Making Prints at Zygote Press: A Homecoming

I had learned nearly every print process while taking classes at the Cleveland Institute of Art but could no longer work with acids and solvents due to a bronchial weakness. Yet, I was brimming with ideas for more prints. After admiring some etchings by Lawrence Channing, he told me about Zygote Press, a local artist workshop promoting contemporary fine-art printing. Channing suggested that I call artist Bellamy Printz, one of Zygote’s four founders.

Bellamy and I began a three-year working relationship and lasting friendship: She helped me develop etching plates while other artists generously helped with editioning. My work with Bellamy included a series of colorful etchings of Chautauqua in winter now on display at Cleveland Marshall Law School. Over ten years’ time, I’ve had the great fortune to work with several of Zygote’s talented printmakers, allowing me access to another medium that’s enabled me to grow as an artist.

I created my print Chicago Backyards with the help of a second Zygote co-founder, Kelly Novak. The third floor deck of my daughter Sara’s Chicago home, offered a lively view of fenced-in backyards with gardens, summer furniture, and wash flapping on a line. I created a pastel painting of that image, but it still hung in my imagination.

Backyards Chicago, linoleum block print, H18.5" x W23.5"

Kelly helped me step-by-step through a reduction linoleum block process which took eight weeks to complete. Adding each color required carving the large linoleum block with a sharp tool, beginning with white, then cutting away, one color at a time, until the grand finale-- black. I carved the block and Kelly printed. Each color needed a week to dry. Kelly had the ability to plan ahead and was a consummate craftsman, essentials in producing a reduction print. Together, we created an edition of 15 beautiful prints that have been purchased by many collectors.

In 2008, I had a solo exhibit at Zygote which had moved to a building near my studio. By that time, I had completed a large and varied group of etchings, monoprints, and reduction linoleum block prints with the help of Zygote’s gifted artisans. The show was scheduled to open less than two weeks after my husband of 52 years had passed away at age 76. That evening, surrounded by a gallery full of prints and packed with friends and family, I described my dear Leon as “the wind beneath my sails.”

Gloria Plevin