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Johanna Mueller @ Reyes+Davis March 25, 2009 She Howls Mueller and Goldman This month, Brigitte Reyes is showing the engravings of Johanna Mueller, a just-minted MFA from the terrific printmaking program at George Mason, headed by Susan Goldman and Helen Frederick. Johanna was discovered by Goldman at a workshop in South Dakota and brought to Mason, where she has obviously thrived. the artist at work Mueller practices the well-nigh archaic technique of engraving on wood (and on plates made from HIPS - a newish plastic material like PVC). Unlike etching, where a line is graven into a plate and the ink that settles into the grooves is printed, engraving is a relief process, where the print is made from the ink that remains on the surface. Mueller’s work is incredibly precise and detailed – she uses a jeweler’s magnifying goggles to engrave the plates – and filled to overflowing with finely-wrought, evocative, almost ancient imagery. It powerfully recalls the illustrated books of the 17th and 18th century, yet the stories are her own, creating an idiosyncratic visual world of mythic animals, fetishes, childhood fever dreams. Only an artist strongly in thrall to her own imagination could spend the time required in that world to create these wonderful pieces.   < Prev   Next >