Series POST TRAUMATIC LAYERS OF LIFE Mixed Media Printmaking including photography, Polyester Plate Lithography, Copper Plate Etchings, Screen Prints, Colograph and Chine-collé.
Artist Erica Deshner
The creation of art can be about healing and the journey of life: 'She Climbs from the pages of Mary Shelly' and 'He climbs' are representations of what needs to happen in order to breakthrough a hard situation in life. Like the feeling you get when you reach the top of a hard climb. To pull yourself up over a ledge is an incredible feeling.
Life and layers of responsibilities can build up: I call these the post traumatic layers. Sometimes meeting basic levels of life is the challenge.
I wanted to contribute to, recycling, community service, and charity. I started with recycling.
'He climbs’ Uses broken skate board decks to create texture and by turning them into printing plates they become tools. By collecting unused ink and spreading it on the bottom of the broken boards and pressing them onto the dry prints I was able to recycle while creating art this gave my work a deeper purpose.
One Day a collaboration with another artist; Jason Beam was created when an ink drawing called 'The Monster' he had done was given a new canvas. My dog ate Mary Shelly's Reader; my son had borrowed it from the Library so I paid for it and recycled it. I asked Jason if I could use 'The Monster' to recycle the book he said go for it.
After several prints on the pages of Frankenstein I began to combine the image on other prints I had thought were no good but could not bring myself to just throw away.
In general humans waste a lot. I am reminded of that every time I make a polyester plate lithograph. I learned this non toxic lithography process when it was being developed by, George Roberts a professor, my advisor and mentor at Boise State University. He developed the process after he was diagnosed with cancer. After his passing I pushed myself to continue a journey of art, self discovery and to recycle.
