Human Physicality: The Universal Body Language

Artist Statement:

     My intent as an artist has always been to share the beauty of the world around us and how we experience those particular moments.  Recently I have felt inspired by the human connection and the physicality of the human body language. My practice involves a variety of visual investigative techniques for documenting these particular moments with photos and drawings.  Documenting these physical moments has helped me to dissect and research the different moments of physical touching in relation to myself and my husband holding our son compared to the grandparents, friends and various family members.

     The process for “Human Physicality: The Universal Body Language” series utilizes a variety of techniques, styles, and materials from dry drawing media to the wet ink of printmaking.  I started working with linoleum relief focusing on single subject matter moments of hands and feet. The relief allowed for a bold approach to my ideas which in turn turned my focus on the movement and visual depiction of the physical interaction.  Closely examining the relief prints I noticed how the colored shapes of shadows and highlights abstracted the realism of the subject matter which inspired my research into lift grounds and soft ground texture plates of intaglio. The marbling ground technique visually depicted the emotional waves I felt looking at the physical connections between my subject matter.  

      My intaglio pieces have a strong drawing influence that specifically speaks to the delicate nature of the infant hands and feet of my son.  The addition of the marbled backgrounds follows with the visual and emotional movement of the human subject matter while also visually abstracting but then emphasizing moments of clarity or abstraction of the physical human connection.