Harold Lohner

Prints of Men

September 2-30: Five14Arts @ Chartreuse
Gallery hours: Fri, Sat 6-9PM Sun 11-2

Harold Lohner | Retrospective
Retrospective

Printmaking was my primary medium in college. Studying at the University at Albany with Robert Cartmell in intaglio and Thom O’Connor in lithography, I made many prints that combined drawing from found photographs—especially group portraits—with texture and pattern. In some, I cut the etching plate so that embossed white rings would appear within the image, singling out individuals within the group. After I got my MFA in printmaking, it would be several years before I returned to the medium.

I was bitten by the stained-glass bug in Ed Cowley’s class, a welcome opportunity to make pretty, crafty, three-dimensional things. The quilt was a playful celebration of the end of my formal education, created in partnership with my mother, Roselyn Lohner.

Beginning with crayons and moving into encaustic, I experimented with pigmented wax to create images on rough surfaces. I embellished these portraits of friends with thick frames made of mixed materials that began to resemble sculptures.

A few transitional works, as the frames took over and became sculptures bearing images.

Leaving images behind, I used secondhand and discarded furniture to make sculptures. Some were playful, some enigmatic.

The carvings began as a way to combine the wooden furniture with images carved in relief. Similarly, I used woodburning to create images without pigment on wooden surfaces.

During a residency at Yaddo, I rediscovered my love of printmaking. I didn’t have the time or inclination to make editions, so I experimented with monoprints for the first time, making over 100 prints there. Returning to the studio at Russell Sage College, I continued making monoprints, while occasionally venturing into other media. In 2002, I moved to the even better studio at Sage College of Albany.