Andrew Smith of Visual Realia, LLC will be exhibiting over two dozen clay monoprints at The Grotto, located on the second floor of the Rupp Building building at 2 W. Market Street, York, PA. The exhibit will run in February & March, 2023.

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 2023”
A clay monoprint exhibit by Andrew T. Smith
The Grotto
Second Floor
2 W. Market Street, York, PA
February & March 2023
M-TH, 9:00 - 6:00
F, 9:00 - 5:00
First Friday, 5:30 - 7:30 PM
Other Hours by Appointment with the Artist