Burnishing an image on the mezzotint plate for the print, Metropolitan.
Education
1980 BFA Carnegie Mellon University (painting and drawing)
1983-1985 Pratt Graphics Center (printmaking)
1986-1989 Manhattan Graphics Center (printmaking)
Artist Statement
The play of light on urban architecture and its effect on people inspires my art. I’m especially fascinated by the way night, illuminated by artificial light, changes one’s experience of the city. Using dramatic lighting effects and my imagination, my compositions reflect the mystery and potential for transcendent events to unfold within the shadows of this man-made environment.
I work in several mediums, including oil painting and pencil drawings. Since 1984 I’ve focused most of my efforts in printmaking, specifically mezzotint engraving.
Collections
Arkansas Art Center
The British Museum
The Brooklyn Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Detroit Institute of Arts
The Flint Institute of Art
Federal Reserve
Fort Wayne Museum of Art
Fogg Art Museum - Harvard University
Georgetown University Art Collection
Historic New Orleans Collection
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts
Library of Congress
National Gallery of Art
McNay Art Museum
Minneapolis Institute of the Arts
Museum of the City of New York
The National Gallery of Art
New Orleans Museum of Art
The New York Public Library
Newark Public Library
Purdue University Galleries
Queens Museum of Art
RISD Museum/ Rhode Island School of Design
Sheldon Museum of Art/ University of Nebraska
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Spencer Museum of Art/The University of Kansas
Springfield Art Museum
Syracuse University
Tampa Museum of Art
University of Arizona
University of New Mexico
Wesleyan University Davison Art Center
Wellesley College Davis Museum
Wichita Falls Museum
The Whitney Museum of American Art
Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers University
Mezzotint
These three tools are all you need to make a mezzotint. From left to right: rocker, scraper and burnisher.
Mezzotint, also known as “the black manner,” is an intaglio printmaking process in which tonal images are created in a subtractive manner. It entails texturing a copper plate with a curved serrated tool called a rocker that, when rocked back and forth over the plate surface in many directions, cuts into the surface and pricks up a field of burrs that prints as a solid black tone.
Above is a 65 gauge rockers serrated edge. Gauge refers to the number of teeth per inch.
After the plate has been rocked, the burnisher and the scraper are used to create this image. These two tools work by slowly reducing the depth of the textured alters the amount of ink the amount of ink that will print. The burnisher works by bending and pushes the metal down, while the scraper is used to shave shaves away the burrs. I was drawn to mezzotint because it is similar to the way I approach drawing, by varying the pressure of my hand, the image emerges with subtle gradations and brilliant chiaroscuro lighting effects.