This March New York-based artist, Catherine Shuman Miller, completed a collaboration with Master Printer Sue Oehme. Cathy and Sue first became friends during undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan, where they shared their thesis show. Over the years the two artists developed a collaborative working relationship in the printshop. In March Cathy and Sue co-published a new series, entitled Secret Spaces, in addition to the series they completed last summer entitled Steamboat. The Secret Spaces series encompasses 18 monoprints sized at
16" x 29 1/2" and priced at $1,600. Some of the prints were exhibited at the Capital Art Fair in DC, March 21-22, and at the Boston Print Fair, March 26-29, and are now in private and corporate collections.
16" x 29 1/2" and priced at $1,600. Some of the prints were exhibited at the Capital Art Fair in DC, March 21-22, and at the Boston Print Fair, March 26-29, and are now in private and corporate collections.
The Space Behind, 2015
monoprint
26 x 29 1/2 inches
monoprint
26 x 29 1/2 inches
Path in Daylight , 2015
monoprint
26 x 29 1/2 inches
monoprint
26 x 29 1/2 inches
Mazes covered the studio during Cathy's residency. She created several plates with imagery of grid-like structures in order to layer them as complex matrixes. Subtle variation in texture and line stem from Cathy's integration of a number of plate-making techniques. She produced 12 silk aquatint, cardboard collagraph, carborundum, hard ground and soft ground copper etchings, and spit bite plates, all of which may be inked in intaglio, relief, selectively or covered with stencils. Two plate sizes define the Cathy's compositions: the large measuring 18" x 22" and the small measuring 8" x 8"
The large collection of plates allowed for play when Sue and Cathy began printing. They mixed and matched the plates as they contemplated their next moves. Consequently, many runs through the press layer each print. Color builds in layers of transparency and opacity; revealing a broad range of subtle colors. The color palette jumps from quiet and soft to bright and powerful and exposes a juxtaposition of warm and cool tones.
Sue fans the acid room as Cathy prepares a spit bite etching on a copper plate.
Cathy and Sue pull the second run of a monoprint. Many more runs to go on this print.