Peak Creek Artist Statement

 Subject and Concept

For me, Peak Creek is a thing of beauty, potential, and worry. As with most of my visual representation, time is suspended in some other decade than the now, as I use my camera to interrupt the landscape. I see this interlaced with the future—a positive one where the creek transforms into a tourist destination like the Riverwalk Providence in Rhode Island. But then there is the anxiety. This small body of water is something I, dare I say we, take for granted. Sure it will rise and fall with the amount of rain we receive, but are we doing all that we can to make sure it continues to flourish? I hope so. 

Process Statement

Using a process called carborundum printing, I hand-pull these limited-edition prints. Starting with a black and white photograph, I turn it into a digital bitmap. This uses hundreds of tiny dots to create a recognizable image. Then I print this onto a transparency and burn the image onto a screen (think silkscreen). Using carborundum gel rather than ink, I screen print the image onto an acrylic plate (think plexiglass). From this point, I treat the plate as I would any intaglio print or etching. Once the plate is dry, I ink it, lay it on the bed of my etching press, put a sheet of paper on top, cover both with blankets, and run the layers through the press.