BOTANICAL SPECIMENS: A SERIES OF RELIEF AND INTAGLIO PRINT VARIATIONS INDEXING PLANT FORMS
A thesis submitted to the College of the Arts of Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts
by
Pamela Testa
May 2013
Thesis written by
Pamela Testa
B.F.A., Kent State University, 2008
M.F.A., Kent State University, 2013
Approved by
______, Advisor J. Noel Reifel
______, Director, School of Art Christine Havice
______, Dean, College of the Arts John R. Crawford
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………....……………..…………………...iii
LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………….…..……..….………………………iv
AKNOWLEDGEMENTS.…………………….………………………...... v
BOTANICAL SPECIMENS…………………..………………………….…………………...... 1
FIGURES………………………………………………………………………………………...8
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………...…..23
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
1. Pamela Testa, Fern Series 1.1…………………………....……………..…….….....8
2. Pamela Testa, Fern Series 1.2…………………………....……………..………...... 9
3. Pamela Testa, Elm (in Black)..…………………………..…..…………...………....10
4. Pamela Testa, Fern Series 2.2…………………………..…..…………...………....11
5. Pamela Testa, Fern Series 2.3.…………………………..……..………..………....12
6. Pamela Testa, Fern Series 2.4……….…………………..……..………..………....13
7. Pamela Testa, Elm (in Silver)……………………………..……..………..………....14
8. Pamela Testa, Fern Series 3.2...……………………..…..……………..………...... 15
9. Pamela Testa, Fern Series 3.3…………………………..………………..………....16
10. Pamela Testa, Fern Series 3.4……………………………..……………..………....17
11. Pamela Testa, Elm (in Sepia)……..………………………..……………..………....18
12. Pamela Testa, Fern Series 4.1…………………………..………………..………....19
13. Pamela Testa, Fern Series 4.2…………………………..………………..………....20
14. Pamela Testa, Botanical Specimens: A Series of Relief and Intaglio Print Variations Indexing Plant Forms, (Installation View 1)……..……………………...21
15. Pamela Testa, Botanical Specimens: A Series of Relief and Intaglio Print Variations Indexing Plant Forms, (Installation View 2)….………………...……….22
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AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank my family—my husband, Todd and my two sons Anthony and Dominic—for always supporting and inspiring me. My advisor, mentor and friend, Noel Reifel for leading me to a lifelong adventure in printmaking and passing on his great knowledge. My committee members, Michael Loderstedt and Isabel Farnsworth for their support and guidance. Christine Havice, for her encouragement and support. Rachel Stipe and Gemini G.E.L. for generously donating the paper for this body of work. Travis Dailey and Megan Amendt for their assistance printing this body of work from start to finish. Erica Criss and Bridget O’Donnell for keeping me sane and helping me find my words. Anthony Bartholomew for inspiring me with his knowledge, generosity and incredible spirit. My parents, Tom and Sue Taormina for their continued support. My grandfather, Anthony Taormina, for inspiring me to follow my own path.
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BOTANICAL SPECIMENS
Botanical Specimens: A Series of Relief and Intaglio Print Variations
Indexing Plant Forms, is a series of prints that are meant to stimulate our appreciation for nature. I am creating an interaction between myself and the natural object through the use of printmaking.
The structure of modern civilization has made it impossible to live without rapidly evolving technology. There are many benefits to modern living; such as improved health care and more abundant and better food. However, the industrial revolution and globalization have created a dramatic environmental shift that reduces our planets green spaces and limits our opportunities for interaction within nature. Various media are deluging us with warnings.
Numerous articles, books and documentaries have discussed various studies that have been conducted concerning the impact of this shift on mental health.
Research has shown that memory and attention suffer as a result of this technological advancement, and lead to emotional disorders, such as anxiety and depression. Some of the contributing factors are noise pollution, social pressure from greater competition, and weaker community ties.
I combat my own feelings of anxiety by enjoying as much time outdoors as possible; gardening, hiking and photographing the natural world for inspiration, to name a few. Using my own back yard, an elm tree and wild fern plants came to represent nature, and time spent in nature. Bringing awareness back to an innate state allows me to reflect and forget time and my responsibilities.
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I believe that our connection to nature leads to a better understanding of
ourselves. Our environment dictates how we live and our daily struggle. I have
chosen an elm tree and fern plants as universal symbols for the human
connection to the earth.
The choice of printmaking as my medium reflects my desire to explore natural phenomena by recording graphically the design that the tree bark and fern plants have created. By allowing the object to participate directly in the making of the image of itself, the object informs its own image and an indexing process occurs. Through the printmaking process, I am able to work in a direct manner, both physically and conceptually.
