Exhibition Opening Reception - Look to Nature

Serigraphy & Intaglio Hand-Made Prints by Kathleen Zimmerman

KATHLEEN ZIMMERMAN - ARTIST STATEMENT

I find inspiration, and insight into the world around me, by looking to nature. Elements from the natural world, especially animals, seem to help me think through ideas concerning relationships, the environment, and culture.

Creating artwork is a meditative practice that helps me stop and think about life. Over the years I have developed a personal visual language that uses symbolism, and surrealism, to transform my subject matter into archetypal images. I have been told this gives my work a mythical quality making them both timely as well as timeless.

My Exhibit in the Gallery is composed of serigraphs, or more commonly known as silkscreen prints and intaglio prints. They are all hand-made small-edition prints, that use my graphite drawings as their basis and are original works of art. I prefer printmaking to painting because my artwork concentrates on ideas and celebrates the drawn image instead of color. While I use color in my prints it is very limited and used just to add additional meaning.

Why serigraphs? I like this method of printmaking because I can retain areas of pure white paper, capture the tonality of my drawings, and place blocks of intense color that either overlaps part of the image, or lightly kisses the edge of image.

Serigraphy is a modern printmaking method with a very old history. Stencil-based hand-made prints originated during the tenth century in China. They made their first appearance in Europe around the 18th century and are used throughout the world today. This mode of printmaking has evolved over time, so that Modern artists such as Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall, Pop artists such as Andy Warhol and Peter Max, and Contemporary artists such as Shepard Fairy and me, have found it an attractive medium for the creation of fine art.

Why Intaglio printmaking? I find this type of printmaking allows me to capture the delicacy of my drawings and to add both color and texture by combining colored paper, paint, pencil and/or charcoal to the ink print. This freedom lets me create artwork that expands my visual language.

Intaglio printmaking has a long history as well. Metal plates with an image cut, or etched, into the surface then printed by applying ink into the recessed image and run through a press began in the 1400th century. This mode of printmaking is also widely used today but has been used by Renaissance artists such as Albrecht Durer and Rembrandt, as well as Expressionistic artists such as Kathe Kollwitz and Francisco Goya. Graphic Artists such as M. C. Escher and me, also use this method to great effect.

I began my art career creating sculpture using the lost wax method of casting so may include one or two in the exhibition as well. The ancient Chinese also used this method of casting during the Shang dynasty to create Chinese ritual bronzes. The ancient Egyptians created small bronze figurines while the Greeks created the first life-sized castings using this method. Today, I use this method to cast my bronze sculpture.