FRANCES SWIGART
Painter | Master Printer
RECENT PRINTS
From the Carnivale series. This etching is is leafed with 23 karat gold leaf. It is printed intaglio with magenta, sepia, and yellow ochre inks.
Artist statement: "This series was drawn on my return to my home in New Orleans from Venice. When Venetians celebrate Carnivale (Mardi Gras), they do not just wear a costume, they transform themselves into the characters by acting, dancing, and gesturing."
Signed and embossed with the studio chop.
State II, 71/100
Plate Copyright 2001
Print Copyright 2021
Plate size 3 1/4” x 2 3/8"
Paper size 10 1/2" x 8"
Mill - Arches, cream
This image also available for purchase as a suite with multiple prints. Please visit original shop page to view.
The name hippocampus (or hippokampus) is derived from the Greek words (hippos, meaning “horse,” and kampos, meaning “sea monster”).
They were often depicted on old maps of sea routes. Indeed, more often than the mermaid. The god of the sea, Neptune, (also Proteus) had a chariot pulled by a team of hippocampus. His scepter is the trident seen behind the shell. Hippocampus is also a medical term for a region of the brain. The structure's shape resembles a seahorse. The same colors are used in the background and the foreground, creating a camouflaged environment.
This print uses hand marbled paper, watercolor, cut out intaglio printing, relief printing, and college. The marbled paper has the look of silk.
Signed and embossed with the studio chop.
Copyright 1987
State III, edition of 7
36" x 24 ½”
From the Carnivale series. This etching is is leafed with 23 karat gold leaf. It is printed intaglio with magenta, sepia, and yellow ochre inks.
Artist statement: "This series was drawn on my return to my home in New Orleans from Venice. When Venetians celebrate Carnivale (Mardi Gras), they do not just wear a costume, they transform themselves into the characters by acting, dancing, and gesturing."
Signed and embossed with the studio chop.
State II, 75/100
Plate Copyright 2001
Print Copyright 2021
Plate size 3 1/4” x 2 3/8"
Paper size 10 1/2" x 8"
Mill - Arches, cream
This image also available for purchase as a suite with multiple prints. Please visit original shop page to view.
“For me, printing is as natural as breathing.”
Frances Swigart skillfully merges the methodical, mechanical craft of printing with spontaneity. In addition to her expertise in traditional intaglio etching, she is also known for integrating a range of papers and manipulating different techniques. This includes printing on hand-marbled papers, water-coloring, gold and aluminum leafing, collage, sewing and beading. She explores new projects like solving puzzles, knowing that in the end the pieces will fit. Trust and synergy are the tools of her trade. She describes this as “playing” – calmly investigating, tinkering, and reworking until the final form reveals itself. Thoughts flow from knowledge in the practiced hand. Frances intuitively knows that a unique image will emerge.