Heather McMordie on Distant Voices

Distant Voices is on view now, come see work by Heather and the other Distant Members this month!

“Not Made for Eachother I” by Heather McMordie

Nature—specifically the intersections of rock, plant, and soil—is the driving source of imagery behind my work. There is a resilience to the natural world, an ability to adapt even in the harshest conditions, while still maintaining integrity. Trees drop branches to replenish nutrient-deprived soils; root systems foster micro-organisms to break soil into usable parts; water slowly rolls over stone to carry fragment downstream to fruitful deposits of sediment. The inorganic, the organic, and the zone where the two intermingle—all three are inextricably dependent in a delicate balance, an balance that prevails despite drastic threats to its order.

The idea of resilience and order in the midst of opposing forces is explored in two of my most recent bodies of work, the Experiment series and the Not Made For Each Other series. In Experiment, collographic and lithographic mediums are utilized in the same print. The resulting image creates a physical tension in the actual paper, the collograph plate embossing while the heavy litho compresses the paper. In Not Made For Each Other, woodblocks carved with independently derived imagery are printed on top of one another to create one image out of two. The blocks themselves are not made for use together, but with careful color selection and deliberate compositional choices, a cohesive images emerges.

The prints featured in Distant Voices reflect the incomprehensibility of the pairings one finds in nature. They challenge the preconceived notions of what colors, shapes, and textures should or should not “work together”, and demonstrate the ability of an object to adapt in relation to another object.

Artist Update: Heather McMordie

“Shifting Spaces IV” by Heather McMordie

We just added two new prints by Heather McMordie to the website: Shifting Spaces IV (pictured, left) and Where I Am and Will Be.  Heather will be exhibiting work at the gallery space of Conservation Studios for Art in (1818 Callowhill St, Philadelphia, PA) with her two studio mates, Claire Kincade and Grace Isabell.  The opening reception for this exhibition is Friday, March 8, 5-8 pm.  Check out Heather’s work online, then go check it out in person!

Why I Love Prints III

From WPG member artist Heather McMordie:

“Inner Landscape” by Heather McMordie

The back of my studio door is covered with a large sheet of brown craft paper dotted with “To Do” lists on post-it-notes, scribbled ideas, and print-outs of work I find inspiring. Pasted into the very center of this brain-storming board is a list of the things I enjoy about printmaking. During a period of frustrating printmaking endeavors three years ago, I wrote down a handful of simple aspects of the process that I enjoy—the quite rhythm in intaglio wiping a plate, the painterly challenge of mixing a colors with a limited palette, and the satisfaction of holding the actual printed object itself—to serve as a reminder of why I bother making prints. Over time, my list has grown to include, among other things, the moment of surprise when the print is pulled off the press, the physical exhaustion after a day of graining litho stones, the sound of a well-rolled slab of ink, the leathery texture of worn collograph plates, and the infinite visual possibilities within two or three plates and a couple cans of ink. When I see a print, or hold it and feel the texture of ink on top of paper, I am reminded of all these small, yet satisfying moments in the process of printmaking.

New Prints from Heather McMordie!

After this is written we’ll all be busily preparing for the opening reception of Contemporary Impressions: Chinese Ex Libris Prints.  Enjoy these new images from our emerging printmaker, Heather McMordie!

“A Walnut and a Leaf” by Heather McMordie

“Coming Down to Earth” by Heather McMordie

“Experiment I” by Heather McMordie

“Experiment II” by Heather McMordie

Artist Update: Heather McMordie

"Shifting Spaces V" by Heather McMordie

Heather McMordie, one of WPG’s two emerging printmaker members,  is currently in her fourth year of studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA), where she is studying printmaking.  She will graduate this fall with a certificate in Printmaking, and will go on to complete her BFA at the University of Pennsylvania.

Heather’s recent work can be summarized as an exploration of printmaking through the medium of stones.  Using rocks and stones as her source of inspiration and imagery, Heather has begun to make prints that use rock shapes and patterns  in both representational and abstract ways.  One of her primary modes of image-making is collographs. For the past few months, Heather has been gessoing irregular pieces of chipboard to make printable “rocks” and then printing them in various different arrangements space and color.  Heather also enjoys using lithographic and monotype techniques in her processes.

You can see one of Heather’s stone prints “In Foreign Matter,” in this month’s member’s exhibition.

Have you checked out our newest members?

WPG welcomed a lot of new members in 2011!  Just in case you missed them as they joined, here’s a quick review.  We bet you’ll find some new favorites!

"I Promise" by Andy Farkas

Andy Farkas works primarily with wood engraving and also some handset type.  He has written and illustrated his own children’s stories, too.  (Ask to see the beautiful hand-bound book we have in the gallery!).  Andy is our only artist working regularly in wood engraving at this time.

Clare Winslow is a new local member, so you might see her sitting at the gallery if you come on a Sunday.  Clare is creating mainly screenprintsShe has a tangential history with WPG, printing in the studio of Terry Svat and Pauline Jakobsberg and later taking classes with Michael Hagan, another of our screenprinters.

"State Line" by Dean Russell Thompson

Dean Russell Thompson is a woodcut artist.  We have woodcuts large and small of his infrastructure-inspired subject matter.  Dean also runs Copperplate Press, which you can read more about at the link.

Edward McCluney recently had a mini-solo in the Press Room.  If you didn’t see it, you can see samples of Ed’s linocuts and intaglio prints on his page, linked above.  Ed’s work is in many collections, including MIT and Harvard University.  We’ve also been told that one of his “Nine American Master’s” prints graces the walls of Samuel L. Jackson’s home.

Eric Robinson is a master of the varied edition.  You can see the range of expression he gets from one matrix with subtle changes in color and treatment when you visit his artist page (linked above).  Eric also uses wood engraving from time to time, for those interested in seeing more of that medium.

"Still" by Heather McMordie

Heather McMordie is an emerging printmaker currently studying the art at the University of Pennsylvania.  You may remember her print, “Still II” (pictured at Left) in 2011’s National Small Works exhibition.

Janet Yagoda Shagam’s prints look great on the screen, but we want everyone who can to come in and see them in person.  The rich, velvety quality of her blacks can’t be beat.  We are looking forward to seeing more of her work in a press room mini solo later this year.

Kiyomi Baird joined us after her National Small Works solo exhibition, which she won in 2011’s juried exhibition.  If you liked her big prints, but didn’t have enough wall space for them–a common problem, in DC–come back to see the smaller works we have in the bins.  They’re just as lovely.