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| Timothy McDowell, Kate Javens, Joanne Mattera |
I had the pleasure to meet and listen to three great artists this past Sunday afternoon at
Marcia Wood Gallery. Artists Timothy McDowell, Kate Javens, and
Joanne Mattera spoke and did a Q &A about their experiences. They participated in a 5 day intaglio printmaking journey at Connecticut College where Timothy McDowell teaches this medium. It was a loose, fun talk about the work they created in just 5 days. Each artist produced an edition of 30 of their imagery. Six artists participated but three could not make it to the discussion (
Kim Anno Katherine Taylor, and Don Pollack).
The idea of bringing these artists together to form a show using a new method of art making-( none where quite familiar with excluding Timothy) was the brain child of Marcia Wood. Marcia and Tim organized to bring the artists together to embark on this enormous project. Tim joked that he squeezed a semester of printmaking into 5 days. What was produced in such a small amount of time is truly impressive.
For the artists this was a new vocabulary, new mark making system, and communication. It was a heavily collaborative effort between the artists. Marcia also gave a helping hand during the printmaking process. Each artist had a role in helping the other with their editions. It sounded like a special time of camaraderie between all involved and a chance to collaborate with each other. It is a unique experience in that most of these artist's are established and to this have a time to bounce off ideas was enlightening. Learning new methods was part of the fun and the fear-to be able to produce a body of work that all were happy with in such a short time. All the artists had to approach this differently than painting, which is the normal medium of all. It was a leap they all they all had to encounter. Tim explained how the entire medium is different and you have to think like a print maker-not a painter. He urged them to accept what the ink, plates, and paper would offer. It was a whole new language.
What was is amazing is how well the prints tie into all of their own current work. Joanne Mattera's piece "Soie" relates to her Silk Series of encaustic paintings. Joanne explained how she changed direction of the plates to build the textures and lines of her piece. She experimented with different compounds to give it the look of beeswax. This piece really radiates in the space. (Side note: If you don't read
JoanneMatteraArtBlog -you should. It is filled with loads of important information for the artist, collector, and gallerist) Joanne has also written about Pull and has some great photos on her blog to check out.
I took some shots in the gallery but they are a bit hard to see so I have included the image shots from the gallery website as well.
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| Joanne Mattera "Soie" |
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| Joanne Mattera "Soie"photo from Marcia Wood website |
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Joanne Mattera Side View of "Soie"
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All of their work is very different from one another yet there is a common thread and beauty of how they relate to one another.
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| Timothy McDowell "Arcadian Troubles" |
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| Timothy McDowell "Arcadian Troubles" photo from Marcia Wood website |
Timothy's use of color and layering is just beautiful. He has a amazing show entitled "Kingdom Come" in the front gallery that this work ties directly with. They are all lush and have such a rich feel.
Kate's piece has so much detail and light. It's a powerful, beautiful piece.
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| Kate Javen "Father Ram"photo from Marcia Wood website |
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Kim's work has a cold conflicting feeling that is executed delicately in this work.
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| Kim Anno "Heavens" photo from Marcia Wood Website | | | |
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Don's work has a sense of floating to me. The sublet tones do make this feel like a mysterious island.
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| Don Pollack "Mysterious Islands" photo from Marcia Wood website |
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Katherine's print has a soft watercolor feel in the background-looks effortless.
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| Katherine Taylor "Parallox" image from Marcia Wood website |
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Check out the show if you are in Atlanta. It's up through Nov 6th. or visit
www.marciawoodgallery.com for more information about all of these artists.
How wonderful that you were able to attend this. Joanne's prints have such depth, as you say, like her encaustic works. Kim Anno's "Heavens" is positively intriguing, as is Don Pollack's photo (which does indeed "float").
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