Desert (Loss) - Mixed Media Prints by Ren Adams, Exhibition Opening

First Friday, November 6, 2015 marked the artist reception and exhibition opening for Desert (Loss) - Mixed Media prints by Ren Adams.

Ren Adams produces richly layered hybrid and mixed media prints, often combining five or six different printmaking techniques, and rarely producing a work with fewer than four layers. Each piece in Desert (Loss) is composed of thin, abstracted and colorful layers of serigraphy, with Akua monotype and image transfer components.

Pieces installed for Ren Adams' exhibition

Ren says of the series:
"Desert (Loss) investigates the suspension between loss and distance, through the language of a fractured desert. These remixed landscapes imply the weirdness of the West; vastness and density become memories of memory, mutations of a white-hot encounter. Historian Simon Schama says “landscape is a work of the mind. Its scenery is built up as much from strata of memory as from layers of rock,” just as our own stories and memories are constructed of layered moments."

"Sylmar Suspension (in my nothing)," 2015.
Layered serigraphy, image transfer, monotype. Ren Adams. Sold. 

Ren remixes a haunting combination of Hollywood-infused desert moments. She says of these landscape 'memory strata'
"My strata are flattened, graphic layers, which suggest the way recollection develops a fictional sheen, with pinpoints of lucid detail; certain moments burn and remain. The play between flatness and depth asks what it means to inhabit the space between memory and experience, where fleeting exchanges flare and dissolve. My compressed imagery is remixed, just as we shuffle memories like tracks on a playlist—moments fade and recur. Some details get replayed."

"Mojave (always)," 2015. Ren Adams. Layered serigraphy and Akua monotype. 9 x 12".

During the opening, Ren also gave a demonstration on how she uses serigraphy to create these densely layered images. She showed various different photo screens, printing and also discussed the dynamic, responsive way that she creates overlaps and transparency. Watch for the video on our YouTube channel. Also, Ren teaches serigraphy workshops at New Grounds!

Ren Adams giving her serigraphy demo. Photo courtesy Michelle Marie Sharp. 

Ren also says about the pieces in this series:

"In processing a personal sense of dislocation and loss, I am drawn to the landscape of media and television—complex spaces I’ve inhabited in life and through the ambiguity of fact-fiction. Like memory, TV offers a dual sense of place, a spark of the ‘here’ and ‘elsewhere.’ Imagery inDesert (Loss) remixes my own media-infused artwork, drawing on television, personal photographs and even Google Street View to form a composite desert; a California-New Mexico-Hollywood of past and present."

You might be wondering why there are so few action shots from the evening! In addition to being our main workshop instructor here at New Grounds, she is also our press photographer and videographer, and was too busy running around! We'll add a few more installation and action shots before the show is over. 

More shots of the work in the exhibition:

"Inglewood (substance of now)," 2015. Ren Adams. Layered serigraphy and Akua Monotype. 9 x 12".

Ren Adams' vibrant, layered Serigraphs channel a technicolor Hollywood desert. Poetry is hidden in each piece, as well. 

"Foothill Freeway & Balboa (I see you in all things)," 2015. Ren Adams.
Layered serigraphy, image transfer, Akua monotype. 9 x 12".

"Vasquez Canyon Road (in this distance)," 2015. Ren Adams. 
Layered serigraphy, Akua monotype. 9 x 12".

Each piece grapples with the distance between loss and experience, memory and contact... set to a hybrid desert that combines California and New Mexico.

Portals - Mixed Media Prints by Krista Barrett, Exhibition Opening

Viewers admiring Krista Barrett's new work

On First Friday, October 2, 2015, New Grounds Gallery hosted an artist reception and exhibition opening for Portals - Mixed Media Prints by Krista Barrett. 

Work by Krista Barrett, installed in New Grounds Gallery

Work by Krista Barrett, installed in New Grounds Gallery

Krista Barrett’s layered, mixed media prints investigate portals and doors as a metaphor of transformation, change, new opportunities and beginnings. They celebrate that change is the only constant and is inevitable. It offers as many surprises as her subtly colored, detailed, one of a kind prints. 

Her intimate pieces offer viewing pleasure. 

Each 6 x 6" piece is made up of layers of etching and gravure imagery

Krista Barrett's etching demo was lively and inspiring!

Krista's demo station, with one of her many plates

Krista also gave a demonstration of her inking and multi-plate printing. Because her process often requires a number of layered plates, including copper etchings and gravure, and can take many hours to complete a print, Krista featured a few highlights and discussed her overall approach. 

You can expect a video of Krista's etching demo on our YouTube channel this month.

Viewers getting a closer look

The artist, Krista Barrett, entertaining friends and fans during the opening

Krista has shown work internationally and her pieces art part of several major collections.

Krista says of her work:

Making art is a playful process which allows me to explore my inner world more deeply and encounter the unexpected – both within and beyond myself. As I work, consciously planned elements combine with unconscious, unpredictable lines and shapes. This interaction allows me to explore spontaneity while cultivating structure and purpose.

Combining gravure and etching allows me a greater range of expression. Most of my prints are a combination of etching, gravure, monotype and mixed media. Etching on copper is my favorite technique as it allows me to combine various elements while also reflecting multiple layers and details. I etch lines and textures onto the copper plate using techniques similar to drawing and collage. I then print a working proof, which informs the next step of the process. Ideas emerge about what lines, textures or colors may enhance or develop the image. I repeatedly cycle through this process, refining the plate until the image feels complete.

Krista Barrett 

Delicious treats were provided by the Swiss Alps Bakery,
in honor of the Etsate of Amir Espat exhibition, which was featured concurrently in MATRIX

Delicious treats were provided by the Swiss Alps Bakery, 
in honor of the Etsate of Amir Espat exhibition, which was featured concurrently in MATRIX

Did you miss the opening? Don't worry. You still have the chance to view Krista's work up close, in person. The exhibition runs through October 31, 2015.

More shots from the opening:

The plates and ink Krista used during her demo

Dan Noyes is captivated by Krista Barrett's work!

Krista Barrett herself!

Two viewers closely examine the print Krista created during the demo

Ren Adams Alchemy of Image/ The Language of Information Space

Artist and Teacher Ren Adams speaks with a close friend while setting up for her demonstration. Ren's images are meaningful and complex and are created through hybrid printmaking, using a variety of techniques such as screen printing, intaglio, stamping and lithography.

In addition to  Ren's show the Pastel Society of New Mexico had their Signature Membership Show in Matrix. Artist Mike Mahon demonstrated pastel painting the duration of the evening.

UNM print lab manager Brooke Stieger  greets Ren inside New Grounds. Many students and alumni from UNM printmaking came by excited to see Ren and congratulate her on the success of her show.

Ren is in additon to being a talented artist a wonderful teacher. In her upstairs studio she offers classes on drawing, book binding, and painting, she is also the instructor of the New Grounds screen printing workshops.