The work began with the printing of an elm tree in my back yard. Inspired by the scale, materials and process-driven work by artists like Cai Guo-Qiang
and Diana Cooper, I decided that printing the tree directly would be the most
effective and true way to show its size and the complexity of its bark pattern.
After researching the inks to be sure that they would not harm the tree, I applied
ink to the tree in relief with a soft brayer. With the help of an assistant and ladder,
I wrapped a piece of silk measuring 15’ x 6’ around the inked up tree. The fabric
was then burnished by hand to make the print.
Next, a piece of acetate, 24” x 36,” was placed over a section of the fabric
print of the elm tree. With a marker, I traced the black areas of the print onto the
acetate. This became the transparency that was exposed onto a photo-plate.
Once the image was developed on the plate, I etched it using the open-bite
process. Following the natural lines and patterns of the image, I repeatedly
3 traced and etched the pre-existing mark, resulting in concentric shapes that etched deeper in each state. The intention was to reiterate the object’s origins by showing a resemblance to the depth and shapes of the bark of the tree.
The bark images are printed in relief. When printing the plate, successive impressions involve subtle changes to the color. Because of the direct way the tree was printed, the tree informed the decision to print the photo plate in relief and let it stand on its own, as the tree does, in its natural environment.
I then collected fresh ferns from a natural bog on my property and stored them in a cooler to preserve them until printing. The fern leaves are delicate and can only be used one time through the press for a good impression. Using the relief process, both sides of the leaf were printed at one time using the press, resulting in two fern prints. This was done by inking up a glass surface, laying the leaf on the inked surface, and then rolling the other side with an inked brayer.
The pressure of rolling the brayer over the top of the leaf allowed the leaf to accept ink on the underside of the leaf as well. By sandwiching the inked leaf between two pieces of paper, I was able to print both sides of the leaf simultaneously. I chose to cut out areas of the paper to highlight the shape and delicacy of the leaf while leaving little “veins” of support in between the leaves, as a way to show my hand and interference with the object. The repetitive act of cutting consumed time and energy while imposing my hand onto the work. This part of the process is where I have my meditative interaction with the print. In an obsessive way, I am intensely focused on the task of cutting around the printed leaf. As I focus, I am able to quiet my thoughts and anxieties and I start to feel
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calmer. After a while, new thoughts and ideas start to come to mind and I write
them down. This is how I am able to use time in small sections to accomplish
more complex patterns and designs in my pieces. Both the tree and fern prints
have a photograph-like quality that informed my decision to transfer the acetate
drawing of the bark pattern and the cut-out printed image photographically to another matrix.
The cut-out fern print was utilized in two ways. First, I used a wire brush
on a piece of wood to bring out its natural grain pattern and lightly sanded it. I
then sealed it with a water-based acrylic sealant, and coated it with a screen-
printing photo-emulsion. The cut-out was then exposed photographically to the
coated board. The developed, hardened photo-emulsion is raised on the surface
of the wood, creating a new matrix that can be printed in intaglio. I also coated
two of the cut-out prints with acrylic gel medium to seal them so they could be
used as relief objects or as block-out stencils. The fern is not usually just one
leaf; it is always in a colony of other ferns. This simple observation led to my
decision to create several matrices from the ferns to layer during the printing
process.
The printmaking process allows for experimentation with paper, color,
technique and scale. I received a donation of leftover and scrap paper from a
friend who works in the Los Angeles printshop, Gemini, G.E.L., which had been
specially ordered for artists such as Richard Serra, Julie Mehretu, and Jonathan
Borofsky. The paper is of the highest quality, made from organic rag material
with various ranges in weight and texture. Some of the paper resulted in a softer-
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looking print, while the thicker and heavier paper enabled me to show the depth
of the matrix.
Having previously explored multiple color variations, I found that the use of
natural hues brought more focus to the identity of the natural object by simplifying
certain elements. I used Graphic Chemical bone black and Charbonnel inks in
raw sepia with warm and cool tones added. Charbonnel ink in silver was used to
help the ink stand out in relief on the surface of the tree bark prints.
The fern plates were used to make a series of prints. The first image is
printed in intaglio mixing warm and cool inks in a raw sepia base. A ghost image
is then created by using the remaining ink that was left on the plate, resulting in
unpredictable color changes. Because a layer of ink is removed each time the
plate is printed, the color sometimes diminished from blue-green sepia to blue or
green. I then respond to the ghost image by overlapping the other matrices or
stencils and gradually changing the color temperature of the ink. Having several
different matrices prompted me to overlap the imagery.
During the second printing of the ghost image, I used the sealed fern print
as a flat relief element. The stencil was made from a direct print of the fern. I
discovered that instead of being a flat of color, the raised ink on the paper
actually held ink on its surface, allowing the print to function as a matrix. I was
able to pull three to four prints from one inking of the original matrix before the
image disappeared, thus ending the series.
