Roger Broer demonstrates magic of monotype printmaking
From plate to paper, community members and Dakota State University students watched Hill City artist Roger Broer demonstrate monotype printmaking on Wednesday, Nov. 4.
The event was sponsored as a collaboration of the DSU Karl E. Mundt Library Art Gallery, DSU Diversity Services and the Madison Area Arts Council Chautauqua Series to celebrate Native American month. Broer is a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation. About 50 people went through the gallery during Broer’s reception, talk and demonstration.
Broer said titles for an artwork often come to him first and inspire him to make a print. He makes notes or sketches of ideas before he forgets them, Broer said, so he can come back to them later. Broer also finds inspiration in a particular time of day – in the early morning or late evening – when nature’s colors are subdued to the eye.
Several of his monotype prints have writing on them. Some of the writing is clear and legible, while others are garbled and overlapping, something Broer refers to as “controlled chaos.”
“You can read what they say. It just doesn’t make any sense, and that’s OK,” Broer said.
“Art is not a mystery. It’s just magic,” he said.
For his demonstration, Broer made a monotype print of a crow, a creature that he’s used hundreds of times during the past decade. He favors corvids, which includes crows, ravens and jays, for their intelligence.
“Corvids are the smartest of all the birds. I know they’re the only ones that feel the need … to take toys to the nest for their young. I think that’s a sign of intellect,” Broer said.
He uses animals as subjects in many of his prints. Broer doesn’t try to create a completely accurate image of the animal, but rather a human emotion or need represented by the animal.
“I’m not trying to show you what this crow looks like. I’m trying to show you how he feels,” Broer said.
Broer used a small roller called a rubber brayer – the same one he’s used since 1984 – to transfer oil-based paint to a plate of Plexiglas. He then laid a piece of dry paper on top of the plate and rubbed the paper with an agate stone attached to a handle. Some of his other tools are made from deer antler and string.
He said this hand burnishing method places about 600 pounds of pressure on the paper and plate. Once enough paint was transferred to the paper, Broer fine-tuned the print by adding detail with a colored pencil.
Broer said artists need to be conscious of how the eye moves around the page.
“Every good painting has a rhythm, a tempo,” he said.
Broer holds monotype printmaking workshops at his Hill City studio every spring and fall. Those interested in this opportunity should contact either the University of South Dakota or Black Hills State University for more information.
Broer’s pieces will be exhibited at the Mundt Art Gallery throughout November. His work can also be seen on his website at www.lakotart.com
