New grand entry way!

Take a look at the old fence:



Then the newer purple wall:


And now! Way to go Regina for designing this beautiful steel entryway to New Grounds and Matrix Fine Art, as well as the newer businesses to come.

There’s no better way to bring in the New Year than…

a show dedicated to new members of New Grounds Print Workshop and Gallery! And what a good time we all had! Phil Peterson is the youngest member to New Grounds and he is the oldest member surpassing Leonora Durrett by a few years! Phil invited a lot of his family and here are some of his nieces and nephews.





It is exciting to be a part of a group with such diversity. Christine Herman joined in January of 2010 and has been a wonderful addition to New Grounds. She is a prolific abstract artist and it showed in this group show. She has 7 prints in the show!




Here is one of Nick Hudak’s newest etchings called “Ascension”. Nick recently moved to Albuquerque from New York. His etchings are inspring.


Vicki Bolen, a New Grounds artist, brought in folded paper gifts for the new member’s. By default, I happened to get one!


We had a good turnout and many people came to see the show!







Regina, director and Pam, artist and master printer

Thanks for reading!

Holiday Sale and Reception Fun!

Prints, prints, and more! Galore! What a lovely evening we had at this year’s opening with thousands of prints, paintings, and photographs for sale! Low prices too ($25 to $125).





This is a great time to see what the artist’s have been creating all year, and those years past! We had a good crowd for this opening and plenty of cream puffs to go around!






Bruce Childs and Mary Zaremba came to visit and to spread the holiday cheer!



Nick Hudak is one of New Grounds newest members who recently moved to Albuquerque from New York. He is enjoying learning the non-toxic etching method that we do here. Here is Tanya and Nick looking at Ray Maseman’s new batch of cards!



Ray Maseman is listening intently to what this woman is saying!



George Bair and his wife Mary came all the way from Kansas to be here for the “Perception” group show.




Shirley Levy and Mary

Here is his newest etching. This took him 200 hours to complete! It’s a beauty.



Laura Wacha made this awesome paper mache sculpture just for the holiday sale. It is called “Thirsty Dog”!




Thanks to all the volunteers that helped with this month’s reception and to Jeff Simpson for taking the photographs!

Pamela DiMauro’s multi-plate etchings and gravures give life to the gallery!

Pamela DiMauro has created etchings of plants that are layered with abstract backgrounds, and colors that are not always literal. In these, multiple phases of the plants life are viewed simultaneously. Each print is like a portrait of the botanical, capturing its personality.




DiMauro was kind enough to demonstrate the etching process during her reception. Etching is part of the intaglio family of printmaking techniques. What they all have in common is that the design is below the plate surface.







To begin with, the blank copper plate is coated with an acid resistant material called hard ground. At New Grounds, we use Z-Acryl hard ground which does not require any harmful solvents to be removed from the plate. Instead, it is water-soluble when wet, and comes off with a mild soda ash solution when dry. A design is now drawn on the coated plate (not shown here) which exposes the copper underneath. It is made permanent by immersing the plate in ferric chloride – it literally etches the drawn lines into the plate.





The plate is now ready to be printed. To do so, ink (at New Grounds we use water soluble Akua intaglio inks) is carded over the entire plate with strips of mat board.








Once the plate is covered completely in ink, the excess is removed first by using strips of mat board and then a very stiff cheese cloth called “tarlatan.” To remove any excess plate tone, newsprint is used to wipe it off the surface.






The inked plate is now placed on the press bed, and it is covered with a sheet of printing paper. At New Grounds, we prefer Hahnemuhle paper because it is extremely absorbent.

Plate and paper are then covered with printing blankets which cushion the impact of the roller as the plate and paper are moved through the etching press. Note that the only purpose of the press is to apply very high pressure to the plate. We use Takach presses at New Grounds.







Now, Pam returns to repeat the steps above with the second plate which is being printed in an orange color.











The finished print!



Here are some clients who were admiring her finished piece. Thanks to everyone who made it out tonight and especially to the volunteers who helped make this show a success!



Joe Montano our newest intern



If you missed the reception, Pamela DiMauro’s show “Conservatory” runs through November 27th.
www.newgroundsgallery.com

Thanks!
Regina Held, Director

Photogravure with Karl Koenig

Deborah Donelson is back!

We are excited to announce that Donelson's works on paper are once again available at New Grounds. Check out our fresh inventory of her hand-colored gravures.