Brown Bag: Why I Am Not a Real Printmaker but Keep Working at It Anyway

Why I am not a real printmaker but keep working at it anyway, is probably not a good title for my talk, but as all printmakers can attest we are interested in the metamorphosis that occurs when translating a drawing to a print. But once I make that change and experiment with the matrix, my work is finished and I am not interested in producing identical multiples, which is the mark of a printmaker. That said, since 2009 I have been exploring printmaking, particularly alternative process printmaking, as a means to communicate that incessant narrative that bounces around in my head. I am fascinated with the relationship of image and text and for the past few years have incorporated text into all my work in various ways. My work has always been representational, my sculpture figurative, my drawings and prints about the world inside my head, but represented with familiar imagery sometimes photographic sometimes invented. In this talk I’d like to take you from idea to final product explaining the decisions I make along the way, the research and influences as well as mistakes that get embodied and imbedded in the final print. Since its inception women have been at the forefront of printmaking experimentation and innovation as evidenced by the work in “The Future is Female: prints by women artists.” After showing you a selection of my work, we can walk out into the gallery and look at the work by artists that do consider themselves printmakers and talk about how their work directly or indirectly influenced me.

 

This print is from my Family Portrait Series: Tracing my Roots and represents my sister, holding my heart (a root) in her hands. It is a photogravure, with Chine-collé and letterpress.