Working with Paper: Small Watercolor Pieces

Remotely Close, 2014

Watercolor on Artist Board

3.5"x2.5"

Remotely Distant, 2014

Watercolor on Artist Board

3.5"x2.5"

Artist Statement

My work has grown from the uncontrollable process of mark making. Exploring the details of nature to find my marks mimicked in the existence of life has convinced me that this unexplored force needed to be a focus in my work.

Working in layers has allowed a harmonious fusion of color and textures creating a dense, but luscious surface on each print. These organic works on paper transform themselves each run through the press. With this buildup of layers and repetitive mark making, the paper accepts less and less ink leaving no room for new color but on the surface of other inks. This results in a glossy reflective texture, of ink on ink. One can get lost inside each print, discover untraceable depth, uncountable layers, and find themselves resonating in my tiny worlds.

After pushing the monotype process in such a way, I soon began to see how my mark making carried over into each printmaking process, which left me seeking more. More processes, more materials and more reasoning behind these uncontrolled marks.

Experiencing different cultures and unimaginable scenery only kept me moving farther west. While in Oregon, I had the fortunate opportunity to be outside every day immersed in nature and its elements. I developed a passion for small plant life, bugs, birds and tiny living organisms. I was amazed with their ability to adapt no matter the conditions or seasons. When one develops this immense connection and sense of passion for small life, one strives to protect it. And to become aware of the vast environmental devastation going on, one can only do their part and teach others that we are one with nature.

Gift giving is a one aspect of our materialized culture, a culture that is depleting our natural resources. Experiencing holiday retail first hand, I wanted to create small batch items that are great for gifts, reflect, incorporate or mimic nature in some way and are fashioned with an earth first concept. Buy highlighting natures beauty in a consumer aspect, I’m doing work as an artist in a different way. Though my craft very much reflects my art, my mark making is absent from my craft and thus continues to reappear no matter what medium I experiment with.

I began to collect and sort found and reclaimed items along with production waste and wanted to push these materials from my craft to my art, as art is very material demanding. Mixed media could accommodate such an idea. Experimenting with gelatin plates, collage and colograph has allowed me to incorporate printmaking back into my art in a sustainable way.

With each new process, no matter how vast or minimal the background is, the focus still becomes on the organic growing force in the foreground. While marks compile to resemble abstract flowers, seedpods and plant life, do not ignore their almost alien form. They are our regenerative process, to make amends of what we have broken and to remind us what shapes our future.

Artist Bio

Audrey, artist and printmaker, is a 2007 BFA graduate from Ohio University. During her course there she participated in a number of print and art educational opportunities, including print conference attendance and multiple showings of her work. In 2006, she was a scholarship recipient of the Brookes Fellowship Award from Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado. With this award she was able to study with Lifetime Achievement Printmaker Karen Kunc. Taking away more than expanded knowledge and inspiration, Audrey developed a focus, style and direction in her means of creation. During her last year of school Audrey focused on her thesis and took responsibility as student coordinator and promotional representative of the 2006 Mid-America Print Council's bi-annual print conference. Gaining a perspective of preparation and display, she used her knowledge of space and gallery layout for her final thesis exhibition. In realization that her grand idea was way out of budget, she applied for the Provost Undergraduate Research Fund, and began to carve out her thesis. Receiving enough money for supplies and paper, she was able to transform the space into an unknown world in which the viewer would loose the concept of being in a gallery and realize how much they impacted the work and space. Upon the success of her thesis exhibition, she took the opportunity to continue working on her new discovery and a accepted a position as print studio intern at Castle Hill in Cape Cod. There she assisted with the running of the print shop and was available to visiting artists. Through the summer Audrey continued to create and participated in a woodcut course with printmaker Tom Huck. After the summer, she move to Crested Butte, Colorado and taught snowboarding and prepared work from the summer for her solo show Invasive Life. In 2008 Audrey moved to Portland, Oregon. She became a working partner of Radius Studio as well as a Art Instructor of a variety of printmaking courses and kids classes. She worked for two years as an assistant kindergarten teacher at an all outdoor kindergarten. After the program closing and family taking her elsewhere she has currently relocated back to the midwest and is living and working as an artist and maker in the Milwaukee area of Wisconsin.

Working with Paper

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Small Watercolor Pieces

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