Prints for sale at the Art Auction Benefit!
Here I am packaging up the prints created by our first Artist in Residence Clark Gussin! It only took a year and a half to complete and sign these duotone stone lithographs, but we did it! Clark was our first AIR after we encouraged him to dive into lithography (not for the faint hearted!) and produced two seriously incredible prints. He worked alongside Master Printer and Santa Clara County Artist Laureate Dana Harris Seeger (me!) and professional lithographer Tom Goglio (my mentor) to hand draw and paint the 4 stones which were then printed right here at SVP.
First a little background on the arduous process of creating these two prints. After drawing the first 3 stones, all separate images related to the other work Clark creates in drawing and watercolor, we were not satisfied with the depth the one color lithos were giving us. Since Clark normally works in pencil, charcoal and watercolor, he can layer up the material, providing a richness that comes naturally. He has won numerous awards for his work and was aiming to enhance his repertoire (and just have a little fun) by experimenting with some lithography.
With the help of Tom, we figured that we needed a second stone for each of the 3 images in order to push the depth of value inherent in Clark's drawing. If you don't know, lithography is a planographic process, meaning the image is drawn and processed on the surface of the stone- there is no grooves or indents for the ink to melt into, so it has to sit on top and then be transferred to the paper during the printing process. By adding another layer of ink on top of the first, through the printing of a second stone, we were able to capture the luminous value range that Clark was after.
It was a great learning process for all of us, and I definitely have a new appreciation for printers who work with artist clients on a regular basis. Clark was not afraid to tell us what he needed and to trust that we could provide the answers he was looking for.
Clark is generously donating 4 of each of the editions of 16 to this year's Art Auction Benefit and you will be able to bid on those (or purchase them straight out) on October 15 up until the event on November 7 from 5-6pm. Please check out Clark's other work, and accomplishments- he was recently one of the few artists chosen for the De Young Open! Click here to register for the Night's Event and stay tuned for when we open the auction bidding on October 15!
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