Happy Holidays

Thanks to all of you for reading my blog. This year's card is a small intaglio plate that started as a soap ground test. I just really love how I can get similar effects to tusche washes in lithography on my copper plates by using the soap ground. And there is always a little surprise involved, because I can never control the etch entirely. When I pull the first print after I etch the plate, it's always a bit like magic to see the image for the first time.
Happy Holidays to you all!

Searching

The initial idea for this piece changed considerably throughout the process. I don't even really have a sketch for this piece, because I worked more spontaneously directly on the plate. Again, I did quite a bit of scraping and re-etching, which resulted in some of the really subtle tones on the plate. It's a bit hard to see in the photograph of this piece, but there is quite a bit of patterning and mark making in form of deeply etched black lines that sit on top of the black aquatint. Perhaps you can imagine what the beautifully raised lines on top of the black ground look and feel like.

Searching. 
Intalgio, Chine-Collé. 
30cm x 30cm. 2014.

Sensing

I came across a short text by Meister Eckhart the other day, in which he talks about our outer self and our inner self, which are hinged in our center like a door. I just read the text in passing, but it resonated somewhere within me and inspired this piece. The print went through many stages of scraping, sanding and re-etching. The heavy editing and re-working of this plate was part of an exercise I imposed on myself to respond to marks I had already created. In the end the piece looked surprisingly like the ink sketch, which I didn't necessarily intend, although I did try to imitate some of the fluidity of the ink washes on the copper plate. It is a rather dark print, but I like the subtle tonal shifts in the background that happened through multiple soap ground etches. One of reasons why I wanted to translate the drawings into prints was that the cut out figures were just too separate from the ground I stuck them on. The looked too much like cut-outs. I wanted the figures and the ground to be on the same plain, to be more integrated in the image as a whole. 

(Above)
Sensing.
Intaglio, Chine-Collé.
30cm x 30cm. 2014.

(Below)
Ink on Paper. 

Reaching

The concepts that mostly emerged in my work in the past few weeks had to do with some kind of searching or trying to reach. I don't want to write much about the content of my pieces, because I find it difficult to put into words. As for process, in the ink drawing below I used a straw to blow through to create the neuron-like shapes. For the etching I initially tried to re-create a similar spontaneous pattern with a sugar lift, but the sugar solution was heavier than the ink and simply did not spread with the same speed on the surface of the copper, resulting in a rather clumsy and heavy looking result. I ended up starting over using scans of ink splashes on paper that I exposed to a screen. I screenprinted an acrylic resist onto the copper plate, added the aquatint and through that process I was able to re-create the ink marks on my plate.

(Above)
Reaching.
Intaglio, Chine-Collé.
30cm x 30cm. 2014.

(Below)
Ink on Paper. 
                                                                                                                                                                       

Sketches

It's been way too long since I posted last time, but school has kept me more than busy. I started without much of a plan of what I wanted to do this semester. I had several different ideas I wanted to follow and I decided to somehow work through some of my grief after my father's sudden death in an accident this past summer. I ended up making a series of ink drawings with collaged photos to generate images and ideas more rapidly than an etching allows. Unfortunately I was not overly satisfied with the drawings and I do not consider them finished pieces, but rather a series of sketches to work through new ideas and different kinds of mark makings. The spaces in the images have become a lot emptier than most of my previous work, which was part of the exercise. I enjoyed responding to some of the qualities of the ink, which is so much more fluid than etching in copper, but I also got bored more easily working directly on paper instead of working through the various processes of creating a printing plate. I also found that the images were lacking visual cohesion; the figures seemed very separate from the ground. I'll post a few of the drawings here to show some of the process I go through as an artist. I'll post the images I chose to translate into prints in subsequent posts.

Winter Sleep

Winter Sleep. 
Triple-Plate Colour Etching. 
45.5cm x 45.5cm. 2014.

I finished a new print. I was on a tight deadline for this piece, which I still want to include in my upcoming exhibition "Small Pleasures" (see poster in previous post for details), while also starting to play with new ideas and new techniques for school. As you may have noticed, I have partly recycled an earlier image of hibernation which I've always enjoyed, but I was also inspired to make this piece after a winter getaway last January to the Apostle Island Ice Caves in Wisconsin. I tried to work with space a bit differently this time, and while the piece is still quite flat, the shadows on the snwo and the overlay of the icicles give the piece a certain depth.
Once again, I played with soap ground in the middle-ground of the piece and in the icicles, where it is particularly successful, I think. I used this piece to get acquainted with the new studio surroundings, and after moaning inwardly how much I miss the rosin box at Highpoint, I was pleasantly surprised by the smoothness of the airbrush aquatints I got, although it is much more work intensive to spray the aquatint multiple times in between etches. Well, that's it for today. Keep warm!

Small Pleasures

My husband Terry and I have an exhibition coming up in Winnipeg at the WAG Gallery Shop. Terry will be showing a selection of his master's thesis work. This is the first time he'll be showing his thesis work in Canada. To see more of Terry's work, please visit his website at: www.terryhildebrand.ca.  I will be showing a few pieces of my more recent works. I'm hoping to get one more print finished for the show, which I will post soon. 

