CURRENT ACTIVITIES
RECENT PRINTS AND SCULPTURE
My recent series of etchings, Leda and the Swan, stems from my long contemplation of W. B. Yeats’ poem of the same name, quoting here only the last haunting lines……” Did she put on his knowledge with his power before the indifferent beak could let her drop?”
In “The Iliad Project” I have added a few more prints to Homer’s timeless but not timeworn classic….a work so relevant today with its theme of war and inherent suffering. To contemporary readers the gods which the Greeks personified may be seen as Nature writ large, forces altering the course of our small human affairs.
I am beginning work on small welded steel sculptures, some related to The Iliad Project prints.
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
- Vermont Studio Center, Artist Fellowship, printmaking, February 2020
- Scuola Grafica in Venice, printmaking, 2017
- Marpha Foundation, Marpha, Nepal, drawing, 2017
VERMONT STUDIO CENTER FELLOWSHIP
During my month long residency, I focused on drawing on aluminum plate for processing and printing lithographs as well as working on new etchings.
MY BOSTON PRINTMAKERS FELLOWSHIP WEEKS AT SCUOLA GRAFICA
My six weeks residency at Scuola Grafica in Venice, Italy has led to new directions in my printmaking. I arrived in Venice with small copper plates and some small sheets of print paper. I generally work large but wanted to keep the trip light and economical. I had no particular subject in mind. Having travelled to Venice some 18 years ago, I thought of re-visiting the Museum of Naval History and the Correr to make etchings of tools.
Generally, subjectless, I waited to have Venice speak to me.
Wandering about the city I became enamored of the many stone lions sculptures….the Lion is the symbol of Venice. I do not work from photos so I drew all of the plates on site. This became the print project “Leoni di Venezia”.
I took advantage of an opportunity to learn collograph printing from Roberta Feoli, the very capable manager of the print studio and made the large print of a pulley block. I constantly looked at great paintings which I had never seen other than in books, went to Padova where I saw not only the Sovregni chapel with Giotto’s painting but also discovered a huge collection of excavations and made drawings of a few of these, promising myself to return.
MARPHA FOUNDATION
Marpha is a small village in the Lower Mustang area of Nepal. During my six week residency, I made many large drawings of my surroundings, working in my rooftop studio above the Rosehips Center for Learning, an alternative school for village children and families. Drawings are made from small sketches while hiking in the area. I built my first paper-mache in one of the classes.
