Bio:
Susan Martin is a printmaker and studio artist practicing in Raleigh, North Carolina. She specializes in small editions of traditionally made hand-pulled prints, always one at a time. Having worked in her favored medium for over a decade, her definition of family, home and studio have had to remain fluid. Sometimes haltering, yet always imaging, she remains grateful for life challenges, global excursions and personal exploration that have created a backbone for her imagery.
Artist Statement:
Contrived objects precariously perched, one small shift and collapse is possible. As in life so goes this work: hopefully balanced, optimistically grounded, sometimes suspended, often fictitious and cautiously flirting with a teetering reality.
My works on paper begin as lines drawn directly on copper (a printmaking technique known as drypoint) and ends printed in the traditional intaglio manner. I use a personal lexicon of imagery to create forged monuments, crafted mounds and artificial totems, all under the pretense of an unknown heritage.
Post printing I hand-color prints with a palette influenced by Japanese Ukiyo-e prints as well as early monochromatic photographs, tinted to emulate realism. Through line, color, and technique my works merge the current with historical, inviting viewers into personal imagery evolved for interpreted narration.
On technical process:
Most of my current work is done through the intaglio printmaking technique of drypoint. Drypoint is considered a “direct” method of plate making where marks are made by drawing directly onto plates, often copper, with a sharp instrument. The plates are then inked, wiped with tarlatan (a stiff cheese cloth) and run through an etching press with a sheet of dampened paper. It’s a method that dates back hundreds of years and one that I enjoy for its challenging nature, and the coercion and patience required to produce complex lines and tone.