Graduate School - University of Alberta

I'm starting a new chapter in my life. I have been accepted to graduate school at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. It was a tough decision for me to go back to school again, but I think it'll do me and my artwork good to rethink things and to refocus.
For the past week I've been moving into my new studio. As a grad student, I get my own little space with a desk, several flat files, and a shelf. I get great light in here through a window the width of the room (see images below). There is a shared grad studio here with two printing presses. Plate processing will happen in the upstairs undergrad studios, so I have the feeling I'll get my workout climbing stairs. I hope to get into the new studio routines and processes soon. I'll have to get used to airbrush aquatints again instead of using the wonderful rosin box at Highpoint in Minneapolis, but every studio has their own equipment and procedures and I'll have to learn new ways of doing things. Once I'm all settled in and I have some new work to show, you'll hear from me again.

In Memoriam

My Dad, Michael Rudolph, passed away in a tragic accident involving a drunk driver on July 27th, 2014. With him I lost my biggest critic, fan, and mentor. He gave me the love of art, music, and literature, the desire to know and learn, the interest in languages and travel, the love for beauty, and the love for life. He will be greatly missed.

7th International Printmaking Biennial Douro 2014

I am pleased to share with you that two of my prints (Mercado Cuatro and Entre Itacurubí y San José) are part of the 7th International Printmaking Biennial Douro 2014 in Portugal, which runs from August 10th - October 31st. I was invited by curator Nuno Canelas to participate in this exhibition and it is an honour for me to have been asked to display my work in such a prestigious exhibition. Thank you for giving me this opportunity. 

Exhibition at Groveland Gallery - Minneapolis

My Minneapolis in the Star Tribune

Visual art: Prints at Highpoint showcases Minnesota talent

Article by: MARY ABBE , Star Tribune

 

Updated: July 18, 2014 

SILVER: the 25th Cooperative Exhibition

Opening Friday: Under the skylights in Highpoint’s spacious workroom, dozens of Minnesota artists sketch, ink and run their plates through the center’s etching presses. Then they check their proofs and start all over, refining their designs until they’re satisfied with the concepts. For the “Silver” show, 37 members of the Highpoint cooperative have turned out a sparkling variety of images, ranging from North Woods landscapes to abstractions and whimsical interpretations of summer, as seen here in “My Minneapolis” by Miriam Rudolph, who is obviously a bicycle enthusiast and culture consumer. Note bikers rolling along a Midtown Greenway lined with farmers-market vendors, rowers on the Mississippi near the Weisman Art Museum, the Minneapolis Sculpture garden and Walker Art Center, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ Dale Chihuly chandelier illuminating the whole scene. (Opening, 6:30-9 p.m. Fri., free. Highpoint Center for Printmaking, 912 W. Lake St., Mpls., ends Aug. 23, free, 612-871-1326 or highpointprintmaking.org.)

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/stageandarts/267538721.html

Dinner with Bouquet

Dinner with Bouquet.
Triple Plate Etching, Relief Roll through Stencil. 
45.5cm x 45.5cm. 2014.

My new print is finished and I've started printing the edition. It is high time I got that done since we're moving from Minneapolis to Edmonton in two weeks and I need to start packing. This print is loosely connected to the previous one (Picking Apples) through the theme of 'Small Pleasures'. However, stylistically the pieces look very different I find and they will have to stand as individual pieces instead of as a series like I had initially planned. This is another triple plate print (since I started using three plates I have a hard time going back to working with only two plate and colours); there is a blue, a red, and a black plate. I apply the yellow with a stencil on the red plate; I tried wiping some of the yellow à la poupeé, but it oxidized right away and turned a muddy green so I decided to add all the yellow with the relief roll through a stencil onto the surface of the red plate to keep it nice a bright.
As you can see I had a lot of fun with the bouquet (I love picking wild flowers); the looser shadows I did as a sugar lift. I also loved putting in my favourite table cloth in this picture with a softground pattern of the weave. As you can see, we love good food and a little bit of beauty around us in our everyday lives. Enjoy!

I want to share some pictures about the process:




















Above: Detail of bouquet while stopping out during the etching process of the aquatints - a piece of patience.
Below: Printing of Dinner with Bouquet; blue plate and red plate with yellow stencil are printed - ready to run the print through the press with the key plate.

Apple Picking

Apple Picking. 
Triple-Plate Colour Etching.
45.5cm x 45.5cm. 2014.

It's time to post some new work. Apple season isn't quite upon us yet, but we have fond memories (and still some frozen apple cider) of last year's picking. We'll miss Minnesota's apple orchards! I love harvesting (anything) and having grown up without apple trees, (ok, ok, I had grapefruit, papaya, guavas, mangos,...but no apples), picking apples is still a bit of a novelty for me. Last year I canned some pie filling and cooked jars and jars of apple sauce, but mostly we made gallons of fresh cider.

