Nancy Jo Haselbacher’s work is beautiful and haunting. A sense of mystery fills each of her pieces as it seems she is presenting something, a space or landscape or at times an object, we know or should know, but are not quite able to place it or remember where, how, or why this knowledge exists in our mind. Working with both digital and traditional print technology Nancy’s images are layered, but not dense instead each piece has an openness that reflects ambiguity as well as lapses in our memory. Nancy’s surfaces truly reflect her process and use of the printing press with passages of color and areas of subtle embossment where the paper stands up to emphasis a form or negative space.
In so many ways Nancy’s work stands out in stark contrast to Maggie White even though both artists can be found teaching at Otis College, Nancy as the fulltime printmaking instructor and Maggie as an instructor in the continuing education program. Where Nancy deals with subtly and mystery, Maggie, a Tamarind trained printer, prefers to throw things in your face, well if not literally, at least metaphorically. Working on found images with slick surfaces and controlled photographic elements collected from art and other magazine and book sources, Maggie plays a game of in your face criticism and playful art making by silk screening images of broken eggs on top. A marble statue or seventies pencil drawing defaced by an egg seemingly thrown on-top reverberates with childhood energy and reminds of items and objects do overtime fall out of favor out of necessity or disregard.
Like Maggie, Eleanor Rembaum also deals with disregard or more aptly discarded items. A lifelong educator and artist, Eleanor has been working with the concept of the layers of the city and life in her art for many years. Recently she has been working on a series of books where she is taking recycling to heart and creating something amazing. Drawn to a sculptural book form, Eleanor was inspired to work with discarded children’s books. Selecting the heavy cardboard books she sands away the previous images and then recreates the book by appropriating textures and images from her etching. Reworking these prints, she creates three-dimensional books that resonate with the energy of history from each and every process and hand that has touched it.
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