Art From Here: Artists give new perspective on artistry basics in Woodstock-based exhibit

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Art From Here: Artists give new perspective on artistry basics in Woodstock-based exhibit Melissa Dvonzenja-Thomas For the Poughkeepsie Journal

Published 12:09 p.m. ET Jan. 19, 2023 Updated 5:02 a.m. ET Jan. 20, 2023

After the holiday season, I always find myself trying to get back to the basics of life. Circling back to eating well, getting more sleep, finding new creative outlets, balancing work and home life are all a part of this wholesome 360 degree attempt to refresh myself. Visual artists also find this in their own practice by going back to the basics of shape making and using the immediacy of printmaking. The first show of 2023 at The Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild is an ambitious contemporary monoprint and monotype show titled "One on One: A Survey of Contemporary Monotypes & Monoprints" where the artists, including sculptors and painters, have gone back to printmaking as a way to stimulate their art practice.

"Traveling Light: Sightseeing" by Jane Goldman is a 22 by 30 inch watercolor monotype created at Mixit Studios in Somerville, Massachusetts. It depicts an almost dreamy night- time lightning storm with two viewers watching from on high. This piece is immediately striking to the viewer and when you learn more about the process in which the work is created, it's even more intriguing. When you think of watercolors, you normally think of pale colors and a subtler impact on paper, but when they are worked on a plexiglass plate or a gel plate and ran through the press with wet paper, it reactivates a richness and depth of color.

Susanna Ronner's "Shape Conversation II" is a 28 by 22 inch inked collatype of paper made at the Woodstock School of Art in Woodstock, New York. Created by inking cardboard forms and moving them throughout the piece, Ronner also adds this intriguing element to each of the works by using acetate the pressure of the press makes the spontaneous mark the paper.