Claudia Waters, painter and printmaker, was born in New York City and currently lives in Montclair NJ. She has a BFA from Parsons School of Design where she studied with William Clutz, Donna Byars, Martin Canin, and Michael Kirk. She has also studied painting at The Yard School of Art and printmaking at The Art Students League.
Her paintings and prints have been shown in numerous national and regional group and solo exhibitions.
Artist Statement:
I love working on copper plate through the labor-intensive etching process.The intentional and unintentional marks that result possess depth and character that cannot be found in any other medium. One never knows what will be seen when the proof is lifted off the plate after going through the press, and for me this is the beauty of the process. I bring my love of color to my etchings, sometimes by using two copper plates and sometimes by employing the a la poupée technique on one plate.
My beneficial pollinator series was inspired by my perennial native wildflower garden. A few years ago I noticed I hadn’t seen a Monarch butterfly in a long time and discovered there has been a drastic population decline of many pollinators. I embarked on creating a garden that would support native insects — for example, I planted common milkweed, the host plant for Monarch caterpillars. This past summer I was privileged to see many Monarch visitors in my garden and was able to raise from eggs over a dozen caterpillars and release them as adult butterflies.
Like the naturalist who collects, pins, and presses a specimen, I use the etching process to “capture” and “press” my specimens with the intent of preserving them for posterity and promoting their plight and appreciation.
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