A hare to remember: Amanda Outcalt creates icon for Artisphere's 20th anniversary
Amanda Outcalt is creating an icon for a celebration: The commemorative poster representing the 20th anniversary of Artisphere, Greenville’s annual celebration of visual, performing and culinary arts, presented by TD Bank and held each Mother’s Day weekend on Main Street.
D.C.-based Outcalt is originally from North Carolina. She is a painter, printmaker and metalsmith, and a veteran of Artisphere. She shows her work across the country but this year, she’s bringing a special, high-jumping rabbit to Greenville – one she created through a detailed process that incorporates a variety of techniques.
“The base of my images is done with a process called intaglio, which is also known as copper etching,” she says.
“It’s a very old process, but it’s not an artmaking process that is used all that often anymore, because it’s kind of equipment-heavy. You have to use an acid bath and have a big etching press,” things that can be difficult to come by in in a private studio, she says.
Outcalt says the process allows an artist to draw an image and reproduce it multiple times. Once the image is drawn on copper and etched in the acid bath, it can be hand-inked and reproduced. Some creators stop at that stage – but not Outcalt.
“I come from a jewelry and metalsmithing background, so when I first started to do etching and intaglio, I thought, ‘I can just saw this copper apart and then I can use my etchings in different ways – pair them together,’” she says. “If I made two animals that were sawed out, I could ink them both, put them on my press bed and then put the paper on top and run it through. And then I have two animals that are kind of interacting together. I can just print them singular as well.”
The animal images serve as a jumping off point for Outcalt’s creations, which are completed through painting and drawing to add a narrative element.
“If I had an elephant that was a print from a copper plate, then I could draw clouds around it or paint balloons and tell a new story with it every time that I pulled a print,” she says. “I start with my etchings, which are kind of a big-time investment upfront, but then I can print them and use them in different pieces in different ways. It's kind of a fun challenge to be imagining what's going to happen next with this bison that I've used in a different piece before – what will I do with him now? A lot of my work is directly reflective of what's going on in my life, but it has some more universal themes as well.”
The poster Outcalt created for Artisphere includes an animal that has been featured in other works, but it is most appropriate to Greenville. The hare evokes the Swamp Rabbit Trail and is part of area lore, appropriate since Outcalt feels connected to the community.
“What I love about Artisphere – it’s a small place compared to a lot of the places I travel to for shows, but the caliber of art buyer there is really high,” she says. “The people who come to the show and are looking around and talking to artists and shopping for work or just generally interested, tend to be really interested in art, really interested in the artists themselves and have a good knowledge base about different art techniques. It's a really nice crowd to be able to chat with.”
See Outcalt’s art and her creation process atamandaoutcalt.com. Artisphere is May 10 – 12, featuring 140 visual artists on Artists’ Row, as well as performing arts, the Culinary Arts Café, Kidsphere children’s activities and more. Details are atartisphere.org.