I have worked for years as a landscape gardener professionally and for my own pleasure. As a child I would run into the woods to escape the tedious demands of family chores. My father often said “There is more to fear from people than anything in the forest.” I can be strong when I am surrounded by plants with my feet set firmly on the earth. This deep connection with the natural world is what informs my art.
I have found a freedom, physicality and spontaneity in monoprints. Degas described monoprints “as drawings made with greasy ink and put through a press.” Much like creating a garden, it is messy work and the tools are heavy. The physicality of process in printmaking and the freedom and spontaneity in creating monoprints reflects my experience working with the earth. When I lay in a color, place a stencil or a mark in the “greasy ink” it reminds me of designing and digging in a garden. I am always surprised and often, not always, rewarded with the results.
This series is my joyful effort at creating a garden on paper. I am exaggerating scale and freely experimenting with color. I call it Les Feuilles de Vie or The Leaves of Life. Like the leaves on the trees or the pages in a book, our lives move through seasons and stories. I create paper stencils and use leaves from living plant material in my work. There are often traces of the plants left within the prints, traces of what was.
Donna, I love your comparison of printmaking to gardening. It made me wish for summer and dirt to dig in!
ReplyDeleteThe stencils are beautifully cut with varying degrees of detail. Using natural leaves adds texture and interest. Looking forward to seeing these in person.
Wow, you weren't kidding when you said that you'd reworked your concept and your artist statement! To me, it feels totally different now, but much more focused and personal, which I think you needed.
ReplyDeleteWhile what you've written flows nicely and makes sense overall, I do find it a little confusing that you first refer to the woods/forest (a wild place) and "the natural world," and then you talk about "carefully placing and planting a seedling" and how this work is like landscaping or the creation of a garden (a cultivated place).
Is this about the "natural world" or about the cultivation of a garden, or - in some way - both? While both the forest and the garden include plants, soil, light, water, air, etc, and both are meaningful and important to you, and both change with the seasons, forests and gardens are very different kinds of places, as are the processes by which they are created. You might want to think about this in terms of your overall concept, and how these ideas become expressed in your work.
As for your prints, I am enjoying what I've seen so far and I love watching it evolve at the press. Every time I go in, I wonder what changes will have taken place - like visiting a forest or a garden at different times of day or in different seasons. :) It's obvious that you are having loads of fun, and I think that's exciting!
Also, the title "en francais" est tres bon! :)