Natural Harmonics is the title of a new collection of Karin Schminke mixed-media prints that are on display in the One Union Square building in downtown Seattle until August 30.
To create the prints, Schminke integrated traditional artist media (paint, ink, colored pencil, and photos) with digital imaging tools, such as scanners, Photoshop and large-format inkjet printers. For example, Schminke used Photoshop to digitally combine some of the ink and pencil drawings that she had scanned. While combining the images, she altered them to emphasize certain textural qualities. Then, using inkAID? precoats, Schminke prepared the surface of Arches Cover Black paper to achieve additional affects when the images were output on an Epson Stylus Pro 9500 wide-format inkjet printer.
“By varying the density of the inkAID, I can control the intensity of the printed color,” explain Schminke.
The exhibit also includes several lenticular images, in which finely grooved lenses are laminated to the surface of the print to create the illusion of depth and dimension. These prints were output on a 2880-dpi Epson Stylus Pro 9600 wide-format inkjet. “Lenticular prints are very demanding in terms of resolution,” says Schminke. “With the Stylus Pro 9600, I can see a great boost in resolution when the lenticular lens is laid over the print. The images are very crisp, and show about 25 to 30% more depth.”
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Schminke is well-known for her experimental art and techniques developed with her colleagues in the Digital Atelier? Dorothy Simpson Krause and Bonny Lhotka. The Digital Atelier artists have demonstrated their techniques at the National Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art and many other venues, galleries and workshops nationwide. (Karin Schminke: www.schminke.com; Digital Atelier: www.digitalatelier.com)