OUR MISSION Monoprint-Monotype.com understands the importance of providing a venue for this unique form of art. Our matrix is as open as the imaginations of the artists it supports. To that end we will explore the work of emerging, established and surprising artists from around the world. They will be presented here and in on our website Monoprint-Monotype.com.
Included Artists: Barbara Shapiro Mitch Lyons Dianne Jean Erickson Ellen Markoff Neil Berger Jessica Dunne MM&S Magazine is a submission-based, quarterly digital and on-demand print publication.
Cover artwork “Improvisation” by Dianne Jean Erickson
Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without permission of the publisher. All artwork has been reproduced with the kind permission of the artists. ©2017 Donald S. Kolberg
The easiest way to understand the difference between a Monoprint and a Monotype is to understand the underlying block or matrix. Monoprint
When beginning a Monoprint, permanent marks are produced on the surface. This creates a common feature on successive works. But there would be an endless variation of images according to the application of medium, (paint, ink, chalk), and whether additional collage elements are added. Monotype A Monotype on the other hand is created on a smooth surface. Similar to monoprinting, a variety of mediums and elements can be incorporated on the surface. But there are no permanent features that transfer to successive works. Once the image is transferred, except for the occasional ghost print from excess medium, the surface is freed from the created work of art and the chosen surface now holds the art work. Strappo A Strappo is a dry image transfer technique that has been recognized as a specific printmaking monotype procedure by the Print library at New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, and a sample Strappo is in the print library collection. A Strappo is a combination of painting and printing. It is developed as a reverse painting, resulting in a dry acrylic transfer created on a smooth surface such as glass. It is then transferred to a paper support. We are interested in what you have to say and what you have to show. If you are interested contact us for more information at; Don@monoprint-monotype.com If you would like to contribute to the operation of this E Zine, please click on the Pay Pal Donate Button at: http://monoprint-monotype.com/mms-e-zines
From the Editor For this issue I am posting an article submitted by one of our featured artists A Short Anecdote about Fear and Art
From Oil Pastels to Oil Painting to Printmaking Shortly after I retired from the fashion and beauty business and after I decided that all of the things on my retirement “to do” list were no longer of interest, I remembered Art. So that summer I enrolled in a plein air painting class. Because I didn’t want to invest a lot of money in oil paints I decided to buy a small box of oil pastels. Like the others in the class I sat down on my camp chair, oil pastels in my lap and stared at the landscape. Nothing! I looked around me and everyone was busy putting on paper or canvas what they saw. I was paralyzed with fear…They all seem to know what they were doing and I hadn’t drawn a thing since college. I was tempted to get up and leave. And then I realized how ridiculous this was. How could I let a simple box of bright colors paralyze me. It was then that I said to myself…”You have been involved in multimillion dollar companies and you did not run…I don’t care if you have a heart attack from nerves now you will not get up from this chair until you have done what you came for..” So just sit down and stick with it”. And I did. And that was how I ultimately came to Printmaking-- fearless. I am not afraid to try whatever comes to mind no matter how out of the box it seems. I am not afraid to look at the results of what I’ve done knowing that there is always the distinct possibility that the print will fall short of my expectations. I know that whatever I have done is just the step before the next step to satisfaction.
Barbara Shapiro
Thank you for your support and please let other artist know that we always have pages waiting for their work.
Donald Kolberg Editor in Chief If you would like information about advertising your products in our E Zine please contact us at Don@Monoprint-Monotype.com
Barbara Shapiro
I am now a Printmaker. After graduate school I came to New York and had a series of wonderful jobs: Media Director of an Advertising Agency, Director of Public Relations for a Museum and then on to the worlds of Fashion and Beauty for the next 20+ years. What came next was making art: specifically Printmaking. I was able to draw from my visual vocabulary and develop ways of making prints that you can recognize as mine.
I continue to develop my skills at the Westchester Center for the Arts in New York, and the Center for Contemporary Printing and Silvermine School of Art both in Connecticut. For me Printmaking is wide open; I feel unconstrained by it. I court the element of chance and am wiling to gamble. The results are my sources of great pleasure and satisfaction.
