Visual Realia welcomes Hyperallergic readers!
Read MoreMatrix Maintenance
Clay dries quickly — an obstacle the clay monoprint artist can not ignore.
Read MoreArt of the Clay Monoprint
Clay Monoprints are a relatively new art form, but they were formed from the skills of generations of potters and printmakers.
Read MoreCity's Edge
Due to the relatively short history of clay monoprints as a medium, creating one always feels like an experiment. This is particularly true as I try to see how the prints interact with other mediums.
Read MoreCopper and Collaboration in the "unentitled" Exhibit at Marketview Arts
Seven artists with unique mediums and techniques exhibit collaborative works in the unentitled exhibit at Market View Arts.
Read MoreYouTube Video of Visual Realia Clay Monoprints
A YouTube video discussing numerous clay monoprints by Andrew Smith of Visual Realia is now available at this link. The prints included are being exhibited throughout 2023 in various locations.
Read More"Finite Motion" Mixed Media Work
“Finite Motion” mixed media work by Andrew T. Smith
Read MoreThe Matrix — The Diary of a Clay Monoprint Artist
The clay slab that a clay monoprint artist designs on gradually becomes a diary of their work.
Read More"Pigment" Exhibit at York's Gallery @227
Andrew Smith of Visual Realia, LLC will be exhibiting over two dozen clay monoprints at Gallery @227, located on the first floor of the Codorus & Company building at 227 W. Market Street, York, PA. The exhibit will run from Friday, December 2nd, 2022, through the end of January 2023. A First Friday opening reception will be held at the gallery on Friday, December 2nd, from 5:00 - 9:00 PM.
When hearing the word clay, many think of pottery and ceramics, whose applications go back thousands of years. Texture and color were both modified by adding sand or metal oxides. Pennsylvanian Mitch Lyons utilized both ceramics and printmaking techniques by using clay slips (clay with high amounts of moisture) to create the modern art form called clay monoprints.
The clay monoprint artist designs their work on a slab of stoneware clay (called the matrix) by adding and manipulating additional colored clay in various shapes & forms. When the artist is ready to print, the matrix and the material (substrate) are misted with water, and the substrate is placed on the clay slab. Next, pressure is applied to transfer the image. Finally, the completed print is carefully pulled from the clay slab, hung to air dry, and sprayed with a clear sealant.
An unusual tradition of the clay monoprint artist is to create the new design on top of the previous, allowing elements of earlier works to express themselves in prints randomly. For this reason, most clay monoprint artists create abstract images.
Interested readers can find more information regarding clay monoprints and Andrew Smith at www.visualrealia.com.
“Pigment”
An exhibit by Andrew T. Smith
Gallery @227
227 W. Market Street, York, PA
December 2nd, 2022, through January 2023
M-F, 8:00 - 5:00
First Friday, 5:00 - 9:00 PM
Other Hours by Appointment with the Artist
Patchwork
The Past just left. Its remnants, I claim, are mostly fiction. We're stranded here with the threadbare patchwork of memory, you with yours, I with mine."
— Denis Johnson
"Patchwork"
Clay Monoprint on Pellon
8" x 10"
Andrew Smith / Visual Realia Studio
The square and rectangle blocks, newly added for this work, interplay with the large central yellow diamond and green and blue diagonal stripes, all remnants (patches) of previous works.
For the new elements, I purposely wanted to utilize my lesser chosen color slips, including siennas, umbers, red iron oxide, French rose madder, French yellow ochre, and the onion skin dyed slip.