I began this body of work two years ago in Maine, when I was drawn to stones resembling figures. I began making sculptures with them, and as I engaged in my next series of prints I wanted to emulate the colors of these stones as well as the lichens on the wet rocks, the sky, and the sea. I love the tactile nature of the stones, and in my prints I tried to express this texture by adding elements such as carborundum grit, sawdust, and dirt to the plates. The prints evoked by the stones began to mirror the internal path I had been on for many years. I began to research the history of ancient standing stones found around the world and discovered that they can be called menhirs and are often thought to facilitate a connection to the divine. In order to express the interior landscapes I was trying to represent, I felt I needed my prints to be more saturated and vibrant, so I started printing on Nepalese Lokta papers, which have a deep rich color. I used these papers for the initial collagraph prints, and adhered scraps of my previously printed rice papers using a technique called Chine Collé. Finally, I worked into each of these with oil paints and wax to create unique prints.
I am between worlds in both the mediums I employ and the imagery I use. I will always be a printmaker because I love the mystery that happens when I pull a print off the press. What is revealed can be slightly different from what I had planned, and this provides a new way of looking at the piece I am creating. It elevates my work and humbles me at the same time. As a printmaker, sculptor, and painter I love how the intersection of each of the media I use informs and enriches the other. I create deeply textured prints that are influenced by my sculptures, and paintings that are also unique prints. In this show I have tried to represent the states of consciousness I am navigating with different types of imagery. The internal map used to navigate the journey between the physical world and the world of consciousness is referred to in this series as the middle road. The imagery evoked in these pieces tries to describe the movement in consciousness from the realm of the individual mind to a more unified state of awareness that carries us into the realm of the soul, and in that state everything is luminous and vibrant and alive.
https://mitchellgiddingsfinearts.com/helen-schmidt-between-worlds/
