Process is important to the way that I work. I don’t start with an outcome in mind I lay down a line and then react to it. There is an intangible energy when viewing the body of work that is constructed from the very definition of material qualities. It’s a reaction to the world around you.
Intaglio plates allow me to create different dimensions by piling materials on the plates. My work is driven by process and technique, which involves many steps to get to the end result. Printmaking is about the experience you have with the plate. The artist spends all the time planning with the plate, and the viewer never gets to view it. I first adhere forms of Image-on emulsion to the plate by wrinkling and pressing it on. Then I let the scrapper react to the plate. This helps build tension and adds dimensions that I would not be able to do with a flat plate. I include materials such as copper, foam board, insulation foam, molding putty, rug tape, ink, spray wall texture, wood, tape, cracking texture paint to build up surfaces. I am interested in the way the textures print when they have ink on top of them. I ink the plate as an intaglio plate and use tarlatan to wipe the plate so that the ink is only in the grooves. Then, when the print is done drying I put it a wood shadow box and pour resin on top of the box to preserve the erosion of the plate. The process is the content. The ink, the paper, the material is the content.