Francisco Alvarado

My work reflects life experiences through varying degrees of abstraction. Born and raised in Quito, Ecuador, my memories of life in that country merge with my life here, in Southern California. I am interested in the creative process and shaping raw materials into expressive statements. I utilize both technology and hands-on manipulation of acrylic paint, mixed media and digital imaging to create my work.

David Avery

We seem to live in an age where words, images and objects have been looted of meaning. So I have come to think of the etchings I make as being miniature Rorschachs, acting upon the experiences and senses of both the careful viewer and the artist. Even a simple nursery rhyme, once you start picking at it, will reveal layer upon layer of associations and further meanings. I consider my work successful to the extent that it is able to generate multiple interpretations, releasing this capacity for receptivity to the mysterious and the ambivalent.

Peter Baczek

Urban landscapes capture what we all create in our environment. Throughout our lives we modify our living and working space to fit our needs. We are constantly surrounded by an ever changing landscape of mood and color that I capture in various media. These landscapes have always been a part of my vision. I choose to depict cityscapes through a more refined interpretation of the composition before me. The use of shadows, texture, and color establish areas of movement and light that can create a certain mood. By expanding my use of color through various media, the finished works grow in both scope and spectrum to better realize that vision.

Matt Bass

Material is integral to artists process. I have begun to address the material directly in my work. My recent work explores the visual aesthetics of removed linoleum which is collected in glass jars. I then create images based on the typically discarded material. This creates a self-perpetuating cycle in which the material being worked on becomes the subject matter for future prints. The endless nature of my work relies on the view of art as a constant process that never really stops. Time becomes a central aspect to the body of work and many of the individual pieces. Matt Bass

Kimyi Bo

My art reflects aspects of myself responding to different changes in my life. Book of Changes (I-Ching), one of Chinese classics, explains that the essence of life is that it is constantly changing. As an artist my goal is to create artworks that carries life, or living energy, Ki (Chi.) Therefore I make images that respond to various changes in my life.

An understanding of Ki permeates all of my artistic expressions. Parallel to my painting and printmaking works, I have been practicing calligraphy for the past ten years. The essence of calligraphy is capturing one's Ki; energy, life. In this tradition, the stroke is in itself simultaneously the form and the concept of the art. This philosophy influenced my understanding of how art is connected to nature, and is carried through my painting and print works.

To express Ki, I repeat a simple unit to create a pattern. A pattern grows with the structure of a grid, and grid is often modified. As grid tightens or relaxes, a perspective is fused into a space. Through this process my space begets movement.

Blessings is a three-part project which explores my personal experience of pregnancy and birth. The three components are sixty collage poems; a series of twelve prints in etching; a large-scale installation of prints. Each component is independent yet connected in that each gives rise to the other, roughly analogous to the three elements of book: the text, illustrations, and the representative broadside.

Lindsay Buchman

The exploration of the built environment has been the focal point for my latest impressions. My concepts aim to deconstruct the fabricated world, leaving the viewer with a fleeting experience. Weathered depictions of grimy surfaces contrasted by rich textures attempt to capture a sense of vitality amongst bleak structures. Within my work I strive to embody the human effort to create a lasting imprint on society in our otherwise ephemeral existence. The manifestation of change, growth, and regeneration symbolizes the past, present, and future. How do we engage in our constructed environment, how do we find the means to progressively thrive, and paramount, how do we leave behind an impression of our actuality.

Randy Clark

Having been a graphic designer most of my adult life, I have always preferred understated beauty in pursuit of aesthetics. Each piece created is autobiographical, touching a spiritual or an emotional nerve. Silkscreen is a remarkable medium. With skill, one can explore color, form, texture, and scale. This crossover invites merging of thought, process and image making.

Andrew DeCaen

The "Imperfect Meal Sequence II" series is a response to the next to last scene in Jørgen Leth's short film "The Perfect Human." The scene depicts a man and woman sitting down for a meal, then you see the man give a monologue while eating the meal. While the scene is compelling in his words and body language, I wanted to explore what the film does not show: the woman on the other side of the table. By layering linear contour drawings of her figure and layering text of common food additives, these prints try to create a visual tangle that build upon the themes of this complex scene.
www.andrewdecaen.com

Holly Downing

"Beyond Nationalism" was conceived while camping in the Sierra Nevada mountains, as former President Bush was talking up the bombing of Iraq. "It's All Connected: threatened, endangered, disappearing" is a reflection on some of our endangered environmental habitats.

