Miki Lovett’s Artist Statement
Solar Plate Etching
For many years, I have been interested in the printmaking process. I am particularly intrigued with the dreamlike quality one can achieve in etching. The many techniques available for embellishing the print make for interesting experiments. Recently, I gained access to a printmaking studio where I can use the equipment, presses, inking stations and the like, that I do not have at home. This is giving me a wonderful opportunity to work in this medium.
This medium also gives me the opportunity to incorporate marbled paper in the printing process using a technique called Chin Collé. I am excited to combine these two techniques.
Monoprinting
A new area of printing for me is monoprinting. My solar plate etching tends to be very geometric and linear. I’m finding this method of printing to be much looser and more intuitive though I’m sure lines will show up as well!
A group of us from the Artists Association of Nantucket visited the Woodstock School of Art for a residency where we spent 3 days playing with this fun medium. I will be experimenting with this printing style for a while!
Some of the many ideas I am studying is the use of natural oil solvents to thin the oil based inks, using not only rollers and squeegees to apply color to the plate, but brushes and other natural tools such as sticks or leaves.
Marbled Paper
Marbling is, for me, a conversation between order and chaos, control and spontaneity. Order is not imposed on chaos nor is control meant to suppress spontaneity. There is a conversation between the ‘given’, the way the color moves and expands on the size, and ‘manipulation’ of the color with my tools. It is never the same twice.
I use the traditional patterns, dating from the 12th century up to the present to make two different styles of marbled paper.
First, my Contemporary Marbled Paper which uses the traditional and not so traditional techniques and colors to make papers with a modern sensibility. My papers are used for any paper or book arts such as origami, collage, book binding, or any decorative paper technique.
Second, my Historic Marbled Papers which are based on the work of Dr. Garret Dixon, Dan St. John and others to restore the 19th century techniques of marbled paper that were almost lost after the Industrial Revolution. Using paints I make myself and recipes translated from the 19th century documents, marbled papers are produced in patterns such as Shell, Stormont and Tiger Eye. These papers are used for antique book restoration, modern book arts,other paper arts or even for framing.