Denver is an art rich city. The number of art districts, galleries, and art museums is astounding for a second tier city. The art community is quite collaborative and is represented by the month long, city wide commitment to printmaking. Galleries and the city government have devoted programming, exhibits, and tributes to printmaking.
Last night I attended a panel discussion about printmaking. The panel discussed the intricacies and processes related to printmaking. The artists made it quite clear that printmaking is an intensely elaborate art process. Experimentation is prevalent in the printmaking community. The artists discussed their mark making process and how it results in the final piece of art.
One of the panel members, Michael Chavez, the director of public art for the city of Denver, made a statement about printmaking is the process of making an image and transferring it to another surface. When I heard this simple idea I began thinking about the impact art has on our lives.
What happens when we hear a song, read a poem, or view a work of visual art, don’t we have an experience? Isn’t that taking an image/experience and transferring it to our hearts and souls? I may be stretching the idea a bit, but printmaking/mark making is about what’s left behind. Isn’t it possible to create something and have the image or experience transfer to our being? What happens when we walk away from a work of art that we find moving? Don’t these works of art (all mediums) leave an impression on us? Isn’t it an impression that we can relate back to over and over as part of our soul?
There are so many ways that we’re able to make marks. We are capable of leaving traces of meaning behind by creating art. What marks do you make and how does these marks represent you? How do they promote a sense of meaning making in your life? How does this meaning strengthen your soul energy?
I’d love to hear your experience! Feel free to leave a comment in the space below.
Time to Live Creatively 