass.

I have been able to focus on developing new pieces; mostly printmaking (linocuts), sculpture, and watercolors. I am experimenting with layering different media and building on my current work focused on the internal body. Here's an example of one of the linocuts. 

detail of the block in progress

Branch Study - 6 x 12" on Japanese Mulberry paper

detail

I decided to mix a very pale blue for the print because I want to play with subtle tones. The CAC doesn't have a press so I've been learning how to print by hand using a baren (a flat disc with a handle on top). It's labor intensive but allows me to have an even more direct connection with the production of my prints, which I love. 

CAC residency

Day two complete at the beautiful CAC Woodside residency.. This space has so much character and history. I've never made work in a restored church before. There is a calmness and peace which is conducive to contemplation and making art. 

Contemporary Artists Center Woodside, NY

View of my studio, loving all the stained glass

Art All Day

Last month, I participated in an open studios event in Trenton called Art All Day, organized by ArtWorks, Trenton's community art center. Since I don't have a studio in Trenton, I was connected with Segal LaBate Real Estate, a local business which opened its doors to local artists for the day. We had at least 100 visitors, and I enjoyed meeting everyone and discussing my prints. ArtWorks also organized an exhibit of one piece from each of the participating artists (see pics below).

Hanging my prints the night before

I showed my newest prints from my Look Inside series

The day of!

Powerful installation at the Art All Day exhibit by my friend Jamaila Hernandez

My framed print at the exhibition

Relief printing

I took a fantastic class yesterday on relief printing taught by Justin Sanz at the Blackburn printshop in NYC. Relief prints are made by using sharp tools to cut into the surface of a block, generally wood or linoleum. When the surface of the block is inked and printed, the cuts print white/blank. The result is a graphic, striking image.

I'm definitely going to continue experimenting with relief printing. The physicality of carving and cutting feels very sculptural, in a reductive way of course. I feel a similar thread to my monotypes since I frequently work in a reductive method where I reveal an image from a dark field of ink.

Check out my first attempt at linocut..

New studies

I'm experimenting with some new surfaces. I bought a sheet of dibond aluminum panel and am sanding it and painting directly on it. I love how the metal shines and changes depending on how it is lit.  

 Bethlehem study

Oil on aluminum, 4x8 in

I have also been experimenting with collagraph, which is a form of printmaking where you print from a raised surface on a plate. I paint the image on the plate with matte medium mixed with carborundum (grit). It dries quickly leaving a raised textured surface which holds ink and produces a beautiful embossed image.

Collagraph print study

12x12 in

I love successful printmaking days

The print below was inspired by a blurry iphone pic I snapped awhile back, while rushing past an industrial complex off the highway. It is an image which I have seen many times before in my native Northwest Indiana ('the Region') as well as central Jersey and Pennsylvania. The places change, but the image keeps appearing in my work. 

 Untitled XIV (Bethlehem)

monotype, 17x24 in

Almost four hours I worked on the plate for this print, which is longer than I would normally spend on a monotype. I rolled out the ink, created one image, obliterated it, re-inked the plate, roughed in the new image, wiped off the plate tone in the negative space, then went back in with stiff brushes to draw the details. I wanted to achieve a balance between flat and three-dimensional forms while maintaining the essential mood of the image. 

Untitled XV (Bethlehem)

monotype, 17x24 in

Untitled XV (Bethlehem) - detail