One of a Kind: Monotype-The Unique Print

An Exhibition of Six Printmakers at the Harlow Gallery

Claudia Brahms-Robin Brooks

Corliss Chastain-Christine J. Higgins

Marguerite Ogden-Kris Sader

September 2-September 26, 2010

I studied monotype printmaking at Parsons School of Design in New York while a graduate student in painting (1982-84) and fell in love with the process.  Monotype is the most painterly of all the printmaking processes and afforded me a fluid and spontaneous means of image making that was a delightful change from the rigors of painting oil on canvas.  In 1985 I was invited to show four of my monotype prints from that period in an exhibition at the Newark Museum entitled “The Painter’s Print.” 

Participating in “One of a Kind” was the impetus for me to start making prints again in a serious way.  In April of 2010, I joined the community of printmakers at Circling the Square Fine Art Press in Gardiner, Maine where the work for this show was completed. 

One of a Kind: Monotype-The Unique Print will open on Thursday September 2 from 5-8 pm.

The Harlow Gallery is located at 160 Water Street in Hallowell Maine.

Gallery Hours are W, TH, S 12-4 pm

Fri.-Sat. 12-6 pm

Artist Talk September 16, 7 p.m.

I am donating Tandem, a monotype print, to Art for Marc, the first annual art auction and reception in support of the University of New England’s Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center (MARC). 

I love to swim and identify with the swift and graceful movements of marine mammals.  The animals I depicted swimming in tandem are river dolphins, a type of dolphin that lives in the cold Maine waters. 

While looking out at the Kennebec River at Fort Popham several years back, I saw a pair of river dolphins leap out of the river and dive several times.  It was an exquisite sight to see these animals leaping out of the water and arching downward on their journey to the sea.  I am very pleased to support MARC in it’s mission.

The UNE Art Gallery is located at 716 Stevens Avenue, Portland, Maine.  The Auction and reception will be held on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 from 5-9 pm.  For more information visit www.une.edu/research/msc/marc/.  Mark your calendars for this special event!

After many years, I have returned to making monotypes.  I’ve joined Circling the Square Press in Gardner, Maine, an open access fine art press. Here are some of my first explorations on the theme of “Woods.”

My collage work is arranged and composed before I use a drop of glue. First, I paint paper for the image, using acrylic paints in a variety of paint applications from very thin and transparent to layered textural surfaces.

To avoid buckling and curling of the collage, I start by taping all four edges of the support paper securely to a board. I use artist tape (like masking tape only more reversable) for smaller compositions and paper tape (the kind you wet, used to seal boxes) for larger works.

With bits of the artist’s tape I begin to assemble and arrange the cut pieces of painted paper.  I usually begin with the background spaces and work forward with the image.   When I remove the tape, I have to let go and allow  the image to re-create itself.   I often think of musical notes when I am arranging  pieces of color and placing them in various relationships.  The composition needs to harmonize–colors need to speak the same language. 

I use a range of glueing techniques for different stages of the process. I mix methylcellulose paste, commercially sold as “art paste” and usually used for paper mache, with white glue. I use at least 50 percent white glue, or more, depending on what sort of adhesion I need.

I brush the glue mixture onto the reverse side of my collage elements as well as the paper support. Then, I use a damp sponge to smooth the papers down and wipe excess glue. This works with paper painted with acrylic. More fragile papers must be treated with care. 

Each piece takes on a life of it’s own.

Boy with Guitar, collage, 2009

PRACTICING WHAT WE PREACH: WORK BY MAINE ART EDUCATORS AT THE SACO MUSEUM

JANUARY 16 THROUGH MARCH 10, 2010

 JOIN ME AT THE OPENING RECEPTION, SATURDAY JANUARY 23, 1 TO 3 PM.

ROBIN BROOKS (and over 45 artist educators)

     The Saco Museum is pleased to present “Practicing What We Preach: Work by Maine Art Teachers,” organized by the Maine Art Educators Association.  This exhibition is on view through March 19, 2010.  An opening recpetion will take place Saturday, January 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. 

Please visit the Saco Museum website for hours and directions: www.dyerlibrarysacomuseum.org

 Art News from Robin’s studio:

 Become a member of the Friends of the Topsham Public Library by February 13, 2010, and you will be entered into the Library Lovers’ Lottery for a chance to win Gilsland Farm View (pictured below), an original landscape collage by Robin Brooks. 

You can see this piece at the circulation desk at the library.

On view December 4-13, 2009. 

Opening 5-8 pm, Friday the 4th.

8 x 10 x 80 is a fundraiser to support arts programming at the Harlow– 8″ x 10″ works of art at just $80 each.  I am offering two small monotype collage pieces. 

I am displaying Yellow House and Woods, two mixed media pieces. 

The Yellow House is a symbol of artistic freedom and creativity in a time of war. 

Come early for the best selection.  Doors open at 5 pm sharp.  Great deals on local art, good company, terrific food, and entertainment provided by local musicians.  Don’t miss it!

207-622-3813

kvaa@harlowgallery.org

www.harlowgallery.org

Altered Books Workshop with Cathy Melio

Books can inspire us on many levels.  I took this workshop to learn about using discarded books as a starting point for art-making.  When I entered the workshop room, I passed a table loaded with art supplies and found a selection of discarded books spread out along the floor.  I made my selection and found a seat near the rear of the room–it was already full of people–and settled in.  While waiting, I unpacked a few of my favorite portable supplies including some watercolors, brushes, and scissors.  I was ready. 

