Peruvian Portals (with poem by David St. John)

Holly Downing

This artist's book is a collaborative effort between mezzotint printmaker Holly Downing and American poet David St John that resulted in a book of 7 mezzotints and accompanying typeset poetry. Quoted from the colophon: Peruvian Portals was created in homage to the people and culture of the Andes. In that spirit, David St. John's opening poem, "Doorway Song", has been printed in Kichwa, an Ecuadorian subcategory of Quechua. The translation was done Margot Cifuentes of Ecuador.

The theme of passageways has been one that Holly Downing has revisited throughout her career, in particular in the two series Peruvian Portals and Passaggio. Downing observes that these portals '...leads a traveler from one viewpoint to another: from an interior to an exterior, or from one main arterial street to another through an alleyway.' Passageways often indicate change; in Downing’s softly rendered mezzotints, capturing the gradual contrast of light and shadow, she invites the viewer to wonder what is on the other side - what, if possible, will change when they’ve passed through the portal.

Mezzotint is a form of engraving, whose subtle qualities are achieved with tone rather than line. The artist spends many hours “rocking” a copper plate until the plate has thousands of tiny holes, each with a bit of raised burr that hold a tremendous amount of ink. A fully rocked plate prints a lush, velvety black, unparalleled in any other medium. To obtain an image, the artist scrapes the surface of the plate, variously lowering the levels of the burrs so they will hold less ink and thereby yield gradations of dark and light. Gradually an image emerges out of the darkness. The plate is inked by hand and printed on an etching press.