Barbara Marcus-McKenna

Professionally trained at Rhode Island School of Design, my love of painting is perfectly expressed in Monotype, a process which combines freedom of painterly expression with the ingenuity of the Etching Press technology invented by the Renaissance Masters. I paint with instinctual rhythm, embracing abstraction and painterly gesture with tools of brush and brayer. Through the high-pressure of my manual etching press, pigment is forced into the fibers of the paper. The image is transformed and reversed as pigment recedes into paper, creating alchemy of color and movement. Each image is painted on a single plate that passes through the press at one time. There are no multiples, editions, or reproductions. Each monotype is authentic, offering unique surface effects that cannot be achieved by painting directly on paper. With thought provoking titles, my art communicates to the subconscious through suggestion. My intention is not to render or illustrate, but to elevate, arousing the innermost feelings of the heart.