I attended the Boston Printmakers annual meeting on Sunday. It’s great to meet up with everyone, some of whom are my former colleagues, and current colleagues as well. It’s odd how you can teach at the same school as someone else and almost never see them there if your schedules don’t line up. There’s also an informal print viewing session after lunch which is always the highlight of the meeting.
I brought the Wading monotypes and it was nice to get some feedback from various people, especially with their printmaking backgrounds. One comment I received from more than one person was the necessity to have each monotype keep the progression of five prints. This was reassuring, as I had been initially hesitant about whether the sequence of five prints was overly repetitive. The other reaction to presenting a set of five prints that I liked was that the sequence reveals the printing process, a feature which is not always inherent in a print. Sometimes the process in printmaking can be so enigmatic and hidden, making it nearly impossible for an untrained eye to identify the process.
Afterwards I stopped by the frameshop to sign a matt for a monotype I’m having framed for an exhibition. The five print format of the monotype made for challenging frame choices. While each print is only 22″ x 9″, when you put five in a row and add the matt the final scale is almost 60″ wide. I was very pleased with the finished matt; my framer had suggested not showing the bevel which I think in the end gave the print a cleaner look.
Clara Lieu 