More from fall 07

"Regurgitation" line etch, aquatint

This image is a commentary on the impossibility of arguing with stubborn, arrogant neocons (examples in the media: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly...). The same talking points are always used over and over, most of which are totally irrelevant to the discussion, and if someone attempts to legitimately argue the facts, they can't get a word in edgewise because they're covered in conservative word vomit. I've yelled at my television/radio many a time listening to these "debates" in which anyone presenting a different viewpoint is ridiculed, drowned out, and cut off. It's frustrating!


"Question Everything" Monotype

...we need to...



"Distance" Charcoal pencil, India Ink

From figure drawing-not finished (and my proportions are kind of skewed), but I like the narrative of the pose.




"Infected Waterfall" Monotype




"Devil's Advocate" Graphite

The marionette is a military recruiter-this fall I became very interested in counterrecruitment after reading Army of None. This is a drawing I did for the zine a group of people from the UW-L progressives want to put together to hand out at high schools.



"Deoxyribonucleic Flowers" Monotype

"Stage Presence" line etch, aquatint, selective wiping

Here is the print that I did based on the drawing of my friend Dan in an earlier post. Again, this is a depiction of ways that people express themselves that not everyone understands, and I plan on continuing with this theme for a series. The text is one of Dan's lyrics, which I incorporated because I wanted to add a bit more of a personal touch to the image, and also because there needed to be something in that white space. In the colors, I wanted to go for the look of lights at a show and think that I achieved it fairly well. This was an interesting endeavor for me because it's the first time I've ever really done a portrait in this medium. I'd like to play around with different color schemes some more. Another big thank you to Dan for letting me use this lyric and for being a great subject =)

"Stage Presence" line etch, aquatint, multiplate monotype

This one was done with two plates-the etched one (inked in black), and a piece of plexiglass that was larger than the copper plate; just an experiment, but it worked well! I applied very oiled down ink to the plexiglass with a sponge to get the grainy effect of the color, and I filled in the frame with ink right on the paper after printing using a paintbrush and my fingers.

"What Recruitment Posters SHOULD Say" line etch, aquatint

Another piece inspired by my interest in countering military recruitment. If more people knew about all of the lies that recruiters dish out in order to coerce people into joining the military, enlistment would likely decrease. If there's not a military to fight wars, there can't be wars and people will have to work things out in a humane manner. Idealistic, I know, but you can always dream...

"War has Consequences" Line etch, multiplate monotype

This was inspired by accounts I've read about the Iraq war-so many Iraqi civilians have been killed, many of them children; and on the other side of the weapon, an extremely high number of soldiers are returning with post traumatic stress disorder. War is destructive to all life and we don't see what's really happening. We don't think of casualties as people-it's just a number on the evening news. But each of those numbers had family and friends who had to grieve a senseless death.

"The Great Remembering" line etch, aquatint, multiplate color

I've posted this one before, but this is the best print I've pulled so far of it. The text is clear and registration is spot on! One of my goals this semester was to do a successful three-plate multiplate image, and I am happy that I was able to achieve that goal.

Last day of the Fall 07 semester

The last day of the semester is always bittersweet. Exciting because we find out who our Secret Printmaking Friends are and get to see everyone's work, but sad because it's our last day all together as a class, and I always miss the shop before I even have all my stuff cleared out. I had a blast this semester and am glad that I got to work with such a fantastic group of ladies (and Nels, of course). Thanks to all my printmaking sisters and brother, and to Beloved Professor Joel for a kickass fall!


Secret Friends-revealed



The Erins three (Glorious, Baby, and No Name)




I really wonder what Joel's saying here




Mai Ia and No Name-secret friends forever



Hand gestures! (I love Liv's face in this one)


My favorite-this was too great a pose to not sneak a photo. Thank you, Nels!

For online Dartmouth exhibition

"Amenaza Nacional"-line etch, aquatint, selective wiping, monotype

This print is a continuation of the Violence Against Women series I started in my first semester of printmaking. It addresses the torture of female political prisoners in Latin American countries. Women are taken captive either because they themselves are active in rebelling against the military dictatorships that are ruling their countries, or because they have some relation to men who are politically active. In this case, the men are also abducted and forced to watch their daughters/wives/sisters being abused in order to get them to reveal information. Whatever the motive behind their imprisonment, the women are subject to horrific physical violations and psychological abuse with the intent of stripping away their dignity. For example, like I have depicted in this image, women have the word "mirista" (terrorist, roughly translated) carved into their breasts or foreheads and cigarettes extinguished on various body parts. What these prisoners go through for attemtping to speak their minds is unthinkable, especially when taking into consideration that many of the militiamen who are carrying out these atrocities were likely trained by the School of the Americas/WHINSEC in the United States, where free speech and democracy are supposedly central values.

An artist that we have looked at so far this semester that I would cite as an influence for this print is Malaquias Montoya, because my content is related to his focus on Latin American sociopolitical issues.

Iron Pour Photos

This one seems to be the unanimous favorite. Gotta love it when you hit the button at the exact right second =)

More random stuff I had around

Fire-acrylic on canvas board (i did this one just using my fingers-that was fun!)

