This piece represents a new direction in which my art is heading. I call it taking the print "off the wall." The traditional way of presenting a print is on paper, matted, framed, and hung on a wall. The viewer has become trained to view and relate to the traditional print in a uniform way. I want the viewer to be able to see and relate to a print in a new way that they have not been able to do before. This sculptural piece is titled "Overpopulation", and is based on the intaglio print that inspired it. Blacksmithing and fabrication techniques were used to created the metal form. The print is encased within paraffin wax and fills the open voids within the form. I like the translucent qualities of the paraffin wax not fully revealing the print at first look. At first the lines of the print appear as stress lines on the faces of those suffering the consequences of overpopulation. Upon closer inspection one realizes the image is composed of thousands of smaller faces reflecting the pain of the larger ones.

I also hope to explore this using glass instead of paraffin. There are techniques for printing on glass or encasing prints within glass. Even further, these printed pieces of glass can be slumped into molds creating three dimensional pieces. The fall semester at UW-La Crosse will hopefully provide the opportunity for this.