as captured in a sustainable, non-toxic, low material use, modern-day, photogravure project

as a response to the coronavirus health crisis and temporary closure of the gallery, i have created a virtual gallery tour of the exhibition – artists at the intersection of technology and tradition: a visual and educational examination… please sit back and enjoy!

SERIES STATEMENT

I am a visual artist and a long-time educator in the arts. In both professions, I have found the act of sharing knowledge to be central to my practice. In this exhibition I focus on an open process where the steps, materials, and tools become a part of the dialog I create.

While my intent is to inform on my process, I like to have a concept that thematically unifies the body of work produced. The concept I present here falls under the topic of climate change – specifically, what solutions exist today for an individual to effect positive change on the environment. We often ask: “what can I do?”, and this series will give direction for action, as well as educate about ways we are creating change through existing efforts.

The body of work itself is produced in a manner that is sustainable, non-toxic, and made with minimal material use, to both support the concept and show how we can achieve individual environmental goals. This is made possible through several recent technological advances in my medium, as well as a selection of more environmentally conscious supplies and substrates only recently made available. For more details see the “process” area of the page, as well as the video showing how the plates and prints are produced.

SERIES SOURCES

The “solutions” presented on climate change in this collection are sourced from Project Drawdown. For more information on these and other climate change solutions go to: www.projectdrawndown.org, or read Paul Hawken’s book titled “Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming”.

The photographs used in this collection are sourced from The Library of Congress’ public domain image repository. They were acquired from their Prints and Photographs Online Catalog. Individual source numbers are on the title cards. For more information on the photographs go to: www.loc.gov/pictures.

PLATE-MAKING PROCESS

The photogravure plate making process is a direct-to-plate method where the image is inkjet printed onto Solarplates, exposed to UV light, and developed in water. This method removes highly toxic substances and additional consumables required from more historic approaches of etching plate creation. These are the tools and materials used to create the plate:

Solarplate
UV light source (can be the sun)
Inkjet printer
Water
Recycled newsprint

PRINTMAKING PROCESS

The printmaking process uses non-toxic and sustainable materials in a water-based application. Even the clean-up process forgoes the use of toxic solvents. These are the materials used in the printmaking process:

Solarplate with etched image
Awagami Bamboo printmaking paper
Akua water-based ink
Tarlatan wiping cloth
Recycled phone books
Water
Recycled cardboard
Baby oil for cleaning

VIDEO – PROCESS

Below is a video showing the plate and print making process…

some process & materials

• 

• 

• 

installation views

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

artist talk