Barbara Foster

My woodcut and drawing projects based on landscape and structures intend to reshape the visual dialogue on these topics by moving the conversation and practice to reflect landscapes that have claimed new identities through process yet are still imbued with the patina of history and event.

Dona J. Geib

I am an eclipse junky - being touched by the sun after viewing several eclipses. The Sun is my subject at this moment in time and I am working on a series that has been imbedded in my mind ever since I traveled to Turkey to view a total solar eclipse. It seems that the sun will forever be entwined in my mind with gold, fire, and the eastern culture. My work is often done digitally, using photographs and pure digital painting. A bit of dichotomy here -- my new work seems to take me on an unplanned path: My take on century's-old cultures and then using the digital advances of the 21st century digital culture to complete (so-to-speak) the picture. I am a painter, printmaker, photographer and digital artist. When someone asks me what type of art I do, I answer "yes".

Jean Gumpper

This print is of a mountain pond near my home. In my work as an artist and printmaker, I respond to landscape as a metaphor for emotions and experiences. Being alone in nature helps me to listen to my intuition and to have the patience necessary to really see. I seek to integrate the memories, sounds and feelings of being in the landscape into the making of the print. The carving of the woodblock and the layering of the ink echo natural processes such as the layering of leaves, water, trees and light. Each color is mixed carefully and applied in a series of transparent and opaque overlapping layers through a reduction woodcut process and gradually, the layers build up into a completed image. Making the print is a way to relive an experience and to share it with others. BIOGRAPHY Jean is a Visiting Professor and artist in residence in the art department at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Davidson Galleries in Seattle, Ebo Gallery in New York, William Havu Gallery in Denver, Hudson Gallery in Sylvania, Ohio, Open Studio in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Thomassen Gallery in Gothenburg, Sweden, represent her work. Her prints are in the collections of The Art Bank at the Department of State, Washington, D.C., Boise State University, Idaho; Colorado College; Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center; Cork Printmakers Special Collection, Ireland; Cranbrook Institute of Arts, Bloomfield Hills, MI; Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan; Kirkland Museum of Art, Denver, CO; Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado; Springfield Art Museum, MO; University of Colorado Special Collections; University of Miami, Coral Cables, Florida; University of Pittsburgh, PA; University of Wisconsin, Madison , and the Turku Art Museum, Finland, as well as private and corporate collections in the United States, Canada, Finland, Japan, Nepal and Sweden. In 2011, she had a solo exhibition at the South Dakota School of Mines, a two person exhibition at Western Wyoming College and a four person show at Davidson Gallery in Seattle. In 2010, she participated in solo exhibitions at the Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis and at Smokebrush Gallery in Colorado Springs as well as in a three-person exhibition at Galleri Thomassen in Gothenburg, Sweden. Jean taught international print workshops at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2008 and 2009 and, in April 2011, she completed a month long residency at the Goldwell Museum in Rhyolite, Nevada. Jean also participated as an artist in residence at the Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in 2009, the Ucross Foundation in 2001 and at Rocky Mountain National Park in 1998. During the last two years, Jean has taught workshops in reduction woodcut at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, CO, at The Bascom Art Center in Highlands, NC, at Western Wyoming College and at the Goldwell Museum in Rhyolite, Wyoming. She received a Visual Artist Fellowship award from the Colorado Council on the Arts in 2000.

Jessica Hargrave

Cassie Jones

My work is grounded in the philosophy of language, informed by literature, and aims to question and explore the formal structure and function of words. By placing text in the framework of art, words begin to function both as units of language and objects. Text then becomes an unstable, transitional, and new form, morphing from something linear into something pluralistic, and inviting speculation about the relationships between object and language and the structure of both. The precise articulation and isolation of text from deliberately chosen books encourages contemplation and allows for their complexity of content and materiality to emerge. Likewise, repetition reflects on time and structure, while exhausting the possibilities of a word and negating the inherent significance of language. I am interested in creating work that serves to explore the subtle intersections between visual art and literature and how language relates to the minds of the author, the artist and the viewer.

