Carol Bloomgarden

Micrography: Art that Speaks

 

Through micrography (literally, "tiny writing") I use the written word to evoke textures and forms found in nature. Look closely and you will see these pieces are given substance and life not by lines or brush-strokes but by words. Poems, political writings, musings — all form various elements of each piece. I use techniques that include watercolor, India ink painting, etching, and pen-and-ink micrography.  

 

Currently I'm working on etching poems directly into glass and mirrors -- using a dental drill -- to throw shadows onto a background image. The shadows change and shift focus as the light changes and moves. I etch words onto both the front and back of one or more panes of glass -- I have to write backwards on the rear layers so they can be read correctly from the front. The layers create reflections and shadows that give a piece depth and texture, and encourage the viewer to explore the sensation of words floating in air. 

 

I've dabbled at the Rhode Island School of Design, communed with whale and dolphin sounds at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, served the wind- and flood-stricken with the Red Cross in Louisiana, and as a Registered Nurse teach HHA/PCA classes at Classen Home Health to support my art habit.

 

Now I'm working full-time in my studio, sorting favorite poetry by length, to find the perfect words for a newly created painting.  Yes, it would probably be easier to start with the poem, but I seem to prefer to do things the unnecessarily painstaking and ridiculously arduous way. Rather than illustrating a poem, I consider the process more like giving a painting a voice and an emotional background.

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