Cathy Melio, an educator from the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, began her presentation by addressing the thorny issue of creating art with published material.  She explained that, in her local librarian’s view, “Books are already decomposing from the moment they leave the printers.”  We shouldn’t, therefore, be concerned about altering books that were likely to wind up some day in a landfill.  This put some of my concerns to rest.  In further research, I learned that copyright-protected material can be an issue.  By choosing books published before 1923 or between 1923 and 1967 with no copyright renewal you will avoid any issues with infringement. (Altered Books, Collaborative Journals, and Other Adventures in Bookmaking by Holly Harrison, 2003.)

 Cathy presented a slide show of altered books from a community project in the Rockport region.  The results, from child-created projects to finely developed pieces by adult artists, were impressive for the wide range of expressive possibilities they revealed.  We saw examples where the idea for the altered book was suggested by the title and others where the discarded book served simply as a blank canvas.  Some works folded out or incorporated materials from nature.  We saw altered books that used folding, cutting, and collage as methods of transformation.  After filling us up with images and possibilities, Cathy set us loose to gather our materials and begin.  The workshop ended before most of us had completed our altered book constructions.  Cathy offered to make each of us a cd of the results if we would email her images of our final products.  I am hoping that workshop participants will send their images to Cathy—there were some really amazing projects underway.

            For me, this workshop was valuable on two levels, both for expanding my own studio practice and for helping me to think about ways I might introduce altered books to my elementary art students.  I found it refreshing to attend this hands-on workshop after spending most of the morning in an auditory-visual processing mode.  After returning home I spent much of the weekend finishing up my altered book.  To support this new creative habit, I have formed an altered books group with artists in my area.  We will be meeting on a monthly basis to share our work.

If reading about altered books has piqued your interest, there are a variety of published works on the subject, many of which are on Minerva, Maine’s library database, and are available through the inter-library loan system. 

Robin E. Brooks October 27, 2009

This workshop was offered as a part of the Arts Connect Conference which took place on October 8, 2009 at Point Lookout Conference Center in Northport, Maine.

Climate Change 3, Cloud Break

Climate Change 1, Storm Gathering

Climate Change 2, Cloud Burst

INTRODUCTION

 As a visual artist, I am attentive to and responsible for the images I generate.  Some of the questions I pose for myself are: Does the image draw in and hold the viewer’s attention?  Does the image have enough complexity to engage the viewer?  Does the image “speak” in it’s own language? 

We live in a “drive by” culture where everyone is in fast forward motion.   I strive to create works of art with the capacity to arrest this motion–works that call on people to pause, momentarily, and interact, absorb, reflect, and respond to the image presented.  Viewers may respond purely to the form of the image, noticing color, light, and texture–the formal elements, but I am hopeful that the image will also evoke something deeper, perhaps calling upon a personal memory or physical sensation of what it feels like to be in a particular environment or natural condition.  This is, in my mind, the contemporary artist’s challenge. 

Painting is only alive to the extent that it can generate an engaged response from the viewer without the added element of textual analysis or written artist statements.  These written documents can be valuable to the viewer “after the fact,” but engagement with the art object is primary.  Robin Brooks, September 2009

artist’s note:  I thank Molly Thompson of Portland, Maine for her engaged dialogue on these issues during our annual Study Group Retreat which took place this year during the weekend of September 17, 18, and 19 on Long Island in Casco Bay.  Our discussion helped me to formulate my thoughts on the role and function of contemporary art.  I invite Molly and others to continue the discussion using the “comments” function on my blog.  RB

CLIMATE CHANGE, A LIVING PRESENCE: ARTIST REFLECTIONS

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/opinion/28krugman.html?_r=1  Just yesterday, Paul Krugman, one of my favorite New York Times columnists and a Nobel prize-winning economist, has written about the urgency of climate change. 

ARTIST AND GARDENER/CLIMATE OBSERVER

I have been following the science of climate change for a number of years as a lay observer.   In addition to painting ‘in plein air,’ I love to grow flowers and plants.  I plant seed garlic in the fall before the ground freezes hard.  The seed garlic  overwinters in a rich bed of compost with layers of mulch blanketting the seed bed from the vagaries of winter.  When I began growing garlic in 1998 or so, I recall harvesting the bulbs in early August.  For the past two years, the garlic has been ready to harvest in mid July.  Whether or not this is evidence of climate change remains to be seen.

We had approximately nine inches of rainfall this past June.  Three to four inches in considered normal. http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/gyx/climo/precipitation_normals.html 

 In July the rain continued–we had another nine inches of rainfall. The daily showers washed out gardens and prevented pollinating insects from doing their vital work.

I sat in my studio and watched through the window as it rained day after day. I saw climate change manifest itself as a living presence, not as some sort of scientific abstraction. 

FURTHER RESOURCES ON CLIMATE CHANGE:

I read the series of articles on Climate Change written by Elizabeth Kolbert  as they appeared in the New Yorker Magazine in 2006.  The climate change documentation she provides is compelling and deeply concerning to all who care about the health of our planetary home.  RB