I didn't have access to a print studio during the pandemic, so the printing process for these pieces was done entirely by hand. I started off printing on cheap watercolor paper that I had lying around before eventually investing in specialized printmaking and handmade paper. The act of making things, especially things I could give as gifts, is immensely satisfying to me. Printmaking is especially nice because I can put a show on in the background and still do something that feels productive and fulfilling. Making these pieces was an escape from thinking about the pandemic. Carving a block, for me, is the most reliable way I can go into a 'flow' state, which was a way to stop thinking about all the other pandemic-induced worries I had in my life (personal, family, financial, etc.). --Label design by exhibit curator Nancy DeJoy. Labels written by Ben Lash and his team in consultation with artist statements.
A rough edged, black rectangular paper with a smaller tan rectangle at its center. Stamped in black ink around the tan part of the paper are a variety of organic shapes, ovals, squares and circles with patterns inside stemming from the circle in the middle of the shape. Below the tan square in the middle, inside the black border, in gold ink reads; "3/10 "DIATOMS" J.PAI".
