SEASCAPES

Jennifer Page

These photogravures were etched using a dustgrain aquatint. The images for these seascapes were shot with a digital waterproof camera. The fragile natural landscape of the island which lies between the river and the sea inspires most of my work. The wind is constantly reshaping the surface of the ocean but the shape of the land below the water plays a part as well. The moon and sun also play a significant role and this tidal influence becomes part of the rhythm of life near the water. I love the process of photogravure because unlike so many other photographic processes (photopolymer intaglio included) it is capable of deep black tones and pure paper-white tones with all the continuous tones in between. Photogravure is also able to incorporate traditional plate working techniques such as burnishing, re-etching, drypoint, etc. as a means to that end. There are numerous difficult steps and decisions that must be made throughout the photogravure process which distinguishes this process from other photo intaglio processes.

Jennifer Page, North Carolina, 2022

Jennifer Page is a gravure printer and artist. After graduating, she studied printmaking at East Carolina University and worked at both the Phillips Collection and Bob Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop. She founded Cape Fear Press in 2001 and has made plates for artists including Robert Motherwell, Peter Max, and Lorna Simpson. Page has experimented across all aspects of the gravure process and with the materials of the gravure process, experimenting with replacements for the discontinued autotype tissue. Page also makes her analog aquatint screens and gray-scale inkjet inks for digital transparencies. Jennifer also works in other historic photo processes such as cyanotype, salted paper prints, and carbon transfer printing. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally. / capefearpress.com