Collaboration

Mary Philpotts-Mcgrath, Kathy Merrill Kelley and I were challenged to come up with a piece that spoke to the printmaking process but also incorporated the resources we each could add in a complimentary and collaborative way. The results are these five panels. Mary supplied the wood which she had saved from some other project and we worked as a team slowly discovering the “print” in it. 

As in a woodcut, we first carved the plates with our gauges and knives. We then inked them up with acrylic paints and transferred the images onto dampened mulberry paper. The resultant prints were then glued back onto the plates so as to echo and refer back to their origins. After more thought and deliberation, some stencils were used along with sponge rollers to reinforce the graphic qualities we were looking for. As the panels came readymade with the large crosses  already in place, we wanted to capitalize on this motif by emphasizing the structure of the grid in our composition. There were many hands at work here and it would be impossible to say who did what. It works because there is complete trust between us.

Please join us for an informal artist’s talk about our exhibition at the HISAM shop and cafe Wednesday 14th of March between 6-7 PM. Mary Philpotts-Mcgrath, Kathy Merill-Kelly and I will discuss our collaborative work pictured here as well as our individual prints. Wine will be served by the Friends of HISAM, 250 S Hotel Street, Honolulu, HI 96813.