Maryland Printmakers

PRINTMAKERS' PRESENTATION

Editor’s note: When printmakers get together, the discussion is often about techniques. We work hard to develop our skills in the old techniques; we are thrilled when we learn about new techniques or new uses for old ones. If we didn’t care about the details or the process we wouldn’t choose to be printmakers. However, it isn’t hard, especially for students or artists starting out in printmaking, to get over-involved in technique, because the various mediums provide so many complex and interesting ways of working. Sometimes it’s good to stand back, look at each other’s work, and remember that we are artists, not just technicians. We are trying to say something in our work, and we choose methods that will lend themselves to expressing what we have in mind. In this presentation, five members of Maryland Printmakers explain what they are trying to do, and how, in the works shown.

Sky Blue by Sue Anne Bottomley, stenocut, 15" x 15"

Sky Blue
by Sue Anne Bottomley

This is a relief print done in stenocut, my word for a process I developed over a period of 9 years. The material is a thin roll of commercial rubber, originally intended as a stencil for sandblasted signs. I chose it for this series of prints because it is thin enough to be cut into irregular pieces, with just scissors or mat knife. When I made this piece, I had just finished a two-year series of workshops in Virginia, many of them in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The upside down “v” shape is blue, the horizontal rectangle at the bottom is green, and the rest is black. These three pieces were inked separately, and then reassembled like a jigsaw puzzle. This method has a great improvisational aspect, which I love. The viewer can see my intense emotional memories of the mountains in the jagged shapes, and of the flat valley in the bottom rectangle. The sky blue haze is draped on and between the mountain ridges, like a warm shawl. The white lines are geometric patterns, but were carved very quickly and directly. They were carved first, before the big shapes, into a square-shaped plate, and served initially as a memory aid, or a kind of stream of consciousness helper. While I was carving the white lines, my mind began to think of mountain and sky shapes.

All Over the Map by Ellen Hill, 2000, paper pulp painting, woodblock, acrylic, 32" x 23"

All Over the Map
by Ellen Hill

This piece is typical of the way I work. It is a combination of paper pulp painting, woodblock printing, and acrylic. I take what I like to call the evolutionary approach when I make a print, meaning that I rarely start out with a plan for what the finished print will look like. I let each layer help me decide how to work on the next layer. In this piece, I began with a pulp painting that came to look sort of like a patchwork quilt. The pulp painting alone didn’t have enough variation in marks to make it interesting, so I added a layer of woodblock print to give it some strong lines and sharper edges. It looked terrible after I printed the woodblock on it, and I thought I had ruined it. I took it home and let it hang on my studio wall for a couple of months; then I gradually began redefining areas by painting on them. It’s now one of my favorite pieces.

Alpine Vase by Susan Goldman, 2001, monotype, 42" x 30"

Alpine Vase
by Susan Goldman

I explore ancient objects in my art. Until recently my monotypes have included figures and objects in imagined landscapes, and still-lives filled with iconography from the ancient past. I borrow images from historical sources and arrange them into a context that’s both rhythmic and surreal. This is how the figure of a woman can be revealed in the shape of an ancient vase, and how layers of colors and images can suggest the continuum of the human experience. I try to create a sense of haunting beauty in my monotypes by using a multi-drop process. I build the surface of the composition by printing layer after layer of transparent inks onto a single sheet of paper. Then I selectively wipe the printing plate to create soft luminous effects. I also use solvents to break down and build up forms. In this way, background and foreground meld together; the play of light and dark creates a luminescent glow.

Inflections and Innuendos by Andrea McCluskey, woodblock and carborundum print, 4" x 3"

Inflections and Innuendos
by Andrea McCluskey

My prints are an ongoing exploration of symbols as visual language. My forms are generally organic and layered, relating to nature. I use wood as my matrix because of its inherent beauty and personality. I feel that my choice of materials relates directly back to the imagery. I use the wood in 3 ways: I use the Japanese traditional technique, with watercolor paints fixed with rice paste and hand printed with a baren; I coat plywood with varnish, carve into it, and then ink and print it as an intaglio; and I paint a carborundum solution onto plywood, and then seal it, to get an aquatint effect. This piece is part of a series of 46 prints. While each print has an individual presence, they share overlapping symbols and marks. By never recombining in the same way, they speak to the uniqueness and wild(er)ness of nature.

Life’s Journey by Calvin Custen, artist’s book, 30" x 28" (closed)

Life’s Journey
by Calvin Custen

My work has evolved over the years from straightforward printing to some rather unconventional styles of printmaking. I have, at times, questioned whether I was a printer, and even whether I was an artist. But in the end I still find a need to produce my work, whether it’s considered art or print or whatever. My latest works have been mixed media assemblages of sorts, developing out of my video and book presentations. I call them altar pieces. Along with a story, I include found objects, hand sculpted work, and pictures from family albums. The images are made on ball grained aluminum litho plates. The plates are then included in the altar. The work has a certain crudeness to it, as well as a haunting memory feeling. I feel that the materials of print and printmaking are perfect for the kind of direction I enjoy working in, and the types of messages I want to put out. I am looking to finish several more altar pieces over the course of the next several years.