Margi Grill in her home studio, age 9
As an art-making kid, my goal was to be a painter. Painting is what I studied in art school and I was good at it. I still am. I am one heck of a painter. Recently, I’ve felt the draw to a different media … Printmaking!
In college the printers were the hipsters. While us painters were engaged in Bob Ross cosplay, the printmakers biked to school, carried Nalgene bottles, and could answer “what type of music do you listen to?”. I was never cool enough for the world of print, which led to a 20-year crush on all things paper and ink!
The older I get the less anxiety I have about being uncool, so I’ve started making prints. I began messing around with a screenprinting kit and took a few classes. Then, on a whim I bought a gel-plate. Life changed! A form of mono-printing, gel plates are basically Jell-O slabs that can hold acrylic paint, transfer texture, and take a lot of experimentation. I could now print how I had always painted, by figuring it out through layers and layers of process. Gel-plates are also the dorkiest version of printmaking. Perfect for me!
I have made several interesting gel-plate prints! I also have numerous failed projects! The paint was globby, the imagery was trite, or they reminded me of a Trader Joe’s grocery bag. Even bad prints are made with good paint. Most importantly, they’re made with valuable time! How could I possibly throw them out? This brings me to the point of the story: hoarding is an important part of my process!
My studio holds an elaborate storage system of failed prints: meh prints, prints that need one more layer, and prints that need a lot more layers. If the print has something interesting, but too many mucky areas, I’ll start with drawing (colored pencil, water-soluble crayons, graphite). Then the nuclear option: I’ll add a layer of paint (watercolor, gouache, and even acrylic)!
This elaborate, improvisation process is an arduous journey. Layers are added to mask an area that bugs me, or highlight something I like, and then gradually the tone of the painting will shift. I’m getting somewhere when it evokes a memory. I focus on those emotions and work to make that feeling louder. It’s done when I want to keep looking at it.
This series of six prints were made this way. The plates were inked with cutouts placed over the paint, allowing the spiders, moons and hand mirrors to appear. Labeled meh, they were hoarded away, but the time came to sit with them again, add colors, and create new meaning. No longer meh, but rather they are mixed-media prints I’m proud to have made!
Mirror Image mixed media print
Haze mixed media print
Recollection mixed media print
In the Weeds mixed media print
Watercress mixed media print
Night Reflection mixed media print
Other Forms of Hoarding: My studio is also storage to a glut of many other ephemeral (flimsy trash) items! I’ve kept paintings from the above mentioned college years. I reuse them by cutting the canvas off the frame and restretching them over embroidery hoops to create circular compositions. I also have an unruly collection of vintage photographs that someone couldn’t throw out. One at a time, like a teaspoon from the ocean, a photo will become the precious fodder for painting. Lastly, I’ve kept every sketchbook and notebook I've ever owned. I apologize to the inheritors of my stuff. I have recently tossed the diaries of my teenage years. To those inheriting my stuff: you’re welcome!
