New Printmakers

The images below are the first three-color separation monotypes by all the new printmakers. A pretty exciting bunch of prints. We've had discussions about each one and suggested the things they might try to make their messages stronger. With the knowledge they gained by this first effort, and from watching others execute their processes, their second effort will be even more exciting. Everyone is developing a theme through their work this semester, so how each one grows in concept and process will be fun to see.

Brittany Loop is investigating the visual dynamic of Koi.

Todd Brewer is exploring isolation, but not necessarily in a 'dark' way.

Tiffany Walker is exploring the seasons.

Patrick Berry is interpreting A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Miri Fetko is responding to Spanish poetry.

Maggie Poe is examining work related symbols and iconography.

Kirsten Goodman is utilizing cultural symbols representing the elements.

Kaitie Skinner is examining architectural possibilities.

Ellen Everwine is seeing through different points-of-view.

Brittany Norris is responding to social media and its effects on identity.

Allison Jones is exploring narrative fantasy.

Some of the images went through some funky color shifts in the translation from ink to pixel, but I hope you can see how the various approaches have expanded the process into some unique discoveries.

We've Started Printing

On Teusday, the first day of class, besides detailing the usual first-day-of-class kind of stuff, we also created a Trace or Touch Print. As folks arrived in the studio they were sent over to a black rectangle that had been gridded off and instructed to do a quick self portrait within each of the frames and to include their names at the bottom of each section. The result is the first image above, a fun composite of those who were there on the first day.

Today we discussed themes and concepts that would drive the explorations into Intaglio, Relief, Monotype, and Collagraph, and then we created a collaborative three color separation monotype (second image above). Three groups worked on three inked sheets of mylar, one yellow, one cyan, and one magenta. By creating this collaborative print, everyone became familiar with the inks, the paper, and the press. One of the advantages also of pulling this impression was to realize that the process colors do not yield the same secondary colors as the primary colors do. Instead of green, orange, and violet, the process colors result in red, green, and blue.

Each of the three groups explored different approaches to reducing the field of color with marks using stamps, textured materials, solvents, plastics, etc. The result was pretty cool for a 15 person 90 minute collaboration.