Merry Christmas!
This is a dry point etching called The Light of the World.
And here’s the rest of the story. In a printmaking class at MiraCosta College, we had the assignment of making an etching on a zinc plate that showed a light source. I thought, hey this sounds like a Christmas card. The professor must have read my thoughts and said – no Christmas cards. Whatever; when do artists follow rules? So I started coming up with a concept for the piece.
I love Christmas; I mean I LOVE Christmas. I love celebrating the birth of our Savior so I took some of my favorite elements of our celebrations; the manger scene is based on an ornament my family had when I was a little girl, the candle has a tartan ribbon (I have an unfortunate plaid addiction) and the holly is symbolic of good luck or fortune and was a favorite Christmas symbol from my childhood. My parents gave a theater party for my birthday and took my friends and me to see a live performance of A Christmas Carol at the local theater in Carlsbad. The holly was on the invitations my mom made. So here’s is an Anglophile’s rendition of favorite holiday traditions. The plate made several prints and then was retired. Zinc is soft and easy for beginners to work with, but doesn’t last very long.
P.S. The teacher gave me an A on the project anyway and kept one for his collection which included etchings by Duchamps 😉 Sweet.
May the true Light of the World illuminate your Christmas celebration and bring you joy at this time of celebration of Jesus’ birth and throughout the new year.
Don’t forget to tune in to BYU SiriusXM Radio 143 on Monday December 22 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern/1:00 p.m. Mountain and 12:00 Pacific for a great Christmas collage – I’ll be sharing the McMurtry shortbread cookie recipe! www.byuradio.org