Artist Beth Kerschen

My Artistic Journey
Beth Kerschen

Everything that I have learned throughout my adult life seems to have led me to my current art. I received a bachelors in fine art from Colorado College, where I focused on photography and printmaking. After I graduated, I moved to Boston, Massachusetts. I found myself involved in graphic design; working for design firms and individual clients. I strengthened my knowledge of manipulating and arranging images for the most impact. I have always been drawn to the culture of cities; from the architecture to the signage and unique graffiti to the feeling of the neighborhoods. So, I continued to practice urban photography as a side interest. After 10 years designing commercial artwork for clients, I really wanted to explore and experiment with my own work. I moved to Portland, Oregon. I fell in love with Portland and began trying to document the diverse and unique neighborhoods with my photography. Though I enjoyed photographing Portland, straight up, single, full-color images were not quite capturing the culture that I was looking for. I was experimenting with creating scenes with my photography around the same time I took a Solarplate Intaglio class. I learned the technique of making etching plates from my photographs and how to run them through a press. I had come full circle; back to the printmaking I had loved in college. I knew this was the style for me.  

My Creative Process

To start, I make a trip through the area I want to capture. I shoot with a Digital SLR (Canon 5D) with a wide-angle lens so I get really high quality detail and capture the full buildings in the frame. I take lots of photos and try to walk with a heightened awareness; staying open to all this around me. I never know exactly how I will use each photograph to create my scene, but I am taking visual notes. It usually takes 2-3 photo sessions to really capture enough images to work with.

After I get home, I download the images to my computer and then start the long process of editing the photos. I pick out the buildings, people, signage, etc, that best represents the area for me. Editing individual images is necessary to remove objects that are in the way, or to make sure I have a full building  with the correct perspective. I silhouette the objects and people (basically isolating images from the background) that I want to use in my scene.
Next, I slowly compose the scene in Photoshop. I try many different iterations; seeing which objects look best together visually. I focus on scale, depth, and what should stand out. This is one of the exciting steps for me; I feel like I am solving a complex puzzle. When I am finished, the scene just works. Once I am happy with the scene, I break up the images into different sections (each for a different plate) and print out each section onto transparency film. I am now ready to make plates.

I place the transparency film on a photo-sensitive Solarplate and shine U.V. light through it. The plate is placed in water. This etches the light exposed area and leaves grooves that match the image I want to print. I then rub ink on the plate and thoroughly, but lightly wipe off the excess. I am ready to make a print by laying damp paper onto the plate and rolling both together, under pressure, through an etching press.

I print each plate on to separate pieces of paper to make sure they are all consistent. Most of my scenes contain at least 5 different plates and so I must create a registration sheet to keep the composition together.

I lie the registration sheet down on the press and build the complete scene 1-3 plates at a time (depending on how the plates overlap each other). I place the background elements first (run them through the press) and then the foreground images. The final piece can take anywhere from 2 to 5 passes through the press.

Beth’s finished products are hanging in the Balch right now! They are truly beautiful. They are the type of art that I find myself drawn into. The more I move closer to it, the more I discover. We’re excited that Beth is working on some postcards for us! This spring they are slated to be at the Balch. I met Beth at the Portland Open Artist Studio Tour – something I’ll definitely do again next year because it was so fun. I was initially drawn to her postcards, not really to the other printmaking. However, when I saw it in person I completely changed my tune. I LOVED it. You can check out her site here. She has designed a return address stamp for herself that I’ve got my eye on!