Making Their Marks: Making Their Marks #30 "Old Orchard in October"

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Making Their Marks #30 "Old Orchard in October"

5" x 5" pastel over monoprint
One of the most vivid visuals in my memory was a late fall trip to the coast of Maine, where the only place accepting visitors was on Old Orchard Beach. Though not necessarily my favorite destination in Maine, the sunsets were breathtaking, shimmering, pure Impressionism. Periodically I pull out those memories for inspiration.

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About this series

Making Their Marks
in honor of
Marc and Dana vanderHeyden
2007 - 2008
pastel over monoprint
by Mickey Myers
A Series of 63

Making Their Marks is a series of 45 pastel images, created by Vermont artist Mickey Myers over eight months in 2007 and 2008. Completed to honor the tenure of Marc and Dana vanderHeyden as President and First Lady of Saint Michael's College in Colchester, Vermont, Making Their Marks consists of landscape images abstracted from nature.

Process: pastel over monoprint

Initially, 45 monoprint images were drawn on a 5" x 5" plexiglass plate with oil bars (also called oil sticks,) and printed on Stonehenge paper, using a Whelan Press at The Canasta Press in Johnson, Vermont.

After the monoprint surfaces had dried, Myers drew into the images with pastel, using a variety of soft pastel brands, including Unison, Mt. Vision, Maimeri, Sennelier, Townsend, Nupastels, and Sennelier iridescent pastels.

This series began as an experiment, and each page and image were treated using experimental techniques, rather than a set or uniform formula for technique and materials. The Stonehenge paper was purposefully utilized in its natural state, and not primed with water or any other substance. The monoprint image edges were taped prior to drawing into them with pastel, and then the tape was removed, in some cases, leaving evidence in the margins of the paper, not apparent in the finished work when it is matted to the edge.

The plexiglass plate for monoprint was primed with extender base.

The images have not been "fixed," and the artist prefers that they not be fixed in the future. The resulting pastel dust "debris" is anticipated to be minimal, and the lack of fixitive assures that the pastel will maintain its natural properties and luminosity, rather than being reduced to a matte finish.

2007 - 2008

#1 of this series was printed and drawn in early 2007. #2 - 45 were printed in July, 2007. The drawing began in the fall of 2007, and concluded over the Christmas holidays of that year, and in early January of 2008. All the pieces were signed and numbered in February 2008.

Marc and Dana vanderHeyden: Marc vanderHeyden served as President of Saint Michael's College in Colchester, Vermont for 11 years, concluding in 2007. Mickey Myers was introduced to the vanderHeydens when she was Executive Director of Helen Day Art Center in Stowe, Vermont, by Marcelle Leahy, wife of United States Senator Patrick Leahy. Mrs. Leahy was advising the Helen Day Art Center about an exhibition of contemporary Iranian art, which she had been instrumental in bringing to the U. S. and to Vermont. She suggested the vanderHeydens were in a unique position to advise the exhibition also, which proved to be the beginning of an exchange of exhibits and mutual support between The Helen Day Art Center and Saint Michael's College over the next five years.

In anticipating the departure of the vanderHeydens from Saint Michael's, Myers intended to make a token of her appreciation for their tenure in the form of a pastel to present in spring of 2007. However, an accident prevented her from working in the studio until later that year. So by the time she actually began the project, she had missed the date of their departure by such a wide margin, she was able to allow herself the time to develop not just a single image, but then entire series, which has resulted.

Making Their Marks

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Making Their Marks #30 "Old Orchard in October"

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About this series

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