Blue Suite 1
Cathedral
Chair 1
My art is a result of my comfort with both routine and risk. The setup is routine; the method is planned but the images are not. My work is abstract (or expressionistic). Choosing the first color, where to put it, the shape it will be and how prominent it is becomes critical since it is from these beginnings that all of the subsequent decisions are based. I work on one of several types of metal plates and choose a single color palette for the entire session (I find that keeps my mind focused) The process begins by pulling two prints. The first comes directly from the newly inked plate and the second, a “ghost� print, that I will put aside and use as the starting point for a new print. I don’t wipe the plate off after I print but re-ink over whatever image still remains on the plate.
Blue Suite 2
Reflection
Santa Fe 2
Santa Fe 1
South of France 1
After evaluating the initial print I might alter it by manipulating the shapes or modulating the colors in some way, by wiping out colors, changing the orientation of the print or adding something unexpected. Each time the plate is altered and re-inked I print directly on top of my first print. This might involve reusing that plate three or four more times until I am happy with the print.
Artist Information barbarashapirostudio.com Barbara@barbarashapirostudio.com.
South of France 2
Summer Heat 1
Then I tackle the ghost print using the same layering method. Here you have the advantage here of being able to create a kind of perspective by letting parts of the shadowy “ghost� remain when you re-ink your plate.
I find this evolutionary way of printmaking a real challenge. The risk taking inherent in printmaking is magnified because there are so many more opportunities for failure as you are going back to the press so many times for one print.
Summer Heat 2
Mitch Lyons
Mitch Lyons earned his Masters of Fine Arts in Ceramics from Tyler School of Art, and his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Graphics from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. His clay monoprints can be found in numerous private and public collections throughout the United States, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Delaware Art Museum, Woodmere Museum, American University and the University of Delaware. He has taught at West Chester University, Moore College of Art, Rowan University, Alfred University, and the University of Delaware.
Lyons has had exhibitions of his work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; the Noyes Museum, New Jersey; Kalmar Lans Museum, Kalmar, Sweden; and the Vonderau Museum, Fulda, Germany.
Space
Artist Information and links to his books and DVD;s https://www.mitchlyons.com/store mitchlyonsstudio@gmail.com You can watch videos of Mitch working at http://monoprint-monotype.com/videos/
Circles
2gether
Butterfly
Since 1980 he has been a fulltime artist, producing pottery and clay monoprints. His salt-fired ceramic vessels incorporate the use of inlaying colored clays and slips to produce images that tell stories. Mitch is the author The Art of Printing with Clay and has two DVDs, The Art of Clay Printing and Handbuilding with Mitch Lyons. In the past ten years he has led over 100 workshops. You can watch videos of Mitch working at http://monoprint-monotype.com/videos/
Red Circle
Musical Chairs
Four
Eutectic
Shadow Chair
Printing with colored clay fills me with a sense of joy and wonder. It is the most satisfying, cathartic experience I have ever had. Adding pigments to porcelain slip that is then applied to a wet slab of clay and printed onto paper, produces such luminosity that I feel other mediums lack. My work is about making marks into clay. The process rewards the product. Even after all these years, I still have more questions about printing with clay than answers.
Silent H Artist Information and links to his books and DVD;s https://www.mitchlyons.com/store
mitchlyonsstudio@gmail.com You can watch videos of Mitch working at http://monoprint-monotype.com/videos/
Dianne Jean Erickson
I was born in Portland, OR and lived in Palo Alto, California for many years. I owned a graphic design and marketing business for twenty-five years in Silicon Valley. Associations with art non-profits include Board President at the Pacific Art League of Palo Alto, CA, Chief Business Officer of the International Encaustic Artists (IEA), and I am currently on the Board of The Geezer Gallery in Portland. Gallery affiliations include Art On Broadway Gallery in Beaverton, OR and Verum Ultimum Fine Art Gallery in Portland as well as solo exhibits at many fine art and cultural centers throughout Oregon, including the Grants Pass Museum of Art in Grants Pass, the Viola Walters Cultural Center in Hillsboro, and the Chehalem Cultural Center in Newberg. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Studio Art from Southern Oregon University in Ashland. My work has been shown in many exhibits throughout the United States.
Captive Lyric
Beast
As a printmaker for many years, I used oils and AKUA inks for standard printmaking on a press. When I started using encaustic in my painting practice I discovered encaustic can also be used for monotypes. Encaustic monotypes are created on an anodized steel plate that is heated from below with light bulbs. Pigmented wax bars are used to paint on the hot plate, and the wax move freely over the hot top. Tools can be used to manipulate the hot wax for interesting effects.
