Conceal/Reveal Reception

About Nancy Crasco:
Nancy Crasco havs always been inspired and motivated by the natural world, and especially by the problems associated with the use and misuse of our natural resources, the effects of which are not always apparent to the naked eye. Capturing these unseen qualities is difficult. In her quest for imagery, she has made use of various printmaking processes on both paper and fiber. In 2005, Crasco studied the gelatin plate process with printmaker Susan Webster at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine, and has adopted it as a primary medium, and enjoys using botanical materials when printing on paper. The works in this show were created in California using materials she collected during a walk on the beach at low tide.

Crasco find sboth the gelatin plate and linoleum print to be perfect low-tech, non-toxic processes for creating images on the silk organza she uses for her fiber pieces. She either prints directly on the fabric, creating at least two layers of silk organza, which reveals or conceals the ethereal subject matter. The sensitivity of the gelatin plate is fascinating and she is often delighted by the serendipity and surprise it generates. The results are translucent and light, and move in the slightest current of air.

About Bonnie Lerner:
Bonnie Lerner has been an artist her entire life, and can’t imagine not being able to be creative every day. As a child, if she had crayons, paper, glue, and scissors, she was happy to be left alone for hours. Lerner's formal art education includes Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art where she was certified as an art teacher. She continues to take art courses and workshops throughout the New England Area.

Lerner's adventure with monoprints and monotypes began in 2000 in San Miguel De Allende, Mexico, after a lifetime of drawing and painting. She loves the sensuality of the materials and the immediacy of the final image. The mysterious surprises that are unlocked in her relationship to the ink, plate, and paper help her to gain insights into the direction of her work as a whole.

Lerner enjoys using both classic printing techniques such as wiping, and carborundrum plates, as well as various non-traditional tools and found objects to create unusual textures and organic line quality. She sometimes uses a particular method to create monotypes, which is known as “dark field” or “subtractive”, made by covering a plate entirely with ink. While it is still wet, she removes areas of ink off the surface of the plate using her fingertips, rags, cotton swabs, brushes, and pointed tools, to create light and dark areas and values. This process is similar to drawing, but, unlike a drawing which involves recreating the positive space, this technique is about capturing negative space. This method - lifting the ink away from the plate - is a subtractive process, and is an exciting and challenging form of printmaking for her. It is also exacting because there is only one chance to print the plate onto the paper. Once printed, the image on the plate is gone forever.

While Lerner's art is often figurative, she loves working in abstraction as well. This allows me to concentrate on elements of line, shape, movement, and value. These are the most pure and essential aspects of composition, and focusing on them without the confines of realism is liberating.

Lerne's work has been accepted into numerous juried shows, including; the Cambridge Art Association, the Concord Art Association, Gallery Blink, The Decordova Museum, and the Monoprint Guild of New England.

About Susan Paladino:
Susan Paladino mounts monoprints to wood panels, then layers them with pigmented wax using geometric shapes to create playful interactions between layers.

About Patricia White:
For Patricia White, the landscape provides constant motivation for her printmaking, inspiring her layering, fluid motions, shifting patterns and color, plus tactile pleasures. Whether natural or constructed, the landscape is the base for White's thoughts and all her work. Most recently she explored visual dramas inspired by her travels in Ethiopia, Cuba, and Iceland and also White continues to explore imaginary landscapes via digital painting on her iPad.

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