Our beloved studio mate, Rupie the 23 year-old Eurasian Collared Dove 

Sculptors are generally interested in two-dimensional images as a tool for thinking and conceptualizing ideas in three dimensions. We are builders of objects, and managers of the seemingly unyielding processes for controlling materials. We fight gravity. Sculptors raise the question of how an inanimate substance might be persuaded to speak a more “human” language, moving the viewer into dramatic new territory.

 Printmakers dwell in the two dimensional realm, making drawing the mother of all fruits of manufacture. They draw on the confident qualities of their complex techniques, laying skill, persistence, and brilliance at the onset of their ambitious projects and astonishing production. They are sharing people by nature, given the need to divide equipment and space. They are less solitary than sculptors, and perhaps more at ease with the revelations that resonate inside the bustle of their marvelous process.

On many occasions a process or technique in one medium of art production can inform another.  In this cooperative moment, invention plays a large role towards a genesis of form and ideas shaping fresh visions in art. 

 I’m one of the most fortunate sculptors on the planet. I share the upper floor of an old bottling factory with a superb Master Printmaker, Jonathan Higgins. The floor houses Manneken Press, his creation, where he prints his own work, and realizes projects for major artists across the country.

 Jonathan was in my studio several weeks ago and discovered one of my projects that gave him an idea for a print. He was looking at a flat chandelier; one I had cut from a large metal sheet. I had it hanging from the ceiling. He recognized certain possibilities and we talked about the prospect of laying ink on the surface and printing a two dimensional image of the chandelier. We agreed it could yield a very fine image…we were right.

Jonathan prepares to ink the chandelier plate  (larger image)

 Preparing to run the freshly inked plate through the press  (larger image)

 Jonathan lifts the freshly printed paper from the plate  (larger image)

 We compare the first pressing (right), with the third pressing  (larger image)

 The dried print hangs to the far left, the chandelier that inspired the process is central,and the chandelier plate for printing is on the far right amid general clutter

 On the evening of our first pressing, the sunlight caressed the various objects and images in the studio, seeming to reflect our elation. Plans are afoot as we hope to do a series, knowing how the processes of making the form impacts the paper and image.

 It is a gratifying feeling...this measuring of possibilities.

(larger image)

 It is truly a good feeling for all. Sometimes it takes the gentle, caring step of another individual to call us back from a long voyage of creative uncertainty. Thank you Jonathan...