Attempting Escape
When the painting is finalized, paper is laid over the hot wax and a one-of-akind print is finished. Arches 88 printmaking paper is my favorite for most prints. I experimented with other types of paper and do use Japanese papers on occasion, but the Arches, which has little texture and no sizing, gives the best result. Note: encaustic is a blend of beeswax and resin. However, for printmaking only beeswax and pigment is necessary, as the resin is used to harden the beeswax and is unnecessary for printmaking. I use encaustic as I have it on hand for my paintings.
Embellishment
My current body of work consists of the series of non-objective encaustic monotypes titled “Reckless Forms.” These prints are spontaneous and in the moment with evidence of the artists hand in the making of a mark. They come from mind to hand to paper in very little time and without preconceived ideas about what they should be. Their simplicity does not detract from their power to entice viewers.
Walnut Black. 5
A note on the pieces that don't work: I hate wasting paper and when working intuitively so I decided to experiment with some inks, walnut and India black, and found that a bit of these inks could transform a piece from blah to wow. These are the pieces labeled “Walnut” prints.
Walnut Red. 1
I’m impatient by nature, my process is intuitive, I most enjoy the journey of creating, figuring out what works, what to keep, and what to abandon, until the piece works for me. I walk into my home studio at least three or four times a week. Creating art energizes me, it’s a place where time is altered, where all my feelings and emotions appear at some time or another; pleased, angry, tired, upbeat, excited, harried and hopefully, satisfied.
Lookin’ for Trouble
I love creating work that is exciting. Starting late as a professional artist, I have been an experimenter. I’ve used many mediums; ceramics, sculpture, installations, printmaking and painting.
Satellite City
Using encaustic as a medium gives me a way to utilize all of these techniques. Now is my time to create on my own clock, and I’m so glad I can explore this wonderful world of art as an art-maker, and as friend to my artist friends who speak my language. You can view my paintings and prints at www.DianneErickson.com
All Together Now
Artist Information www.DianneErickson.com dianne@dianneerickson.com
Material Witness
Ellen Markoff
Ellen Markoff grew up in Palo Alto, CA. Her father was a concert pianist and an avid outdoorsman and her mother also loved music and nature. Her youth was spent listening to classical music indoors and the sounds of nature outdoors. This duality sparked a lifelong love of art, creativity and nature. Much of her time as a young girl was spent in Yosemite. She returned one spring after a long hiatus and was shocked to see the shapes, colors and textures were what were informing her work. She continues to be inspired by what she sees around her in nature and interprets it in her work. Her process is intuitive and experimental. She loves to use materials in ways that are different from the intended use. She finds the use of things in new ways pushes the boundaries of what can be created. She learns everyday from the materials themselves. She loves oil based inks because they are rich in color and lush in texture, Arches 88 paper for it’s smooth, receptive surface that can be delicate and easily bruised if used in one way and strong and resistant if used in another.
An Expression of Time
The Ancients
Constellation
My work is influenced by the natural world and the forces that shape it. I’m fascinated by volcanoes, glaciers, rocks and erosion over time. The forces of nature are constantly changing our world and creating beautiful shapes, textures and colors. Things that are worn by the passage of time fascinate me with the remnants left behind indicating the transient nature of all life. It is in the old, worn and eroded that I see beauty alongside the new and reborn.
Molten
Fragments of Time
Behind the Flow of Time
I live and work in San Francisco. I primarily create monotypes, a technique of printmaking that I fell in love with because of the spontaneity it allows. Monotypes create one unique, original, handpulled print.
Zion Night
Memory
Virunga Night
Artist Information www.ellenmarkoff.com ellenmarkoff@gmail.com
Zion
Neil Berger
I was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1971. I received a BA from Stanford University in Studio Art and Cognitive Science ('93) and an MFA in painting from Boston University ('95). Since 1995, I have worked as a full-time artist, specializing in oil painting and monotypes. I have received several awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in painting (2004), a Pollock-Krasner Award (2011), a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in printmaking (2007) and two Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation grants (2007, 2001). My work is inspired by walkabouts. I am committed both to ‘the facts’ and artful invention. The mood is usually quiet but alert.
