S A N D R A   B U T L E R

 

50 Summer Street                                      243 Union Street, Loft 405

Somerville, MA  02143                                North Adams, MA  01247

(617) 625-5214                                        617-620-4973 (cell)

                

 

A R T I S T   S T A T E M E N T

 

I make monotypes, which are considered by many to be the most painterly form of printmaking.  I enjoy the process of applying ink to a plate in a fluid and spontaneous fashion, and the resulting dialogue that transpires between the medium and the images that surface interests me.  I also enjoy the risk, and the reward, of investing myself fully in a printmaking endeavor that produces only “one” print, an act that seems antithetical to the inherent nature of the form; it’s rather like gambling, particularly when the stakes are high, and when taking the next step means either ruining the piece or resolving it.

 

In the past year and a half, I have been exploring improvisational woodcut techniques in my printmaking. Carving provides rich opportunities for investigating mark-making and textural elements. The repeatable nature of a woodblock allows for printing and layering in new ways.  Recently, I have also been using my ink-stained mylar stencils, familiar shapes that I have used over the years in my monotypes, as collage elements in works that focus on balance and relationships.

 

My images are graphic representations of the kinds of experiences that have to do with journeys and processes.  Unstructured, open-ended and responsive, they are the records of visual conversations that I have with myself – exchanges that are layered one upon another over the course of time.  Initially I lay down some color, establish a shape or two, and make some preliminary marks in order to begin a dialogue.  Then I’ll put the work aside, and when I return to it later, I’ll repeat the process again; laying down more color, adding more shapes, and incorporating more marks, all in response to the previous and the current state of the image.

 

I often work in series, which for me means having many visual conversations going on at the same time, each of which informs the rest.  Sometimes I might work on as many as twenty pieces at a time, all at various stages of development, and occasionally my interactions with a work-in-progress may go on for several years.

 

My sources of inspiration tend to be visual and musical lyricists such as Jennifer Bartlett, Elizabeth Murray, Henri Matisse, Thomas Nozkowski, Judy Pfaff, Ben Webster, Charlie Parker, and Coleman Hawkins.  They, among others, have influenced the development of my own visual language.