In January I was invited to attend my very first artist residency program at the Sonoma Community Center.  

During this unique, one-week pop-up session in the Winter season, I drew inspiration from the outdoor garden, and the wonderful ceramics and art programs the community center offers their members. I wanted the work to reflect the center and its ties to the arts and crafts culture here. The vessel series in particular drew parallels from what was around me and my observations while living at the center for one week. I would pop my head into the ceramics classrooms and gaze in wonder at the clay pots, then wander around the grounds while taking short breaks from the press.  In the end, I suppose it was only natural I marry the two disciplines - printmaking (something I do) and ceramics (something I don't do.) 

I began the series focusing on reclaimed materials around me. I searched the drawers and I found cut paper, scrap remnants, old fabric, and plant life from the community garden outside the gates. I mixed my inks to reflect the environment - the light, the quiet of the post-holiday season, and the chilly temperatures outside. Working each of these prints into a small series allowed me to approach the idea with focus and explore possible variations on a theme. 

Printmaking to me is characterized by repetition usually involving intense states of perfection and most often with myself - imperfection. My work tends to involve surprises and mistakes and then working these abstract elements in. There is a state of flow and ambiguity in the dance that I guess I naturally thrive on. I felt puzzled at times, and then overwhelmed by the weight of creating a body of work in a mere five days time frame with an artist talk at the end. The only way through it was to trust my intuition and experience, and just push forward on the press until my inks ran dry, and the time ran out. As the prints began to take more and more shape, I felt confidence to finish as I kept going. They began to form their own language and a sort of running dialogue with the inspiration of Sonoma as a running thread.