Momentum Artist: Chelsea Dudek

Chelsea Dudek, Stillwater
To A Friend- Variation and I’m Still Ironing
Etching and Thread, Etching

Q: What was your concept behind your works?
CD: My work is based on the preservation of an object, both in a literal sense, and in the preservation of the memory of the object. In both of my intaglio prints, I'm Still Ironing and To a Friend, I used found handkerchiefs to convey the idea of "lost" objects, things that are abandoned into a second-hand store.
In I'm Still Ironing, I used an excerpt from my great-grandma's journal, and To a Friend I used a found postcard from the early 1900s. I chose both for the handwriting, as a comparison to the handmade handkerchief. Both came from the hand of a person from the past.

Q: Explain the technique and/or process you used for the pieces.
CD: The intaglio prints were made using the softground technique. Into the softground, which is soft and pliable, I placed the handkerchief, and ran it through the press. This made an exact impression of the handkerchief (this is the preservation). The handwriting is also softground, traced onto tracing paper and flipped. I then etched the copper plate in nitric acid for several hours.

In I'm Still Ironing, I made a second copper plate of equal size, and did a line drawing of the handkerchief. Into the line drawing I added aquatint for tone (aquatint is applied as a fine rosin dust to the plate and fused with heat to the plate). I etched the second plate in short intervals. I inked each plate, one in a purple (softground) and one orange (aquatint). Then, I printed the orange plate first and printed the purple plate on the same sheet of paper. To a Friend is similar as I did the same softground technique for the handkerchief. In a second plate, I traced an enlarged version of an old postcard and did hardground and softground line. The handkerchief plate was printed in gray and white onto the paper first and then I placed the black/ gray postcard.

Momentum Tulsa 2009 includes visual art by artists aged 30 and younger. The exhibition is free and open at Living Arts, 307 E Brady, Tulsa, until October 24. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Sunday 1-5 pm, until 9 pm on Thursday and Friday.

Curators Scott Perkins & Frank Wick selected 93 artworks by 66 artists from all over the state for the exhibition. Also, three Spotlight artists created bodies of work on display, Nick Bayer, Dustin Boise, and Emily Kern. Intern Ashley Romano interviewed the artists to learn about their creative process. Watch for more profiles throughout the run of the exhibition.