"16th & Bryant" aquatint 7" x 9"
"23rd & Potrero" aquatint 7" x 6"
"K & B Liquors" aquatint 5.5" x 7"
"Super Lavar" reduction woodcut" 7.25" x 10"
Sarah Newton's prints are an exercise in the processing of observation. Almost all of her images are from locations a mile or less from where she lives; seemingly ordinary street corners, and rundown businesses. By limiting her focus to the mundane within her immediate vicinity she explores just how much there is to see and how little we see it. She takes reference photos as well as doing sketches of locations for her initial studies, then returns to the studio to make her prints. In her own words, "Hand drawn on woodblock or metal plate, the prints are created slowly, through cutting, scraping, burnishing and proofing the plates or blocks. The attention that goes into the development of the image constitutes a meditation on details and spaces that normally don't receive more than a passing notice". But it is not merely the place upon which her meditative process is built. There is also the light, the time of day. With exquisite subtlety she captures the nuances of night lit scenes and the shimmering quality of early morning. The prints are small, a size that requires only a single viewer at a time. Small art can, in this way, create a sense of intimacy with the viewer and the very nature of her work is perfectly suited to this.
Go to her website: www.sarahmnewton.com to see more.
(as you may have noticed I am now putting my short little essays at the bottom of the post so the work comes first. Visual art should speak for itself first and foremost).
Fabulous
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