Hi, this is Jill Bergman. I’m a printmaker in Steamboat Springs. Mostly I create linocuts, but I love all types of printmaking.
My piece is titled, The Night Mysteries. The poem was written on a camping trip to one of our favorite spots in the desert. The Colorado River winds through some beautiful and sparsely populated country south of the Flattops and north of I-70. Being out in that expansive landscape really makes me contemplative.
My print was made by carving the image and text into artist linoleum. For this process, I carve away what I don’t want to print, and leave the image raised so it looks like a big rubber stamp. Next I roll ink over the raised surface and transfer it to paper with an etching press. The Night Mysteries was printed with two blocks onto Stonehenge black paper. The first block is actually uncarved, just a square sheet of linoleum printed with blue, purple and black inks. I used a stencil to have a clean transition between the sky and the mountain ink colors. The second block with all of the carving was printed on top with silver ink. Carving the text is a slow process, but I enjoy it. Everything on the block is carved backwards, including the text, because it has to be a mirror image of the final print on paper.
The Night Mysteries
The sun went down below the edge of the world. All that are left in the dark are the mysteries.
The mystery of twinkling stars, and coyote howls, and the question of what fish dream about in their river.
The mystery of migrating butterflies, and where the birds sleep, and how campfire can warm your heart.
The mystery of why rain smells like earth, and mountains vanished in the dark, and how the world keeps turning.
The mystery of what happened here in the past, and why we can’t see the future, and what is unfolding out there in the Milky Way.
The moon dips down to the edge of the world. We snuggle into sleep, the only way to solve the night mysteries.