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

Stephen Lawlor Multi-Plate Etching Demo Video - Now on YouTube!

Stephen demonstrates the use of a card to selectively remove ink

Stephen Lawlor's Multi-plate etching demo video is now live on our YouTube channel! 

This is a fabulous, detailed must-see. Stephen discusses printing methods, registration and ways of wiping the plate for multi-plate etching (plus, we think he's super charming!).

Stephen Lawlor wipes a plate

The demo video was recorded on Friday, September 4, 2015, during the opening / artist reception for Ephemera- Etchings by Stephen Lawlor. Stephen was the first place winner of our 2013 International Juried exhibition, and this 2015 solo exhibition is part of the award New Grounds offered. 

View the video here:

Internationally renowned printmaker Stephen Lawlor provides a detailed, multi-plate etching demonstration at New Grounds Print Workshop & Gallery in Albuquerque, NM.

Lawlor lives and works in Dublin, Ireland and was the 2013 International Juried Exhibition Winner at New Grounds Gallery. Lawlor's multi-plate etchings have a rich tonality similar to the lushness of traditional oil paintings and in this demonstration he shows and discusses methods for inking, wiping and printing multiple plates to produce such richness (including registration methods).

Stephen gets ready to print the second plate

Stephen demonstrates the use of acid-free tissue to remove ink from the plate

Ephemera - Etchings by Stephen Lawlor, Exhibition Opening Reception

Viewers admiring the work of Stephen Lawlor

On Friday, September 4, 2015, New Grounds Gallery hosted an artist reception for Ephemera- Etchings by Stephen Lawlor. Stephen was the first place winner of our 2013 International Juried exhibition, and this 2015 solo exhibition is part of the award New Grounds offered. 

We are proud to showcase his stunning, multi-plate etchings!

Travelling all the way from Ireland, Stephen Lawlor was in New Mexico for the opening!

Stephen (left-center) discusses his work with other printmakers during the opening

A selection of Stephen's etchings in the New Grounds Gallery

Stephen Lawlor’s etchings reflect the history of western painting as a subject in itself but also include the natural world through the same filter. Lawlor’s images are evocative of abstracted ‘actual landscapes’, both of which have a definite relationship with a pre-photographic sensibility.

Stephen Lawlor, Outskirts, Etching, 9.75 x 11" 

All of the pieces in Ephemera are multiple plate etchings with spit-bite aquatint. Painting with acid onto the plate creates their fluidity of form and delicate tonal ranges. The master plate is drawn on hard ground with an etching needle that leaps and jerks all over the plate. This convulsive line creates tension and adds character to the dreamlike quality. They draw the viewer back in time and hold the attention by submerging the subject within these lines, forms and random marks which are unique to etching. Most of the works employ the use of four plates but some as few as two. The process of drawing, biting and proofing is physical and intense and requires a persistence and stamina which has been developed over many years.

Stephen Lawlor: Resonance II and Water and Light

Stephen Lawlor, Ecce Homo II, Etching 11.75 x 9.5"

Ethereal, poetic, spiritual, luminous, ambiguous, otherworldly, sensitive, intimate and diffuse are words that have been used to describe these etchings. The complexity of the overlapping layers of tone and colour the artist uses has no parallel in the mainstream within contemporary printmaking which adds to their unique strength.

Stephen giving his demo!

Stephen also provided a detailed, fascinating demo on his inking and printing methods during the exhibition opening. He demonstrated the use of three different plates, as well as a unique registration system that provides accurate results. We will be sharing a video of Stephen's demo shortly!

Stephen's three plates and his special palette of ink

Detail of one of the plates

Another angle of Stephen's inking station

Stephen Lawlor's visit is sponsored by the Honorary Consul for the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs in the South Western USA. 

More shots from the exhibition opening:

Did you miss the exhibition opening? Don't worry. The show runs through September 25, 2015. 

Body and Movement - Etchings by Brian Giza, Exhibition Opening Recap

A select grouping of Giza's portrait etchings

On August 7th, 2015 (First Friday) we held an exhibition opening and artist reception for our latest show, Body and Movement - Etchings by Brian Giza. 

A master draftsman, portrait and figurative artist, Brian Giza can be found at ballet studios busily sketching the dancers as they put on their shoes, stretch and rehearse. He often works on the copper plates directly rather than sketching on paper first. An accomplished thespian and professor at UTEP, every moment in his life not teaching or performing Shakespeare is dedicated to making art. Giza’s dancers come very close in skill and expression to those of Manet.

Left - Line of Swans, drypoint on copper. Right - Landscape, etching.

Left - Tess in Lilac, 3-plate gravure. Right - Three in Snow, gravure. 

Giza says of his own work:I am a former dancer and current balletomane whose work focuses on portraits, nudes, and the environment of the ballet.  

My greatest joy in art is when I can discover, and then reveal some element of beauty to the model and to the viewer.  Because of my long association with the performing arts, capturing backstage moods, moments, and personalities is a thread that runs through my work.  

Although some may see my background in art, science, theater, and dance history as eclectic, these disciplines are actually complementary...especially when rendering the art and science of dance in the printmaking medium.  

More shots of the installation

Brian Giza also gave an excellent, live printmaking demonstration on the way he develops images on copper plates, inking and printing. Giza is fond of combining different kinds of intaglio approaches on the same individual plate surface, and he frequently returns to the same plates to continue developing the image over time.

Stay tuned for our video version of his demo! We'll be editing it and sharing it here on the blog in coming weeks.

One of Giza's rich copper plates

His inking and printing demonstration set-up

Here, Brian Giza discusses a worked copper plate with one of his models and other interested fans

Detail of the plate

Did you miss the opening reception? Don't worry. The exhibition runs August 7 - 29, 2015. 

More candids from the event: