One month. That's what it took to do the piece I just finished. It is part of series I hope to complete in 2018. All of the pieces start with the fabric I created at the Steamroller Printing class I took last fall. It was a comfort zone challenge. Drawing an image, cutting it into wood, inking the wood and pulling a HUGE print via a steamroller. More about that here and here.
My practice is about the inside coming out. I deconstruct and reconstruct what is comfortable and what is not. So these faces and beasts make sense to me this month. They are a short circuit to the anxiety I feel.
If my thoughts had a soundtrack it would be played in a minor key.
I have a solo show at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens in Memphis right now. It showcases my work over the past ten years. Seeing them all hanging together made me focus on their similarities and their differences. There are a number of them that show the deep-rooted concern I feel about the environment, our government and the welfare of the people in the world. So it is with no surprise to me that this cartoon-ish print that started in fun ended up with a dark undertone. Here is the front of this piece called Disruptors:
Disruptors, front, Paula Kovarik
And, here is the darkness in the back.
Disruptors, back, Paula Kovarik
And here is the next piece I will tackle. It is actually a quilt top that I created for the print.
Under that quilt top is an inked board with the images I carved into it. After layering the quilt top with paper, felt and some particle board the steamroller passes over the sandwich to create the printed fabric.
Here are some close-ups of the fabric after it was printed. The back seems more interesting to me because of the ragged nature of the seams. I may work from that side to create the next piece in this series.
