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A series of traditional line etchings in the Renaissance manner by Viviane de Kosinsky will be on view at the Packing Shed Gallery during November in the exhibition “Plates and Places.” Etching plates, that is. All are invited to the opening reception on Sunday, Nov. 3 from 2 to 5 p.m.
Often enhanced with brilliant watercolor, these hand-pulled limited edition prints begin life as zinc or copper plates which are filed, polished by hand to a mirror finish, and covered with a satin varnish containing enough wax to allow layers of intricate drawing with a steel needle. Every line of exposed metal is deliberate and indelible in building a composition that will be reversed in the final illustration.
The plate is submerged in a bath of nitric acid diluted with water which etches the exposed lines to a controlled depth in the plate. These lines will later catch ink and offset under pressure through an etching press. This painstaking procedure is repeated as often as necessary to achieve the final proof. For centuries, the utter precision required in the technique of etching has lent itself to telescopic renderings. Flower prints of the 17th and 18th centuries were often colored by hand, and so were the early Currier and Ives prints, before they were produced by chromolithography.
These exquisite monochromatic and hand-colored works provide intimate windows overlooking landscapes and slices of the good life which many of us have experienced once upon a time or in our wildest dreams (have you ever been to Boardom?). The artist focuses, often in miniature, on the well-ordered scenery surrounding a plate of apples in Italy, or a Paris breakfast table set for two, or a dish of pears in a palazzo overlooking a surreal and empty sky.
Bringing Tuscany to
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