I've had the printing plates for this piece finished for a while already, but, because of an upcoming show at Highpoint the presses have been busy and I decided to wait to print till things quieted down a little. I'm working on several new pieces for an exhibition I will have in November in Winnipeg together with my husband Terry. I decided to make a series of narrative work about things we enjoy together. The tentative title for the show is 'Small Pleasures' and will thematically connect his ceramic work and my new prints. Once again, I had a lot of fun working with soap ground to get more painterly effects in my work. I also enjoyed the colour range I got on my last print (Return) with three plates. Thanks to an effective registration system the registration of the plates is working pretty smoothly. I tried to work with a more simple composition without ups and downs and sideways, but I'm not sure yet if I love it. I took some artistic freedom with the cedar waxwings, which I saw up close for the first time last year. What beautiful birds! I think they would be more likely to eat frozen/soft apples and not fresh ones, but I saw them near this apple tree and couldn't resist putting them in. Well, that's it for today. I'll be back with more soon.

Canada House London

For some of you this may not be news, but I just got the official letter in the mail and I still want to post this: Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs has purchased two of my prints for the fine art collection at Canada House London. The two prints are Red River Trail and My Winnipeg IV. I am so excited! Just imagine my work has made it all the way to Trafalgar square (which I heard about for the first time in 1995 when I started to learn English with my Dad and British tapes).

Abbott Northwestern Hospital Exhibition

My work is currently on display at the Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. Several month ago I was asked to consider showing my work in one of the hallway galleries at the hospital as part of The Art of Healing Program through the Penny George Institute for Health and Healing. I decided to go for it, since I always like my work being part of people's lives and I often think there should be more artwork on walls in public spaces. I also agree with the general mission statement that art "can nourish the mind, body, and spirit, and it can support healing." The work will be up all summer through September. The exhibition is accessible during clinic open hours: Mo - Th 8am - 8:30pm, Fri 8am - 4pm. Location: lower level of the Wasie Building, 800 East 28th Street, Minneapolis. 

Directions: There are multiple ways to get to the hallway, but this is the one I know - Enter through main entrance of the Penny George Institute for Health and Healing at the corner of Chicago and 28th Str. Take the stairs or elevator to lower level. Walk through door closest to the stairs (it's a heavy one) and follow the tunnel, which is quite long, until you reach the hallway with my work on display. 

'Best in Show' Footprint International Winner

How very exciting! I just learned that I'm the winner of the 'Best in Show' award at the Footprint International Competition at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, Connecticut. Two of my prints - Return and Waving Goodbye - were selected by Juror Elisabeth Hodermansky, Sutphin Family Senior Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings, Photographs at the Yale University Art Gallery. To see all the winners, please go the website of the CCP.

Return

Return.
Triple-Plate Copper Etching, Chine-Collé. 
30cm x 30cm. 2014.

I've had this image in my head ever since my trip home to Paraguay last year. Yes, I still call Paraguay home (one of them at least). This was the first time I was staying in the house of my childhood again and I was surprised how much at home I still felt with my surroundings. One of my most cherished memories are the neon-green, cheerful and loving parakeets nibbling at the beautiful, hand-sized blossoms of the bottle tree at my aunt's place, my favourite holiday destination. Bottle trees absorb water into their soft wood (very important in an arid region) and store the moisture in their ever expanding trunks, which they then protect from animals with giant spikes, forming a protected sanctuary. We used to have a bottle tree in our yard under which we often played growing up. I'm not entirely sure what the image means, but in many ways the trip was about returning home and returning to the roots of my childhood (even if I had to leave again). This piece is an addition to my autobiographical series exploring imagery about home and belonging.
This was my first triple plate print (light red, green, and black). I had a lot of fun playing with the soap ground again creating a more lively, less flat background with a more washy look.

First Fridays Winnipeg

Miriam Rudolph.

First Fridays Winnipeg.

Double-Plate Colour Etching.

22 x 22 cm. 2014.

First Fridays Winnipeg commissioned me to do a small etching a while back as a fundraiser piece. When I still had my studio in Winnipeg's exchange district, I always participated in the First Fridays event, where all studio artists and galleries open their doors to the public on the first Friday of each month. For me this was a wonderful way to show my work and talk about my work in a casual manner to people interested in art. It's a great and fun event! Well, I chose a Friday night in Winnipeg as my motif for this piece. In fact, the building in the foreground on the right is the Silpit Building where I used to have my studio, with all the illuminated windows and artists either working or showing their work. Take a peek for yourself through the windows. Front left, set back a little, is the Merchants Building and behind it you can see the upper part of the gorgeous Electric Railway Chambers on Notre Dame. 

For this image I heavily borrowed composition and colours from an early piece of British printmaker Brenda Hartill, but I think I succeeded in making it my own by changing the format, using specific Winnipeg buildings and my own little vignettes behind the windows. I came across Brenda's work several years ago and was quite surprised how many similarities I found in our work (her London etchings at least). I greatly admire her prints!

My little print will be available soon through First Fridays in Winnipeg.