Artist's Statement:

 

Throughout history and across many cultures, humans have selected stones and arranged them. Simple cairns have indicated trails, stacks of rocks have suggested human figures, and larger, more elaborate groupings have served as memorials and marked the seasons. Somehow, simply standing a stone on end imbues it with meaning. My prints reveal my ongoing fascination with these structures. 

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These collagraphs began as shaped plates fashioned from cardboard, then textured with gesso and grit. After sealing, the plates were inked by hand and their surfaces and edges carefully wiped. Arranged on a Charles Brandt etching press, the plates were covered with dampened BFK Rives paper and cranked through by hand. The pressure of the printing process caused the ink remaining in the recesses of the textured plates to transfer to the paper, creating intaglio prints. Each new print required repeating the inking and printing process. Where shapes overlap, the prints were run through the press multiple times. Some of the images are embellished with embossing, created by printing uninked plates. 

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These works were printed as variable editions in which each print is unique. The same plates are used; however, color and placement are purposefully varied each time a print is pulled.

 

The alchemy of selecting, arranging, and printing my plates yields images that somehow mean more than the sum of their parts, speaking to the viewer in ways not unlike stacked rocks or standing stones.