I'm back from the two-week printmaking residency at Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts--an absolutely wonderful experience. I worked with Tamarind Master Printer and artist Frank Janzen, who patiently guided and assisted me through the process of creating monotypes and lithographs. It was a pure gift to be able to do this, and I'm grateful to Frank and the staff of Crow's Shadow for making it happen. Click images to enlarge.




Here's Frank preparing a plate to go through the press. The monotype process involves painting with lithographic inks on a plexiglas surface. Next, a sheet of paper is layed over the painted plate. When the plate is run through the press, a one of a kind print is created. Another sheet can then be placed on the plate and passed through the press again with higher pressure, picking up residual ink from the plexiglas and creating what is called the "ghost," a softer version of the original print that is often quite beautiful in its own right. In this type of printmaking, all the prints are original, no two are exactly alike.




Frank and I were assisted by another artist and trained printmaker, Debby Sundbaum-Sommers, who generously drove seven hours from her home in western Oregon to volunteer for the two weeks--thanks, Debby! The two of them totally spoiled me--cleaning up all my messes, trimming paper to size, hand-cranking the beautiful Takach printing press, cheering me on and giving valuable technical and aesthetic advice. On top of that, they were just fun to be around!





Speaking of being spoiled--every morning Debby would set out a fresh palette of inks on the glass tabletop for me.




The final prints combine two themes that I have been working with lately: stones and shadows. The stones evolved out of a group of boulders that were placed around the edge of a gravel parking lot. Maybe it was the fact that these rocks were not rare gems, but ordinary basalt boulders put to such an ordinary use that got me to thinking how extraordinary they really were. It occurred to me that I was witnessing a moment in the infinitely long life of these stones, as representatives of the living earth, just as they mutely witnessed my own brief passage. So I started a series of paintings of them in my studio (see my April 21 post.)

While working on the stone paintings, I started noticing how the late afternoon sun came through the west windows of the studio and cast my shadow on the painting wall. I started doing charcoal drawings of the shadows. Somehow I felt the two things--the rocks and the shadows--were related.

The prints that have evolved at Crow's Shadow take the form of vertical pairings, or diptychs, the stones at the bottom coupled with portions of shadowy figures above. I tried to give the stones weight and solidity symbolic of the earth itself, while the figures are ephemeral records of our fleeting lives. I borrowed singer/poet Leonard Cohen's phrase: "We are so lightly here," as the title for the diptych series. The larger single stone series is titled "The Life of Stones."

There are 45 paired prints, one vertical triptych, and 11 larger prints of single stones. Email fjanzen@crowsshadow.org for images of the complete series.




We are so lightly here, #1
Monotype/monoprint diptych
Each image 7 7/8" x 8 7/8", each sheet 11 1/8" x 11 1/2"
$500, unframed, plus shipping.
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase




We are so lightly here #3
Monotype/monoprint diptych
Each image 7 7/8" x 8 7/8", each sheet 11 1/8" x 11 1/2"
$500 unframed, plus shipping
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase




We are so lightly here #6
Monotype/monoprint diptych
Each image 7 7/8" x 8 7/8", each sheet 11 1/8" x 11 1/2"
$500 unframed, plus shipping
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase





The Life of Stones #1
Monotype
Image size 15" x 17 1/2," sheet size 22 1/2" x 23 1/2"
$500 unframed, plus shipping
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase