Laura Charlton
Artist, Printmaker
Felda, FL
@laura_arteaga_charlton
“In 2021, after many years of dreaming and waiting, I was finally able to purchase my first press, a 6:1 geared drive 36 x 54 inch Conrad Monotype press, and I couldn’t be more thrilled with it. Getting this press was the best investment I’ve ever made in myself and my studio practice. In the past I had always printed on a Charles Brand press (and loved it!), but unfortunately these heavier etching presses were beyond my limited budget.
The geared Monotype Press was the perfect solution for me, because it allowed me to get the larger bed size that I wanted at an affordable price while still having the capacity to handle the high pressure that I needed for intaglio printing. So far, I’ve been able to do everything on the geared Monotype Press that I used to do on the Charles Brand etching press, it’s incredible! I also had a wonderful experience ordering my press from Conrad Machine Co.- everyone I spoke with there was so kind and helpful, and they were great about communicating with me throughout the process.”
– Laura Charlton,
Artist/ Printmaker
Bio
After nearly a decade in NYC working as a professional edition + collaborative printer, I relocated to southwest Florida in the summer of 2020 and founded my own shop, Aperspective Press. My shop is in an airplane hangar at the end of an old dirt road, surrounded by cow pastures and fields of watermelon and peppers.
I work almost exclusively with found objects, mostly cardboard packaging. I’ve been printing cardboard since 2008 and continue to find endless inspiration in this humble material. I use intaglio + relief printing techniques and have recently been experimenting with printing on canvas to make bags and other wearable art.
Artist Statement
My work is inspired by the space between things, by long shadows in the afternoon, by sun bleached bones in the field, and the beautiful forgotten things along the roadside. Liminal spaces, the transition between two states of being, a flattened box on the sidewalk becomes a portal to eternity, a gesture in time and space.
For me, printing is an alchemical process. Through printing, something of very little value can be transmuted into something beautiful and useful. That which was mass produced becomes a singularity, the ugly and banal become sublime, and the discarded object is given a new life within a new context. The hidden beauty, the inner workings and invisible potential of things is revealed.
Prints
“A Small Gesture”
– 13″ x 19″
– Monotype print – found object on handmade junk mail paper
– Printed on a Conrad 36” Monotype Press
– Aperspective Press – Felda, FL
“Shift”
– 13″ x 9″
– Monotype print – found object on handmade junk mail paper
– Printed on a Conrad 36” Monotype Press
– Aperspective Press – Felda, FL
“Untitled”
– 22″ x 30″
– Monotype print – cardboard box on Coventry rag paper
– Printed on a Conrad 36” Monotype Press
– Aperspective Press – Felda, FL
“Untitled”
– 30″ x 42″
– Monotype print – cardboard box on canvas
– Printed on a Conrad 36” Monotype Press
– Aperspective Press – Felda, FL
“Untitled Textile Collage”
– 30″ x 70″
– Monotype print – cardboard box on canvas
– Printed on a Conrad 36” Monotype Press
– Aperspective Press – Felda, FL
“Untitled”
– 36″ x 50″
– Monotype print – cardboard box on canvas
– Printed on a Conrad 36” Monotype Press
– Aperspective Press – Felda, FL
“Untitled”
– 21.5″ x 48″
– Monotype print – cardboard box on canvas
– Printed on a Conrad 36” Monotype Press
– Aperspective Press – Felda, FL
