"Nothing great in this world has been accomplished without passion."
These words by the philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel summarize how I feel about printmaking, art and life. The smell of the materials, the feel of the paper and the physicality of pulling a print by hand invoke in me the passion necessary to become a successful printmaker and artist. Many believe the passion in printmaking has gotten lost with the increased use of digital techniques within the traditional printmaking world. The idea of finding passion in the balance between traditional and digital printmaking is part of the research I would like to work on during my graduate studies. I have been exploring papermaking, layering and both hand drawn and digital imagery in graduate school.
More about me:
I’ve always seemed to approach the world around me in a visual manner. I see layers, textures and lines and use these elements in my work. I create prints by taking vintage photographs and layering them with gestural marks, stains, handwritten words, paper and drawing to create new images and new contexts for the photographs. By combining these elements in a print I create an interaction between them and the viewer. In my metalwork I love forging and the texture and fluidity the metal takes on with each hammer blow.
In my prints I like to use vintage photos that are visually striking, snapshots and portraits that have otherwise been lost and forgotten. By appropriating others' histories I have found a freedom to layer the photos physically as well as print directly onto the photo surface. By altering the original context of the photographs by imposing my own hand through gestural marks, manipulating the surface physically or digitally and then printing the new image onto paper, I create new contexts and meanings for them. This new narrative is my own, but with the use of texture, layering and the obscuring of some of the image elements I hope to compel the viewers to establish their own narrative “layers” my pieces.
More about me:
I’ve always seemed to approach the world around me in a visual manner. I see layers, textures and lines and use these elements in my work. I create prints by taking vintage photographs and layering them with gestural marks, stains, handwritten words, paper and drawing to create new images and new contexts for the photographs. By combining these elements in a print I create an interaction between them and the viewer. In my metalwork I love forging and the texture and fluidity the metal takes on with each hammer blow.
In my prints I like to use vintage photos that are visually striking, snapshots and portraits that have otherwise been lost and forgotten. By appropriating others' histories I have found a freedom to layer the photos physically as well as print directly onto the photo surface. By altering the original context of the photographs by imposing my own hand through gestural marks, manipulating the surface physically or digitally and then printing the new image onto paper, I create new contexts and meanings for them. This new narrative is my own, but with the use of texture, layering and the obscuring of some of the image elements I hope to compel the viewers to establish their own narrative “layers” my pieces.
