Making a story quilt with Girls Inc.

Earlier this summer I had the pleasure of teaching a printmaking lesson to the campers at Girls Inc. in Holyoke, MA. I did a short lesson on Harriet Powers’s second story quilt (one of my students had seen a Powers quilt in the collection at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston!) and then introduced our nature story quilt project. I did a gelli plate monotype demonstration and then the girls got to work: turning their nature stories into sketches, turning those sketches into stencils, and then making gelatin plate monotypes. All of the girls made a few impressions, and they will each have a print included in the final collaborative story quilt.

The finished collaborative story quilt will be displayed in an exhibition at Paper City Studios Gallery in Holyoke on November 3, 2017.

The students were ages 6-12 and I was impressed by their fearless approach to new materials. We had a blast.

Thank you Plunge Arts!

Tactile Print

Photocollagraphs included in Tactile Print exhibition, opening August 12, 2017 at ECA+ Gallery in Old Town Hall, Easthampton, MA; curated by Hannah Richards.

My work comes out of a need to communicate outside of language. It is the testimony and the investigation of experiences that cannot be put to bed; too unwieldy to be written down, spoken aloud, or relegated to memory.

The prints included in this show are part of my exploration of the competing roles of the Artist-Mother, Mother-Artist and an acknowledgement of the immense influence that my two-year-old son has had on my work and my practice.

I am more comfortable in my own skin and more sure of my identity as an artist than ever before. I have never before felt so compelled to make work, with so many ideas to pursue. I have never before had so much pressure on my time and attention.

My approach to reconciling this tension has been to chip away at the boundaries between life and art, mother and artist. Instead of an impediment, it has become a spark.

Also included in the exhibition: Anderson Ranch artist book & Mama Hands prints.

Zea Mays Printmaking Biennial

Esther S White, Clothes that are too small or no longer needed (pumping bra), 2017, gelatin plate monotype, 16″x22″

July 5, 2017–July 31, 2017; Reception: July 31, 5-7:30pm
Hosmer Gallery, Forbes Library, 20 West Street, Northampton, Massachusetts

My gelatin plate monotype “Clothes that are too small or no longer needed (pumping bra)” is included in a collection of new prints by 63 members of Zea Mays Printmaking Studio. The exhibit features a wide breadth of styles and techniques, all using non-toxic, alternative printmaking processes with a clear commitment to innovation and quality.

Photocollagraph

I wrote a short description of my recent work and my technical research in photocollagraph on my studio blog.

Work from this series will be included in an exhibition of collagraphs at ECA+ Gallery in August 2017, curated by Hannah Richards.

ESW, work in progress, 2017, 10″x8″, photocollagraph
ESW, work in progress, 2017, 10″x8″, photocollagraph printed with relief roll
ESW, work in progress, 2017, 8″x8″, photocollagraph
ESW, work in progress, 2017, 8″x10″, photocollagraph

“The Real Remembered” goes to Springfield

The Real Remembered a solo exhibition of “quilts made for remembering and prints made from clothes that are too small or that are no longer needed” will be mounted at 1550 Main Street in Springfield, MA. The show is part of the Art Stop(s) program and will be up through June, 2017. Opening: Wednesday, April 5, 4:30–6pm.