Sanskar – Impressions

 Mixed media, Collage, Monoprint

 In the last article I introduced you to a brief history of printing, printmaking and papermaking and also discussed the techniques regarding printmaking and papermaking.  Both paper making and print making have been around for a very long time and have been used all over the world in a variety of ways and here is a great deal of information available about the different aspects of both.
I have used the techniques of mixed media and collage for my most recent work titled Sanskar.

Collage
The word collage comes from the French: coller which means to stick.
Collage generally refers to a work of visual art made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole.
A collage can include print from the media, photographs, paper of all kinds, portions of art work, ribbons, lace, all glued together or to cardboard, paper or canvas.
The technique of collage appeared in medieval Europe during the thirteenth century.  Gold leaf panels started to be applied in Gothic cathedrals close to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Around the same time precious metals were applied to religious images, icons and also to coats of arms.
Both Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso coined the way I understand and use the term and technique of collage in the beginning of the twentieth century when collage became a distinctive part of modern art.There are many different methods, styles and approaches to collage. particularly admire the work of Rauschenberg and Hockney. Their approach to collage is dynamic, fresh and delightful.I have been tearing some of my old monoprints as well as my hand made paper.I tear and I paste, I layer and I tear, - it is an exciting process of destroying and recreating. In the act of tearing and salvaging, destroying and creating anew I feel close to the cycle of birth and death and of the constant renewal aspect of life.

Transformation is another theme that runs through my work .I enjoy the Regeneration as well as Recycling aspects of collage. I use materials that I have made over the years  - each time I see a piece that I printed or paper that I made in the past brings back memories of that particular time or mood and since I am working in the present the work becomes a metaphor for the passing of time  - past and present.

Mixed Media
Mixed media in artwork refers to an artwork in the making of which more than one medium has been used.

There is an important distinction between mixed media art works and multi media art.  Mixed Media generally implies that a work of visual art has combined various tradionally distinct visual art media.  A work on paper or canvas that has combined the use of ink, paint, drawing, sand, and collage together would be a mixed –media work of art it would not be multi-media.

The term multi-media art implies a broader scope than mixed media – combining visual art with non- visual elements such as recorded music, video, dance etc.

I use the mixed –media approach when I work with my mono prints or etchings and paint over them.  I can use oil sticks, printing ink, and acrylics, fabric dyes all in the same piece. This is what makes it mixed media. It may or may not have a collage element.

 Sanskar – Impressions

 Sanskar is a Sanskrit word that has several meanings – including Impressions or Imprints.I believe that we are born with certain imprints, impressions, or sanskarsAs we move through life we continue to add impressions to those very early sanskars.Impressions that we collect are layered.

Just as some impressions are deeply etched in one’s consciousness and are layered the impressions made on paper are on different planes and can be layered.  I am interested in the layers of impressions and the spaces in between.

The prints that are made are in fact Impressions and just as ghost prints are fainter versions of the original plate the impressions on our lives and minds are also in many shades.

When I work my hands are picking, selecting, making choices from the myriad impressions in my being - an effort in the dynamic process of creating a unified whole.  Past impressions are folded in with the awareness of the present. Prints and paper made in the distant and near past are reworked in the present.

 I am a printmaker and paper maker. I make marks on Plexiglas or metal plates and take the impressions from the plate. I make paper and then create collages or mixed media pieces that use my prints, dyed fabric and handmade paper.

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