This month we’re excited to present a selection of monoprint projects from our POP community. From innovative artworks that incorporate organic forms, to mixed-media collaged pieces, and collaborative projects, our members have used monoprinting techniques to bring a unique visual language to their prints.
Kim Minuti: Embossed Monoprints
A characteristic of Kim Minuti’s work, and something that continues to fascinate her is the way the surface of paper can be manipulated by the softening effects of water and the embossed potential of object and form. Kim has often used natural forms through her etching press, and now all manner of things pass through as she eagerly awaits to see how the paper will take on their shapes. Her organic approach to the medium of printmaking allows her to explore the possibilities of the outcome which relies largely on experimentation of process. “If I always knew exactly how it would look at the end, then for me something will always be missing,” says Kim.
Lucy Merriman: BREATH
During the first lockdown in 2020 Lucy Merriman embarked on a new creative journey. She set up a home printmaking studio, invested in a hand held pin press, and started experimenting with analogue monoprinting and painting. Lucy’s process is primarily driven by colour and explores the fusion of opposing forces, the analogue and digital combined. Hand printed monoprints and gestural abstract painting are merged with digital photography and linear forms to create a visual language of harmony and emotion. This monoprint collage series was inspired by lockdown walks that Lucy took with her father across the heathland of Sutton Park, a much needed connection to nature in their home town of Sutton Coldfield.
Susan Vera Clarke: Monotype Screen Prints
This series of monotype screen prints by Susan Vera Clarke was born out of a need to jettison her creative flow back into normal functioning mode, after a very long lockdown. Initially, they served to inform a new series of etchings that explore how AI technology is applied to coral restoration. However, they ended up taking on an entire path of their own. Susan states: “For any printmaker, the immediacy of monoprinting is incredibly liberating and forces you to step out of your comfort zone and discover a new visual language. It also sometimes feels like trying to tame a wild beast”.
Dana Harris Seeger: Monotypes and Mixed Media
Dana generally uses a monoprint method for her printmaking, creating series of unique prints that aren’t part of an edition. In this series, she used a combination of monotype methods with Gelli and acrylic plates, with oil based ink to form the base of the images. Once the textures and abstracted imagery was laid down, she then responded to the components and added screen printing or collage. In her latest series started during the Covid-19 pandemic, Dana used the Feelings Wheel to symbolise all the emotions that were turning around and undulating within her. “Printmaking is the perfect method for exploring and distilling emotional and psychological impacts because it can be universally read, understood and manifested in different environments,” says Dana.
Hinke Weikamp: Vases
Hinke is currently working on a new series of monoprints entitled Vases. For the past few years she has been experimenting with making monoprints with moss. “Moss is a wonderful material to work with; the material remains soft and leaves a graceful, organic shape on paper,” states the printmaker. The monoprints that Hinke makes often refer to a plant or flower shape, thus it was a logical step to start making vases. The vase is visible through the sharp silhouette in which the mosses are placed, with each one varying in shape and size.
Bianca Tschaikner: Mythical Monos
Austrian artist Bianca Tschaikner created this series of monoprints in the workshops of Fundacion CIEC in Betanzos, a little village in Galicia, Northern Spain, near the Atlantic coast. Using papers like Fabriano and Nepalese Lodka Paper in different colours, plates and stencils were cut out from recycled aluminium offset plates or acetate, then inked with a roller. Ink was removed with q-tips for the details, or painted on the plate with brushes in black, gold, and silver, with some even including glowing pigment. These prints belong to a series that is loosely inspired by different mythologies and images from the East and the West, such as the Galician wild horse and the fierce mermaids of the Atlantic sea. These tales are all linked by the search of the garden of the Hesperides, which is believed to be located in the far West of Europe, possibly in Galicia.
Chris Idema: Deepspace
The Deepspace series are among the first monoprints Chris made and that generated his love for printmaking. “The simple magic that happens the moment you draw your ink over the screen and you get to behold the transformation of a white sheet of paper, into something with depth and meaning gives me great joy,” describes Chris. The series plays with geometric lines and grained ‘’light’’ in order to create the depth that he seeks in his more abstract work. The black ink is as important as the white paper, creating a harmony.
Emmanuelle Orr: Unity Project Contribution
Emmanuelle Orr recently participated in the Unity Project; a collaborative project launched by printmaker Lucy Chapman. She asked 20 artists to hand finish an edition of her screen prints to raise funds for the Trussel Trust food bank. Every piece has the same starting point, but each artist brings their own style and response to the print, making each artwork original and unique. Emmanuelle contributed a monoprint. She cut out stencils of silhouettes (based on characters from previous works) and stars, and gelli printed them on to Lucy’s print in yellow, magenta, and cyan layers. The auction will take place between 17-23 May 2021, accompanied by an online exhibition.
Montez Makes: Monoprints
After the lockdown of last year took the ability to use the studio for exposing screens away from her, Montez decided to start experimenting with monoprinting. As of then there has been no looking back and she has been using monoprinting as her preferred technique ever since. Her works fuse bright neon colours with vintage and Victoriana imagery.
Alastair Keady: Donegal Coast Monoprints
Alastair Keady doesn’t typically work in representational, let alone landscape pieces, but a commission for a friend led to three monoprint coastal scenes. The initial piece, a favourite holiday spot for a Belfast family, was built up in four monoprint layers on a 700 x 1000 mm sheet. A final subtle halftone black layer was then overprinted. For the next two prints, naturalistic colour was abandoned for a Fauvist-inspired layering of pale pink and fluoro pink inks in combination. Charcoal marks, direct to screen, were incorporated into the four monoprint layers, and again, a halftone black was overprinted.
Check out all of our members’ profiles and apply to join our printmaking community at www.members.peopleofprint.com.
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