Brian Giza makes an impression with his drypoints!

Giza’s show of ballet dancers and backstage scenes is reminiscent of old master drawings. Giza, who is a retired dancer himself, spends all his spare time sketching and drawing. Most of his plates are created directly in the ballet studio – dancers have become quite accustomed to be drawn by him while they are tying their shoes, doing their hair, or stretching.



In fact, Giza spent the reception drawing one of his dancers. His drypoint demonstration, a first for New Grounds, drew a huge crowd.



In this technique a sharp tool such as an etching needle is used to scratch directly in the metal plate creating a burr that yields a characteristically soft and expressive line. In addition, Giza also uses a mezzotint rocker to layer darker areas into his plate.



Mezzotint, just like drypoint, is a non-etch intaglio technique. No acid is used to create information on the plate. Instead, the plate is worked on directly with positive marks as in drypoint, or with negative marks as in mezzotint. In the latter, the plate is literally covered with small pits by rocking the toothed tool systematically across the plate which results in a completely black plate. The image is then created by burnishing some of those pits which will create a variety of gray values. Brian uses the rocker as a positive tool to create dark areas which are not intended to be burnished. He creates some shading by only partially rocking the plate. The resulting image has rich color, texture and depth such as seen in “Sylphide.”



To proof the image, Brian covers the plate completely with ink, removes the excess with a heavily sized cheesecloth also referred to as a “tarlatan and places the inked plate on the press bed (not shown here).






Printmaking paper is placed over the inked plate, and the image is then transferred to paper by rolling it through the etching press.





Ah, the moment of “lift-off” when the paper is peeled off the plate and the image is revealed. What a lovely image, Brian!



Brian also does portraits from life directly on plates. Here is a plate with an image of gallery assistant Tanya.

A special thanks to everybody who helped with this reception, Mike Rudahl, Mary Sundstrom, Pamela Wesolek, Tanya and Anise.








Last but not least, our intern Justin (here with his girlfriend) did a tremendous job as a greeter. We love you Justin!!!!!!!!!



The show will run until June 26 if you missed the reception or if you would like to see it again. It’s a stunning show.

Also, click below to see a video of the demonstration!


http://www.facebook.com/v/401327754183

Oh, and here is the embed code for sharing the video:

First Friday from our Intern, Justin Camilli

Hi, my name is Justin Camilli and I'm the new intern here. New Grounds has taken me under its wing to teach me the art of nontoxic printing. Sadly I'm only here for the summer and I'll go back as a junior to CSU in Fort Collins, Colorado where I'm majoring in traditional printmaking.
This was my first First Friday experience and it was great. I was surprised at how friendly people were and how much everybody was "jonesin' " to see art. It was also my first time as a greeter of anything, but I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the eager faces enter and the satisfied exit. I was especially stoked to see shirtless tan man. The only thing was that my face muscles couldn't function afterward because of my extreme greeter smile. Anyways, I'm excited for the next one and the interesting faces it brings in.

The Figure in Ballet – Drypoint and Gravure by Brian Giza

Blanca
14 x 11"
Drypoint


Sylphide
12 x 15.5"
Drypoint

Brian Giza is a former dancer and current balletomane. His elegant and monochromatic prints focus on portraits, nudes, and the environment of the ballet. Giza is an expert drafts person who takes his plates to rehearsals and dressing rooms to work on them directly. He will produce several plates in one drawing session, considering some of them “sketches” and print only the one he considers successful. The resulting images exude an immediacy, intimacy and refinement comparable to old Master drawings.

Exhibition dates: June 4 – 26
(Early Bird Preview: June 1 - 4)

First Friday Artscrawl Reception: June 4, 5 – 8:00 PM

Demonstration during the reception: 6:30- 7:00 PM.

Bruce Child's solo show

This was Bruce Child’s first solo show at New Grounds! The excitement was in the air. Many people gathered for the demonstration of etching and monotypes combined.




Bruce begins by inking up the copper plate which is already etched with one of his landscapes.



He wipes the plate with tarlatan, a cheesecloth type material, to get the ink in the lines. Then he uses newsprint to wipe off the excess ink. In this photograph below he is using the palm of his hand to wipe off even more ink in certain areas that he wants to be whiter.



