Printmaker and Touchstone Foundation for the Arts Fellow Carol Moore presents her solo exhibition during the month of May 2018. This accumulation of work reflect's Carol's long standing exploration of nature in which she searches for a personal connection with the plant specimens that she collects and manipulates. As a child she always felt at home in nature, she would spend long hours in the woods playing in trees, foraging for “natural supplies” or crushing rocks under bushes. As an adult she continues taking refuge in the natural world and reveals her encounters and imaginings in her original lithographs and intaglio prints.
As a printmaker, the technical process of creating the imagined image is addressed as part of the inspiration. The relationship with the stone or plate is one of respect, and the interaction is very stimulating. A lithographic stone offers little room for revision creating an exciting tension. A metal plate sparkles and excites the eyes, yet it tugs at the etching needle, forcing a slow hand. When rendering her images, intuition takes over; plant specimens are reconstituted into new forms. As she works, she finds herself transported to moments in her life and those memories become infused into her work.
As the image evolves, technical limitations often call for invention. Currently, Moore is experimenting with what she calls “Layered Intaglio” where thin, etched aluminum plates are layered either onto zinc plates or other aluminum plates to leave room for variation and/or color. Frustrated by the traditional processes of adding color to a print, she has developed a technique by which color is added directly to the print and then run through the press a second time, creating a cohesive result. This process is very time consuming, but it allows her to become intimate with each print in an edition.
The journey begins with the moment of discovery, then manipulation and inspiration. Technical considerations are then made and a working composition is rendered. The plate or stone is prepared and the image is drawn onto its surface. The plate is then etched, usually several times, and then proof prints are made. Once satisfied with the image, printing begins, this is the time when she “learns the plate” and how it receives the ink. The printing process involves a variety of papers, and hand manipulation to the surface of the plate that is being used. After the plates are dry, hand coloring is applied and then the print makes a final run through the press. The whole process can take months.
The process is important, there is little room for impulsiveness, but a printmaker must to go through it. Each step of the journey allows to image to grow and evolve into a blend of emotion, metal, stone, acid, ink and paper. Refuge is not only found in the inspiration, but also in the printmaking process. --Carol Moore
Viewers are invited to explore Carol’s intricate prints during her solo exhibition Seeking Refuge during the month of May at Touchstone Gallery, 901 New York Ave NE, Washington DC. May 2-27, 2018. Opening Reception Friday May 4 from 6:00 – 8:30 pm.