The tree prints measure 27” x 39” and were displayed by hanging a pair of prints vertically. The fern prints measure 29” x 41” and were hung in the order
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they were printed. Of the thirty-three prints created, only sixteen prints were selected for exhibit. Each series is hung in a group. Images are arranged, more or less, as they may grow naturally. Magnets are used to hang the prints to minimize visual distractions and because I want the viewer to have the most direct access to the image and not to be distracted by other framing elements.
Botanical Specimens: A Series of Relief and Intaglio Print Variations
Indexing Plant Forms, has developed through the abstraction of the original
printing of the natural objects themselves. Working directly with nature through
printmaking processes has allowed me to highlight the importance of our roots in
the natural world.
Using the ink and brayer and some pressure, the image records itself on
the surface of the paper, as a finger-print can identify a person. My longing to
understand organic properties at their deepest level might seem like empirical
science but it can also be traced to Romanticism and the detailed illustrations of
objects for scientific study. Illustrations are historically rendered in a print
medium; wood blocks, stone blocks and metal plates. This was the only method
until the invention of photo reproductive processes. The use of photography was
not the perfect method for representation of objects for study, and, therefore,
scientific illustration remains intact today. Photographs are limited to the
camera’s capabilities, whereas with illustration, the artist is able to render more
detailed objects by observation and provide a more honest and purposeful
representation by editing out confusing details, such as reflecting light.
Printmaking allows me infinite ways to explore the designs that I’m attracted to in
7 nature. By using these techniques, my hand is in every part of the process and I
am able to make the medium work for me. Prints are accessible to a broad
audience.
A statement made by John Ruskin from The Elements of Drawing reasons for a kind of drawing whose purpose is to “set down clearly and usefully, records of such things as cannot be described in words, either to assist your own memory of them, or to convey distinct ideas of them to other people.”1 My goal is
to sensitize the viewer to the importance and beauty of our natural world by a
kind of natural, visual conversation. I want to slow the busy pace of life. I would
like human needs to become more important than societal pressures. This body
of work succeeded for me in that the imagery reflects the calmness and beauty
that nature can provide. This series has proven to be endless and I plan to
continue to let natural objects inform my work.
1Meyer-Lindberg, A. (2013, March 20). Urban living raises the risk of emotional disorders. Scientific American, Retrieved from http://www.scientificamerican com/article.cfm?id=urban-living-raises-risk-of-emotional-disorders
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Figure 1
Pamela Testa Fern Series 1.1 (Intaglio)
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Figure 2
Pamela Testa Fern Series 1.2 (Intaglio, Relief)
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Figure 3
Pamela Testa Elm (In Black) (Relief)
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Figure 4
Pamela Testa Fern Series 2.2 (Intaglio, Relief)
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Figure 5
Pamela Testa Fern Series 2.3 (Intaglio, Relief)
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Figure 6
Pamela Testa Fern Series 2.4 (Intaglio, Relief)
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Figure 7
Pamela Testa Elm (in Silver) (Relief)
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Figure 8
Pamela Testa Fern Series 3.2 (Intaglio)
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Figure 9
Pamela Testa Fern Series 3.3 (Intaglio, Relief)
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Figure 10
Pamela Testa Fern Series 3.4 (Intaglio, Relief)
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Figure 11
Pamela Testa Elm (in Sepia) (Relief)
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Figure 12
Pamela Testa Fern Series 4.1 (Intaglio)
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Figure 13
Pamela Testa Fern Series 4.2 (Intaglio, Relief)
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Figure 14
Pamela Testa Botanical Specimens: A Series of Relief and Intaglio Print Variations Indexing Plant Forms (Installation View 1)
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Figure 15
Pamela Testa Botanical Specimens: A Series of Relief and Intaglio Print Variations Indexing Plant Forms (Installation View 2)
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Hoptman, L. (2003). Drawing now: Eight propositions. New York: Museum of
Modern Art New York.
Ivans, W. M. (1980). Prints and visual communication. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Publications, Inc.
Kastner, J. (2012). Nature//documents of contemporary art. Cambridge: MIT
Press.
Krens, T., & Munroe, A. (2008). Cai guo-qiang: I want to believe. New York:
Guggenheim Publications.
Lehrer, J. (2007). Proust was a neuroscientist. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Meyer-Lindberg, A. (2013, March 20). Urban living raises the risk of emotional
disorders. Scientific American, Retrieved from
http://www.scientificamerican com/article.cfm?id=urban-living-raises-risk-
of-emotional-disorders
Tekiela, S. (2004). Trees of ohio field guide. Cambridge, MN: Adventure Marby,
J. (2005). Intelligence in nature. New York: Penguin.