Abe Kummerow

Remnants of prehistoric life or ancient temple ruins from lost civilizations engage our natural tendency to inquire about our mysterious origins and the world in which we exist. Recent scientific endeavors have lead to speculation as to what may ultimately lie beyond our earthly boundaries. My artwork challenges viewers to envisage possibilities outside conventional knowledge. Transcendental or apocalyptic undertones emanate throughout visual images of otherworldly artifacts and fossilized creatures found within my work. These bizarre representations serve to appeal to our innate curiosity and fascination with the alien nature of otherness.

Anthony Lazorko

Geovanna Loeza

As a U.S. citizen, I never really took into consideration what life as a United States soldier is like, or even acknowledge some of the sacrifices they make because of it. It wasn't until I thought of all the military people in my life, who have served or are serving during these times of war, that I began to grow a large appreciation for our military. The idea of a soldier signing a contract while unaware of when they are going to deploy and if they will make it back home safely, was an inspiration for this particular artwork. During this time, I was taking a printmaking class which I grew very fond of. Because of this, I decided to do a black and white linoleum print on Stonehenge. I carved out a skeleton wearing its military uniform while holding onto a bomb with a wedding veil to portray how a soldier is tied to their contract the same way a married couple is tied to their vows. My work expresses a grim reality of the commitment a United States soldier makes when signing their contract.

Nguyen Ly

Maggie Malloy

I started this project over a year ago with the idea of combining the media of ink (printmaking) and clay (ceramics). The idea was to formalize a limited edition of prints housed inside of a box. The plan was to make 10 prints with the same image using 10 different printmaking techniques. All of the plates are 6" x 6" (inches) and color would be limited to black, white and red. The 10 prints then would be placed in a limited edition of 10 hand-built ceramic boxes along with clay locks for protection. The results are now completed. Each box includes 10 prints utilizing 10 different techniques. Image 1. wipe away with color plexi overlay Image 2. lino reduction cut Image 3. mono/viscosity Image 4. hard ground etching with aquatint Image 5. sugarlift etching with aquatint Image 6. white line etching with plexi overlay Image 7. soft ground etching with aquatint Image 8. white line etching with chin-colle Image 9. soft ground etching with stencil Image 10. collagraph with brush ink line

Enrica Marshall

"Low tide" is my current interest in patterns in the movements of water.

Mercedes McDonald

While working on this piece, I thought about concurrent overlapping worlds - layers of reality and recycling of life. These are not my original thoughts, I was inspired by conversations I had with two people dear to me not long before they died. Rubbing graphite into the plaster I poured and burnished gave me a feeling for the texture of life and death. That is what I want to communicate with this piece – layers and layers of life, death and renewal. Gritty, rough and beautiful.

Marti McKee

Marti Mckee is a native San Franciscan who came into the art world later in life. perhaps due to delaying her artist dream she has pursued the work with commitment and intensity. The product of this effort has been figurative monoprints, drawings and etchings that seem to represent the mysterous alchemical combination of craft, labor and stirrings from the unconsious. Her work compels us to consider inner life in a serious yet unmeancholic way. Each piece expresses a particular feeling from the inside out. Her images remind us of a classical form of expression from the historical past but they also carry a current psychological imprint that we recognize now.

Deborah Meadows

The lithographs of Deborah Meadows explore variations of nightingale sound prints over human heart sound prints and other indexical marks such as scribing, a way to honor the mark of the human hand. This treatment of Romantic poetry one might associate with John Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale." Primarily a poet working in avant-garde practices such as "writing through texts" and writing in a series, Deborah Meadows has seven books and four chapbooks published with various well-regarded publishers of experimental literature. Meadows is highly aware of traditions of calligraphy, and how vitality of the calligraphic line is older than painting, that, in some calligraphic traditions such as Japan's, writing preceded and created painting using the same brush, yet she seeks to bend the comparison to include markings that press toward the illegible as well.

Paul Mitchell

Kimiko Miyoshi

The focus of my work has been to transform insignificant and trivial objects into something beautiful and to invoke a renewed curiosity. In my horror vacui series, I print distressed found material such as torn window screen. The imperfections are adorned with miniscule patterns.

