Friends, screenprint
I find what draws me to making prints are the many different stories they can tell. To me it is magical when pigment, shape, and line, placed according to a printmaker’s intentions, transform paper into a print. When making my own prints I try to keep the stories positive, while at the same time not losing site of the complicated times we live in. I absolutely feel the world needs positive thinking and positive doing.
Most of my images are fictional, and the notions of connectedness, motion and circularity are important to me. I think of my images as pieces in a bigger picture, and enjoy mentally wandering in that “image place” while I am drawing and working. What place that is, relative to the everyday places we know, is a question I find appealing to consider as both a maker and a viewer of art.
Many print images I work on begin as three-dimensional ideas in my mind’s eye. In the distant past I primarily worked sculpturally with wood, willow, and other elements. While making sculpture, I enjoyed not only creating the object but also the process and challenge of building. I eventually switched to making wood block prints and left sculpture behind, but continue to mentally work between a sculptural and printmaker’s viewpoint. Similar to sculptural building, I enjoy the process of making prints and find following the orderly steps of printmaking both comfortable and rewarding.
I took a long break from printmaking, but several years ago, I felt an urge to make new prints and return to unfinished stories. Becoming a member of Highpoint, has allowed me that opportunity, and the ability to work with printing methods with which I do not have as much experience. I am inspired by the different types of prints created at Highpoint, including those made in the classroom, by co-op members, in the pro shop, and by Highpoint staff. I honestly cannot think of a more interesting or supportive community to re-explore printmaking.
