Mary Gordon
Bounce, monotype with chine collé, 20 1/2 in. x 17 in., 2020
“My use of color is reactionary, as I respond to color and shape relationships on the page to push tension and balance, or evoke a sense of play and whimsy.”
Mary Gordon is an artist living and working in Manhattan, Kansas. Her approach to color is fueled by observations in her environment and her approach to printmaking is reactionary. Mary’s playful and layered work is created with monotype printmaking techniques, mixed media and collage. Currently she is working on a series of prints she calls "Shifting Landscapes" : observations of land and sky in the Flint Hills of Kansas.
Are there specific associations towards color in your work?
Environmental color associations often filter into my work when I’m choosing a palette, sometimes deliberately, other times more subconsciously. In Georgia, where I attended graduate school, invasive Kudzu attaches itself to houses and trees for much of the year, covering everything in lush green. It is a spectacular, yet unwelcome sight for some, since too much Kudzu can disrupt the health of an ecosystem. My home town, Manhattan, KS, is decorated with a medium-dark shade of purple to show its university pride. In the spring, an annual prairie burn transforms muted shades of winter into a new and vibrant landscape. Yellow-green baby grass sprouts up from charred earth. While I do not always depict these kinds of color associations in a literal sense, they continually bring me back to feelings of a certain time and place.
Purple Wave, monotype with chine collé, 15 in. x 14 in., 2020
Let Me Tell You A Secret, monotype with pronto plate litho, 8 1/2 in. x 10 in., 2020
Where do you reside between technical and intuitive in your work as an artist using color?
Much of the time, my use of color is reactionary, as I respond to color and shape relationships on the page to push tension and balance, or evoke a sense of play and whimsy. If it’s been a gloomy week, I find myself mixing brighter, warmer colors to lift my mood. On the technical side, I find joy in the challenge of mixing colors to match a particular scheme, like the sequence of square process marks hidden beneath my cereal box--or just the right shade of sky blue that ingrained itself in my memory while out on a warm, November run. Watching my undergrad painting professor mix ten variations of light pink helped me understand the nuances of color a bit more--and I am always learning.
“If it’s been a gloomy week, I find myself mixing brighter, warmer colors to lift my mood.”
What can printmaking ink achieve regarding color in your work that no other material can?
There is a richness to the color of printmaking ink that holds strong on many papers and other surfaces. I love to paint with acrylic and watercolors, but I am so drawn to using monotype techniques for the ability to roll out and print large fields of color quickly. There are wonderful possibilities for layering, and allowing residual colors and textures to take place.
Afternoon Dune, monotype, 14 in. x 11 in., 2019