Megan Moore

My current work is an investigation of the effect of restructuring a collection that occurs through the process of collage. My current body of collages contains representational elements of plants found in the 'natural world,' specifically, from my father's garden, that through a process of sampling, deconstruction and reconstruction, come together to form something new. Peter Schwenger's book, The Tears of Things: Melancholy and Physical Objects, has been instrumental to the way I view collections. Schwenger posits that collections are assembled very much like how dreams are formed from snippets of images previously experienced. My collages reference micro views of plants my father has collected; plants that I myself have encountered in his garden, and am now replicating, distorting and ultimately, assembling into abstract constructions. These collages pull from my memories of spending time in my father's garden, utilizing image fragments of his plants as visual stand-ins or markers for these memories, but in compositions that hybridize various species together to create new forms. My intent is to explore the hybridization that occurs when a collection is collaged into new forms, and restructuring it into constructions that are not quite as straightforward as they were previously: at times out of order, in varying degrees of clarity, with details shuffled and rearranged, echoing Schwenger's ideas connecting collections and a dream formation. Through a repetitive process of drawing, creating plates, cutting and collaging I remove images from their original context, seeking to create new constructions from isolated fragments. Though I have recently been focusing on botanical illustration and species from my father's garden, my reference material has previously included a wide range of sources, including, but not limited to, old biology and medical books, mandalas, scientific slides, fabric patterns, art nouveau jewelry, and Victorian wallpaper. Use of nature and organic forms features heavily in these source materials, and this is reflected in my collages.

Varsha Patel

I was born and raised in India, where I got my B.A. in Fine Arts. I have been drawing and painting all my life; but for last five years I have concentrated on printmaking, especially linocut reduction prints in several colors. I find it very relaxing. My inspiration comes from beauty of nature and vibrant colors from the culture I was raised in.

Greg Piatt

Andy Rader

While the corporate republic has been a reality in the United States since the industrial revolution, only recently has international business removed any sense that citizens maintain power over their environments. This brazen attitude combined with a lack of personal responsibility has allowed corporations to wield their power in a more destructive manner. While once described as titans because of their power, this series examines the soulless nature of these massive entities

Dan Scott

In my drawing "Interval" I am continuing an exploration of the methods and function of mystification of subject matter in systems of representation. I am particularly interested in the othering of marginal or non-normative identities and the way that this process allows for the creation of mythologies that codify cultural norms while marking out transgression in outliers. By depicting profoundly mundane moments of human interaction I am attempting to demystify the monolithic "subject" while, perhaps paradoxically, re-mystifying the theme of human relationship.

Amelia Spinney

My work focuses primarily on drawing-based narrative screenprints that examine and navigate questions of identity. More specifically, my research examines the concept of the metaphorical "closet" as a social device deployed by individuals or communities who have something to hide from others or something to keep hidden from themselves. I am especially interested in making art that explores themes related to the keeping or not keeping of secrets, the mentality of concealment, what it means to be "closeted" or "un- closeted" about facets of one's identity, and what it means to use a "closet" to attempt to escape social or internalized censure.

Jack Stone

"Engine x", the relief print included in the Ink and Clay 38 exhibition is from "When Theories Are Weak", a body of work begun in 2009 designed to explore the perimeters of image recognition and collapse. How little (or much) manipulation is required to fool the neuroanatomy that controls image processing is a matter of just a few degrees one way or another.

Toru Sugita

I feel moved when sunlight touches an object in the afternoon and visualize the space around me. I walk out and wander around to observe shapes of shadows. I realize that shadows make spaces visible. I find myself in the spaces enjoying architecture delineated by sunlight. Buildings and their shadows are layered and blended together creating momentary beauty of colors and shapes. These scenes are temporary, and will change or disappear in the next moment. They are very precious because their occurrence is the unique combination of a place, sunlight, and the precise moment I happen upon the scene – like an eclipse. I spontaneously use photography to capture visual information like quick sketches. Camera documents specific moment of ever changing shapes and spaces. Although capturing the moment is quick, when I create works of art, I choose time-consuming autographical method in transferring information from the photograph. During the process of depicting information, I become involved deeply and identifying myself as a part of the space. I note that nothing is permanent and everything is constantly changing: light, cityscape and myself. I worked on printmaking for a long time. The printmaking process is reminiscent of the relationship between light and shadow. Etching and aquatint help me express my interest towards light and shadow by using rich tones of black and white. The graphic nature of black and white leads me to lines and shapes found in architectural elements. Once I eliminated color from my work, I found myself drawn to the exploration of space itself. My work became about the physicality of three-dimensional space. This work "Back Alley – Going Home" is a result of my resent experimentation on color to my etching.

