JANET MAHER’S LITHOGRAPHIC COLLAGES
A review by Megan O’Brien

Janet Maher, Seemless #5, 1993, 7 1/8" sq./10" sq., chine colle lithograph.

Tucked down in a charming old home in Fells Point, Baltimore, temporarily resided the delicate lithographic collages of Janet Maher. Her subtle images melded in a natural harmony with each other and within the space of the Elzeard Pottery Gallery. Entranced by the delicate touch and beautiful soft tones in each work, the true beauty of  each print was enriched by the surroundings. Janet’s prints are small, mostly black and white drawings that push the beauty of the lithographic stone. She enhances her images by carefully selecting areas of soft brushed strokes and overlapping these with a textured drawing mimicking the undulating twist of a stick or the smooth fold of a leaf contrasted with a white space and hard black edge, which skips over to the whipped stroke of  a brush. The contrast and harmony become one. The shapes touch and fold together or push each other to their natural boundary. Layer upon layer of merged images flow around the room. The occasional hint of a color, deep lavender, pulls the image hard to the paper, grounding it to its space, seizing the image above, demonstrating the common ground. She reveals the unraveling of the ongoing  process of creativity by continually working with prints that may have begun years before. Janet’s work was on view at the Elzeard Pottery Gallery in April and May.