9/18/2008 10:11:00 PM Local artists exhibit innovative prints at Raven Café
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Mary Lou Asaro’s “Continuum,” a 16" by 20” monotype print, was made from ink applied to flat plate, then put through a press onto art paper. Ink was applied again several times for the artist’s desired effect.
Nine contemporary printmakers will exhibit their work in "Beyond Printmaking," a new show at the Raven Café starting Friday, Sept. 19, and running through Oct. 26.
The artists create an innovative juxtaposition of original prints mixing traditional methods of etching, woodblock and monotype with newer techniques using collograph and digital processes.
The common technique of etching entails scratching into the surface of the model of the print, frequently copper, which is then placed in an acid bath for deeper etching, resulting in an intaglio print.
Monoprints are made from putting ink on a plate, usually plastic, covered with paper, producing a single print.
Woodblock, or relief printing, produces prints from a design carved from a piece of wood by inking the raised the design.
Collograph results from building up a plate with various materials like a collage, then inking the plate.
"A lot of times, we use combinations. I might do a monotype, then I take an etching and I print my etching on top of the monotype. We do a lot of that," said Maria Lynam, one of the presenting artists.
"Then we do another thing that's called chine colle, where you glue on additional paper elements in the printing process, and you put that through the press so it looks like it's part of the print."
Betsy Khalife incorporates pochoir, a sophisticated stenciling technique.
"We each have our own way of expressing through printmaking. Nobody's looks alike," Lynam said of the artists, all of whom have exhibited in local, national and international galleries and shows.
Lynam's prints rarely entail less than four layers, printing floral etchings over monoprint backgrounds and often using handmade materials.
Mary Lou Asaro designs many of her prints with intaglio type over monoprints, adapting her photographs of southwestern life in her work.
Josephine Gibbs, a Yavapai College printmaking instructor in all mediums, creates mixed media work autobiographically inspired, developing her subject from a visceral notion, then developing it throughout the creative process.
Other styles range from Leslie Parsons' layering traditional techniques with digital media; the fine art look of Maggie Stewart's "old world style" of etchings and drawings reminiscent of post-impressionistic and contemporary painters; and Barb Willis' prints that are exclusively on silk with multiple layers of intaglio and relief printing, textures and patterns.
All of the artists use handmade paper, produced either in France, Germany or Japan, Lynam said.
