color mezzotint
c 2002
4 3/4 x 11 3/4
edition: 50
signed in pencil
ames Groleau created a series of color mezzotints in an edition of 50. Corea Harbor is located east of the Schoodic Peninsula just north of Western Island. Geographically, Corea Harbor is 13 miles northeast of Mount Desert Island and 47 miles northeast of Vinalhaven. This landscape is from the Salt Granite Spruce porfolio which is comprised of eighteen color mezzotints depicting coastal Maine. Intimations of the Arts and Crafts Movement of the early twentieth century are evident in the palette of greens and grays, with additional touches of violet, eggplant and ochre. The overall warm and tranquil depictions of nature are another reference to the period. A variety of techniques were used in the production of this series and are common to each image. Chine collé, a technique that utilizes color paper in a print, offered a consistent underlying tone, unifying the series. In this case a mustard-colored paper, cut to the precise dimensions of the image, was glued to the larger printing paper during the printing process. All images were created through the use of four mezzotint plates, each plate introducing an additional color and dimension. Selected plates were prepared a la poupée, which involves inking one plate with two or more color inks.
James Groleau was born in Lewiston Maine in 1960. He is self-taught. His first serious drawings were political posters aimed at discouraging registration for a military draft. Later after three months of human rights work in Guatemala he rendered a series of drawings on indigenous life in the highlands for which he received grants from the A. J. Muste Memorial Institute and the Haymarket People's Fund. Groleau has continually stretched his artistic abilities into new techniques and subjects. His works have appeared in numerous exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad. He is currently a member of the California Society of Printmakers and the Bay Printmakers of San Francisco and is a board member for the Graphic Arts Workshop a printmaking cooperative. He lives in San Francisco with his partner writer and activist John Lindsay-Poland.
His works have appeared in numerous exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad. He is currently a member of the California Society of Printmakers and the Bay Printmakers of San Francisco, and is a board member for the Graphic Arts Workshop, a printmaking cooperative. He lives in San Francisco with his partner, writer and activist John Lindsay-Poland.
