Mary Phelan Artist Talk

Mary Phalen, an incredibly talented printmaker, allowed our St. Mary's community to learn and explore more of her past, current, and future projects. Letter pressing techniques were discussed towards the beginning of her talk, with examples to share such as the aptly, and amusingly, named "No Comment." "No Comment" stood out to me in particular due to its commentary on the news, the seemingly simplistic nature with a strong message, and the overall size of the piece. Beyond printmaking, other projects in her lecture included lithography, woodcutting, various forms of bookmaking, and photo printing. One fairly new project she is working on involves digital printing methods.

While her visit to one my classes a few days after her artist talk is not directly related to her lecture, I did want to highlight how enjoyable that experience was. Not only was I able to see and feel some of the books and papers she made, but she also taught my class how to make a book of our own. Although I was not previously interested in book arts for myself, her lecture and class visit opened my eyes to how I could utilize that form of art in some of my own works and perhaps one day have the skills to create my own books with artwork I have produced within them.