Life Lines - Serigraphs and Linoleum Prints by Knicki Markolf

New Grounds Print Workshop and Gallery celebrated their 20th anniversary this past weekend during First Friday’s ARTScrawl featuring a solo exhibition by Canadian printmaker Knicki Markolf. The gallery buzzed with local art enthusiasts eagerly participating in the hourly art raffle and enjoying the celebratory cake and good vibrations. Later in the evening, all eyes were on Markolf as she led a riveting linocut demonstration.

Markolf creates bold serigraphs and linoleum prints that explore the internal and external world, using vibrant patterns to reveal delicate connections. She believes we are the weavers of our lives, and as such, we are the fringe dwellers - we live on the edge of our fabric. What is already woven is our past, that which is unwoven is our future, and in the present moment we are on the edge of creation. 

As an artist, Markolf is fascinated by the ways in which decorative patterns have been used to create a sense of importance or sacredness. Her work explores the sacred connections between everything using the threads of our lives. She works with knot designs, as well as new representational and abstract shapes, shaping ideas of binding and unbinding. 

Markolf believes, “Art making is like falling in love, like opening a present. It is an ongoing process of letting go of preconceived ideas, listening & watching rather than arguing. I let my medium have its way with me, aiding me in unravelling its mystery, teaching me its story. I am a romantic spiritualist and my life is deeply interior. I like movement that is inward, downward and deep to allow for mystery. That is what art making is about, bringing that mystery forward.”

Chroma - Etchings by Pamela Wesolek

Green Ocean,
etching and chine colle, 36 x24"

This past weekend, I attended First Friday’s ARTScrawl at New Grounds Print Workshop and Gallery featuring an etching exhibition by Pamela Wesolek. In this new body of work, Wesolek fuses abstract and botanical elements. The colors reference the botanical’s personality and support the energy driving the abstractions. Her intention was to make a gallery space ripe with “Chroma,” or color, and for the viewer to be led by the color into the details of the work. Wesolek says, “I felt strongly about using color as the theme because it seems true to the season of spring when the black and white world of winter dramatically reinvents itself.” 

Horses Tails

The highlight of the evening was an etching demonstration of “Horses Tails” by Wesolek. She began by describing the process of inscribing the copper plates with a variety of techniques, using archaic dental tools. Wesolek then coated the copper plate with a water base Akua lamp black ink and wiped the top surface clean with a starched cheesecloth, leaving ink only in the etched lines. The plate was then laid face up on the press bed, covered with Mitsuyama paper from Japan and Mulberry paper from Thailand. The felt flaps of the press were laid on top of the paper and then hand cranked through the press with enormous pressure transferring the inked areas to the paper.

Circle of Friends ~ monotypes by Sarah Anderson

Last Friday, I took a friend with me to view the exhibition of Sarah Anderson’s newest work - Circle of Friends currently showing at New Grounds print workshop. The gallery was filled with excitement and energy among those that attended. Anderson’s work is much admired for both its emotional expression and its bold simplification in hues of red, orange and purple.

The evening included a live monotype demonstration by Anderson. She explained that monotyping is a type of printmaking made by drawing or painting on a smooth, nonabsorbent surface such as glass. Using nontoxic ink, Anderson inked the entire surface and then, using brushes and Q-tips, she removed some ink to create a subtractive background and added other ink to create her subject. She then positioned the glass on a printing press and transferred the image onto a sheet of paper by pressing the two together. Monotyping produces a unique one-of-kind print, or monotype; most of the ink is removed during the initial pressing. Although subsequent reprintings are sometimes possible, they differ greatly from the first print and are generally considered inferior. These prints from the original plate are called "ghost prints."