Katherine C. Taylor

Katherine Taylor is an enthusiastic sculptor who uses her boundless energy and passion to create imaginative bronze pieces. Her work is a visual documentation reflective or her life, loves and endless pursuit of adventure. At first glance there is a heavy influence of Giacometti and Bourgoise, or even the more haunting aspects of Abakanowicz. However the real intrigue lies in how Taylor forces the viewer to grapple with what is real and what is imagined. Katherine likens her work to a firetruck from a lego landscape , at first glance you see the whole structure, but upon further inspection you recognize the individuality of each part. Taylor, originally from Midland, Texas, was educated on the East Coast where she started her artistic career in painting and drawing. However it was in Australia while she was working on her MFA, that she embraced her love of all things physical and solidified her future as a sculptor. The out of doors serves as an 'art supply store' for Katherine. She uses sticks and branches that she finds on the trail as parts in her models. "With this methodology I don't have a blank canvas problem. There are inherent bends and knots that give me shapes that look more natural and lend ideas of where I might be able to go next." Taylor touches it all, from her sculptures series reflecting her love of learning that is based on the Basque language, to the more serious part of her life in confronting what it is like to be a woman wanting a career as well as a family. "When I get stuck in the studio I head outside, the idea is to distract my body so my mind can think. Sometimes hours can go by and I am still in the gym/ running/ hiking/ swimming/ biking, and I have to ask what are you so afraid of, so unwilling to grapple with that you don't want to get back to work?" Beauty and intrigue are the predominant forces in Katherine's work. Yet there is also a whimsy an d sense of play which is used as a visual pallet cleanser, much like a savory sorbet in the middle of fancy meal. "We all gravitate to the fun in life, those little moments of triumph or joy that make it all worth it, despite the big jumble of gooey stuff we muscled through to get there... and when those moments shine through in the studio, it feels extra good to bring them out for the everyone else to enjoy."

Marcus Thibodeau

Norihu Uriu

The gate can serve as a frame connecting the inside and the outside. At the same time, it can represent a barrier between two worlds. I am fascinated by the images and energies born from mixing of elements from both sides. This work is made of two woodblock printed layers, with one layer cut into circles to represent human connections and interactions. In the process of adding layers to the print, some interesting spaces are created. Wire and other materials are created. Wire and other materials are used to connect the layers.

Barbara Payne Ward

To the other side is two-fold. An expression of grief I experienced concerning my father's death three years ago, it speaks to the physical separation, emotional loss, and changing family dynamics I felt. At the same time, it celebrates the possible and positive—that intrinsic energy that lives on and is inherent in our connections with one another. Life experiences, connections formed through relationships, and my interaction with natural phenomena fuel the images in my work. I combine and layer recognizable with abstracted images, incorporate literary allusions, and include text to make metaphorical visuals of my ideas, reactions, and observations. My working studio is Bois d' Arc Press, in Amarillo, TX. website: www.barbarawardart.com e-mail: www.barbarapward@suddenlink.net

Chris Warot

I first played around with 4 color process intaglio about 10 years ago, mostly in the abstract realm. Wanting to try something new, without a pure photographic look, I played with some images of my printmaking studio, The Atomic Malt Shop, until a real, while slightly unreal look, was achieved. A nice balance occurs between the glass top reflection and the exaggerated shadows.

Margi Weir

My drawings are a personal probe into the slow decay of the American Dream. There are architectural skeletons of regional cultures that dot the countryside along Route 66. There are ruins of motels, gas stations and, actually, whole towns. "Bones "are left from natural as well as financial disaster. I hope to engage the viewer, through a beautifully crafted image of many layers of ink washes and marks, in a reflection on the darker ramifications of these "bones" of our civilization.

Cathy Weiss

Joyce Weiss