Incoming Storm
Verrazanno Shadow
Because ‘light’ in a monotype is the paper showing through, it shares a fresh, translucent quality with watercolor. But Plexiglas is such a forgiving surface- so easy to wipe down and start anew- there is no pressure to “get it right the first time,” and therefore greater spontaneity and experimentation. The only permanent mark is in the printing itself- the bonding of the ink with cotton fiber.
Crossing the Avenue
Bus 39th
Hand Outer Midtown
I enjoy working in monochrome. One may speak of a freedom from color that allows a rich moodiness to emerge. There is a whole, integrated surface that comes from the image being thoroughly yet cleanly squashed into, indeed, made one with, the moist paper.
Sunset Park Flowers
There is a certain distance, and therefore freedom, in making a monotype, because you never know what it will look like until you pull the paper off the plate. On the most mundane level, the printed image is reversed, but it also breathes a queerly unintended atmosphere and mood.
Liquor
Artist Information https://www.facebook.com/neil.berger1 www.neilberger.com neildberger@gmail.com
Midtown Glow Sign
I use etching ink with quite a bit of burnt plate oil added. Ink is mostly added with a 4-inch rubber roller, with brushes adding blacker, more linear marks. Rags are my primary removing tool, along with mat-board squares, brush-end, and a cleaned roller.
Gowanus Heron
Daughters Gaze
Jessica Dunne
Jessica Dunne’s solo shows include the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, the McAllen Int. Museum in Texas, the Fresno Art Museum and the Triton Museum of Art, both in California, and the Flaten Museum at Saint Olaf College in Minnesota. She also has had solo shows at Texas A and M University, Cabrillo Gallery and B. Sakata Garo. Dunne has been included in shows at Track 16 Gallery in Santa Monica, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and the SFMOMA Artists Gallery, also in San Francisco, and The Curator Gallery in New York City. Artist-in-Residencies include the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Yaddo. the Ucross Foundation, Djerassi as well as at Kuenstlerhaus Salzburg, an exchange fellowship with VCCA, in Austria. She received the James D. Phelan Award in Printmaking , a Ludwig Vogelstein Grant, a Kala Art Institute Printmaking Fellowship and a PollockKrasner Foundation Grant. She will be an exchange fellow in printmaking at the Empreinte Atelier de Gravure in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.
I call myself a painter but I make monotypes and aquatints too. For the monotypes, I develop an image by dabbing etching ink onto a mylar plate with my fingertips, subtracting the lights with cotton swabs. I then print from the mylar onto a sheet of paper, and repeat the process over 50 times to create an image. The monotypes are really printed paintings: I make a single copy. The technique enables me to achieve a depth and subtlety of color that I have not found possible in any other medium. She has work in the collections of the Oakland Museum of California, Stanford Special Collections, University of California at Berkeley Special Collections, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Mills College Art Museum, Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art and the Library of Congress. She lives in San Francisco and makes prints at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, where she has been an Artist-in-Residence since the beginning of time. Artist Information info@jessicadunne.com www.jessicadunne.com
Insomnia
A few years ago, while driving down the highway at night in my hometown, I was overwhelmed with nostalgia for my childhood. I then realized there was a brownout and-with all the streetlights extinguished--the dark road was as I had experienced it as a child, before we replaced stars with sodium-vapor bulbs. Over the years, on visits to my childhood home, I had been incensed by the new three-story beach "mansions" and tee-shirt dealerships, yet had taken little notice of the street lighting that had altered the nature of night itself. The dark highway was a visual prompt into a memory of my past, something that rarely happens, especially in contrast to the constant reminders of other times through taste, sound and smell.
Burning Beach Chair
Guiding Light
This is how I came upon my current project, an exploration of night as seen through a car's windshield. In a few years, the highway power cartel will replace the greenish mercury-vapor and pink sodium-vapor streetlights that dominate my work with sun-like halide bulbs, once again altering our nocturnal world (and my palette). My goal is to get my present experience down on paper before it disappears.
Crosswalk
Cold Night in Wyoming
People sometimes think my work is critical of modern life because my landscapes comprise buildings and cars, not the more traditional trees and fields. In fact, I paint what I paint because I believe my subjects are beautiful. People have also told me they have more fun driving at night after seeing my work. Me too. Observing taillights reflect off wet pavement or comparing the distance at which different colored auras bleed into the mist makes hydroplaning in traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge bearable.
Wet Pavement
Sprinkler, Wyoming
Underbelly, Golden Gate Bridge
notes
©2017 Donald S. Kolberg