The he lays down the plate on the press and registers or aligns the paper so the print will be in the middle of the paper.





There is always a helping hand to run the press for the artist!



Here is the first layer of his image, the key plate.



Now he begins the monotype layer.




Bruce is using brayers to apply ink to the monotype plate. He has a drawing of the key plate underneath the monotype plate as a guide.



Here he is adding the finishing touches.



Printing….. and here is the final image!



Bruce’s niece, pictured below, took the photographs this evening! Thank you



Thank you Tanya, Gallery Assistant and Colleen, Intern, for helping at this opening!


And here is the artist of the evening, Bruce Childs!

The Rachel Allen Printmaking Scholarship

Open to all women living in the Albuquerque and Santa Fe areas, who can demonstrate participation in the art community. Please do not call- send a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope or e-mail for complete scholarship guidelines. Guidelines can also be downloaded from the New Grounds website at www.newgroundsprintshop.com.

Scholarship Applications must be postmarked by April 25, 2010.

The Rachel Allen Scholarship will be awarded to one person every year. It consists of one printmaking class and three consecutive months of membership at New Grounds (this amounts to more than $ 1000 in value).

Body Language – Monotypes by Sarah Anderson

Beauty
20 x 16"
Monotype


I Can't Believe he Called You Cupcake
16 x 20"
Monotype

Anderson’s vibrant monotypes depict ordinary women – sometimes accompanied by their dog - in everyday situations. Anderson is well known for her distinct Matisse like style. Her images are always thoughtful, often humorous, and never fail to entertain.

Exhibition dates: April 2 – May 1
(Early Bird Preview: March 30 – April 2)

First Friday Artscrawl Reception: April 2, 5 – 8:00 PM

Demonstration during the reception: Figurative monotypes by Sarah Anderson from 6:30- 7:00 PM.

Ray Maseman makes a big impression with his new etchings!

There is a consensus. Ray Maseman was voted “Best Artist” in Local IQ’s smart list because he IS the best! He has had five successful solo shows at New Grounds, his work was voted “best of show” at numerous art festivals, his work is sold in several galleries throughout the United States, and he is one of the few artists whose editions sell out on a regular basis. We bow before you Ray!



Our March 5 reception started out slowly, mainly because it was one of the few nice days we have seen recently. However, by the time Ray had to present his demonstration the house was once again packed!


Yet Ray seemed to be crying when New Grounds director Regina Held introduced him before the demo. Seriously Ray, what DID she say to you?!?



Ray uses “Hansel and Gretel” from his new fairy tales series to demonstrate how in etching we can to achieve all kinds of colors with only two plates. In this image, the key plate was used to create the details and grey values. This plate is printed in sepia. The color plate consists of aquatints only, which are basically a dot pattern etched on the plate capable of holding ink.



Here Ray is ready to ink the plates. He starts by spreading sepia ink on the key plate, and then wiping off the excess ink with a tarlatan (a heavily sized piece of cheese cloth) and phone book pages so that ink remains only in the lower, etched areas of the plate.



The inked plate is quite beautiful. Not shown is how Ray treats the color plate. If you look carefully you see three different colors in the image. There is a green band of color on the top, a yellow field inside the witch’s house, and everything else is infused with an orange glow. We call this kind of color application “selective wiping” as opposed to covering the entire plate with on color. Ray used tiny strips of mat board to carefully card the different colors of ink on the plate, the excess ink is equally carefully removed with card board strips, and then the excess ink is wiped away with phone book pages, or newsprint in order not to contaminate the lighter colors with black printers ink.




Ray now places the color plate on the press bed and covers it with a piece of printmaking paper. Both are run through the press. Using a brick as weight, the paper is lifted up but held in place and the color plate is replaced with the key plate. The paper is placed over it and then both are run through the press again. Now the details of the key plates sit on top of the color fields of the first plate!




Ray also teaches the etching class at New Grounds which is held in June and November. If you like detailed line work, this class is for you. A slightly obsessive streak is very helpful in this medium!

Thank you all for coming to New Grounds for this reception. The pictures were taken by Mike Rudahl, and the blog was submitted by Tanya and Regina.

We see you again for our April show which will be monotypes by Sarah Anderson.