Marilyn Stein

After working for years as a mixed media artist, papermaker, felter, and painter, I discovered soy-based inks. The way the paper receives the ink reinvigorated my passion for making prints. The ink seems to seep into the paper, rather than building up on the surface. This permits me to maximize my other skills in creating a print that combines some of the textural properties of painting with the immediacy of monoprinting. My present series is inspired by a book of antique German maps. Their graphic properties, the quality of the old paper, and the texture introduced by the words on the maps serve as a catalyst for my artistic experiments. Working deliberately but with a freedom to trust my intuition, I deconstruct and rejoin the maps, using the stitched line to create new borders. The layering produced by successive printings enhances the texture of the final work and adds to a sense of history inherent in the original maps. The ghost image of one print is sometimes the stimulus for the next, creating endless possibilities for further experimentation.