Wind-acrylic on canvas board

Earth-acrylic, paperclay, leaves, fungi on canvas board

Water-acrylic on canvas board
The Four Elements-final project for Foundations I

The Last Tree-Acrylic and charcoal on paper

Winter-acrylic on canvas

Untitled-acrylic and spray paint on canvas (this one is still in the works)

Insomnia-Acrylic on canvas

I've had sleep problems since I was a kid, and this is a representation of one of those nights where you lay there and think "okay, if I fall asleep now I can still get 4 hours...3 hours...oh, no it's time to get up". We've all been there at least once, I think.

Untitled-acrylic and spray paint on canvas

I don't know where this one is going, but I'm pretty sure it's not done yet. This is just what's come out so far...

Fairy-acrylic on canvas

This is a painting that I did my senior year of high school. The tattoo on my back is based on this image. This is one of 3 or 4 pieces out of the work I did in high school that I actually kept. I did a lot of shit work during those years. But I still do shit work now. It's all part of the learning process, right?

God Bless America!-lithograph

A bit of satire here, addressing a few issues about the current state of our country. The people most fervently preaching about Christian morals are the same ones who advocate war, money conquers all, corporate homogenization is taking over the world, pacifists are considered terrorists, the masses are obsessed with petty things that don't matter, getting distracted much to the delight of corrupt leaders so that they can continue violating human rights and filling up their pockets without being questioned....yeah, I think that pretty much sums this up.

Untitled-acrylic and spray paint on canvas board

Once again, I don't know if this one is finished or if I want to come back and add to it. I can always figure that out later. I started with the background and thought it looked space-like, so I added the planet in the corner. I kind of like it the way it is, but it still feels like there's something missing.

ideas ideas...

This is a drawing I did of my friend Dan; just something to keep me occupied when I wasn't cracking the mic at work on Sunday morning. I really like this image, and I'd like to incorporate it into a print. I was thinking about it some more and realized I could start a whole series from this, based around ways that people express themselves that a lot of others may not completely understand. Like, using this image as an example, metal music. A lot of people probably think it sounds like angry noise, but go to a show and you can definitely feel a sense of love and community. And it takes major guts and talent to be able to be in front of a crowd and vocalize like that. So, yeah...appreciating non conventional modes of expression...I'm getting more ideas...and there's not even a month of the semester left!!! Shitty.

Figure Drawing

These are both 3-hour long drawings from my figure drawing class. Both still need some work, but I'm pretty pleased so far, especially with the female figure. I had some issues with my charcoal pencils when working on the male figure (they never sharpen right!!) so that got a tad messy. I stuck to graphite on the other one and that seemed to work out quite a bit better. I'm definitely seeing the benefits of using cross hatching when doing shading on the figure-it works really well and forces you to pay closer attention to subtle gradations in the shadows. I'm having fun in that class =)

The magical (and at times frustrating) Intaglio process, Part 2

So, I left off covering the plate again in asphaltum. Now, I have to go back in and scrape everything back out again that I want to re-aquatint, which will be at least another 5 hours...but after awhile it gets to be kind of calming...



Here's the first proof in color, after aquatinting the plate that's holding the black ink one more time. This is the two plates I was working on-the one in the background wiped with blue ink over the text and red over the ammonite, and the top one wiped with black ink. Still not a hundred percent what I had in mind, but I actually kind of like the ghostlike effect in some spots. This color scheme definitely isn't doing it for me, though, so it's time to play around, and get some plexiglass ready for a background.




And here we are-the (SCARY!!) multiplate printing process. First, I rolled up a mix of yellow and ochre ink on a sheet of plexiglass (cut to the same size as my plates and scraped smooth along the edges). The plexiglass is the first thing printed, as you go light to dark with the plates.





Now plate number two-I wiped the text brown and the ammonite with red, laid the plate down (after removing the plexi, of course) and ran it through the press again. Looking good so far!

Plate number 3-the darkest plate on top-and my plate must have moved or I didn't set it in exactly the same spot as the other two were on the press because as you can see, my registration is a little off. But the color scheme rocks-it's getting there! SO close.

Ta-da! Here it is! Right before I printed this one, I had issues because my plexiglass cracked on the edge and it ripped my paper (grr), but this print looks pretty decent. I still have work to do as far as getting the text wiped so that it can be read more clearly, but at least I won't have to mess around with aquatint on this one anymore!

I've explained the process with this one, but I realized I haven't discussed content at all yet. This print is based on The Story of B by Daniel Quinn-a continuation of Quinn-inspired prints after "Without Gorilla", based on Ishmael (you can find that print in my earlier blog posts if you haven't seen it). I took the ammonite image from the cover and added the animal and human silhouettes to depict different beings existing together, and in the background is some text either directly quoted or paraphrased from the book. The general idea/lesson is that man belongs to the earth, not the other way around, and the reason that the world is so screwed up is because people forgot how to live in harmony with the rest of the earth, that every life has equal value in the big scheme of things and we're not the most important beings in the universe. The only way we can go about saving the world from being destroyed by humanity is to remember how to live in a way that works best for everyone, and to do that, people need to become aware of the history of this one destructive culture whose way of living was deemed "the right way" when it isn't at all...

So that's a general summary of the inspiration; it's hard to really sum it up. Read the book, for sure, and the others in the trilogy as well (Ishmael, My Ishmael) if you haven't-they definitely offer a unique perspective on our history and way of life.