Thank you for visiting my page, and giving me the opportunity to tell you a little about myself and my artwork. I am a full time artist, with a studio in Hartford where I create most of my work and teach all ages some of the many techniques available in printmaking.
I spent over twenty years as a graphic artist for publishers and advertising agencies, and the skills I honed there were translated into the printmaking arts. I love the direct processes required, as well as the possibilities for combining traditional techniques with modern materials and tools.
My most direct prints are Monotypes. I work with thin layers of colored inks as if they are watercolors, with the same issues of preserving the lights and developing the darks. The colors are rarely predetermined, but are discovered along with the process of careful layering, printing, and adding more layers as the print evolves. A typical monotype may require 20 or more layers of ink, and there is only one final piece of art, comparable to an individual watercolor painting.
In many ways I have come full circle: to remembering a childhood of playing in fields, dirt roads, ponds and brooks. I often make art of and about rocks, and I've made books that look like rocks. The elements that come from the earth are the materials I use in my art: slabs of limestone for lithography, copper and zinc for printing plates, powdered gems and minerals in printing inks and paints, grits for polishing and chemicals for etching.
I sometimes begin with a base drawing, or a reference from one of my many sketchbooks, but often I work very abstractly, with direct application of inks, and see where it takes me. My mind is already full of memories and associations with places of interest so that I simply focus on my connection to the physical properties of the inks and other materials, and then draw out those memories to generate interesting compositions. There is randomness in the process, and following a conceptual path for as long as it yields results will find the image in the plate, but when it reaches a point of diminishing returns I change course. I make the print, the viewer decides what to see.
I make unique images in a variety of media, one-of-a-kind monotypes, or hand-pulled intaglio prints in small editions or monoprints. I don't make reproductions of my work, nor gicleé copies. I prefer that people who like my work have the real thing.
You may see more of my prints and paintings at www.marthagaluszka.com, and read about my studio, Watermark Press, at www.watermarkprs.com. It is the only solvent-free printmaking studio in Connecticut that is available to the public. You are welcome to take a tour at any time by calling 860-930-5491 to arrange a convenient time for us both.