Claudia Waruch

Artist Statement

A printmaker living in rural Hudson Valley, New York, Claudia graduated with a BFA degree in printmaking from SUNY, New Paltz, at the age of 60. The artist’s passion for mark making continues to motivate, enrich, and inspire. Defined as “drawing with nature” her practice includes a variety of processes such as handmade papermaking, shibori, indigo dying, collagraphs, solarplate etchings and monoprints. Those images explore the conceptual relationship between the organic and the refined. Claudia is fortunate to have farm fields which offer a variety of plant and organic materials that beg to be printed. They reveal emerging patterns while confirming the delicacy and the beauty of the natural world.

Recently Claudia’s efforts have embraced the creative practice of papermaking and indigo dyeing, a technique inspired by the Japanese method of dying cloth called Shibori. A mix of abaca or cotton pulp fibers are used to create her paper matrix. Each piece of paper is then either folded, wrapped, tied, clamped or held, often the organic matter is then wrapped or embedded into the paper. A vat of indigo dye is prepared and the paper wraps are slowly dipped under the dye solution, all the while monitoring how the paper absorbs the indigo. Each dyed piece is distinct which allows intuitive collages and subtle intricate pages to be created. Her studio is her magnet, “a place not only to create, but also a place to switch mental gears, lower my shoulders, exhale, while discovering all the many works swirling in my head. What a lifelong gift to explore.”

The artist has participated in exhibits and monoprint invitationals in New York, from Woodstock to New York City, and at The Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, Connecticut. Claudia has been featured in numerous publications and currently serves on the Board of the Woodstock School of Art.