Circling Round
10 x 6 unique book, monotype, paper lithography, 2017
ARTIST STATEMENT
As a printmaker and book artist, and as an antidote to digital overload, my work gravitates towards abstract patterns found in nature, the expressive gesture and personality of line in drawing, handwriting and stitching.
“We make our way through Everything like thread passing through fabric, giving shape to images that we ourselves do not know.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke
BIO
My monotypes include trace drawing, direct painting on plexiglass, and paper lithographs from my sketchbooks, letters and notes from family. The defining marks in the drawings and handwriting reveal distinct signatures and personalities. Abstractions and layers inherent in the printing process obscure the initial legibility of words, leaving a liminal hieroglyph between the familiar and the unknown. Subtle connections unfold in each print.
Recently I have been exploring eco-printmaking, also known as direct contact printing, as another form of observing and recording nature, place and time. Responding to these prints with ink, gouache, or thread brings my conversation into the work. Stitching into the images reconnects me to the embroidery work of my grandmother and to my mother’s sewing and mending.
All photo credits are to Jay York.
