AnaMaria Samaniego
AnaMaria Samaniego says “New Mexico landscapes have such amazing tonality and contrasts, and printmaking is really helpful for capturing those qualities" A printmaker since high school, Samaniego is in her 19th year at the Contemporary Hispanic Market, Santa Fe. Last year she was the official poster artist for the market with her sublime image of a rainbow over the mountains.
Samaniego, a graduate of the College of Santa Fe, earned the title of master printer while working for the Hand Graphics Workshop in Santa Fe. Her repertoire of printmaking capabilities includes linocuts, etchings, monotypes and collagraphs. In her publicity at the regular market stalls in central Santa Fe she says
... my work is entirely hand done. Etchings involve acid to corrode a metal plate creating crevices that hold ink and the ink is transferred to paper by a press. Collagraph is developed by gluing items to the surface of a press board plate, creating subtleties with gesso and acrylic mediums. The plate is inked and printed as an etching plus the collagraph can be relief rolled to take advantage of the 3-D qualities providing a painterly image. Monotype and monoprint is painting on a surface of plexiglass that is directly transferred to paper. This technique utilizes subtractive drawing techniques with layers of tonality and colour, creating a vibrant one of a kind image.
Such a straightforward description of the techniques of printmaking Samaniego uses belies her sophisticated application of all of them in her work.
Instinctively Samaniego captures the essence of the Southwest Landscape. Her art reflects a sense of place. It takes you into the wild flora flooded with the light of Nuevo Mexico. Her tints nuance the colours reflected off cottonwoods and sloping mountains. Her drawing, acrylic and pastel interpretations of landscape enhance her monotypes, etchings and collagraphs in brilliant, unexpected ways.
Composition is a particular strength of Samaniego's prints. Her textures identify foliage, rocks, and dry streambeds in explicit detail. Her colours and their tonal manipulations coolly recede or clamour in the foreground to evoke the light peculiar to desert mornings or twilight. Tonalities develop dimensionality to draw the viewer into her depiction of the land seen through her eyes. These elements are foundational to Samaniego's art; they imbue her art with a strong spiritual essence.
Ties to the landscape began in childhood. The Artist was raised around Mesquite, New Mexico, among the agricultural holdings of the Mesilla Valley. Inquisitive by nature, the young Samaniego wanted to capture the magic of growth by drawing her mother's beautiful flowers. Four years at College of Santa Fe gave her the skills and ten years at the Graphics Workshop, a private Print Shop, gave her the hands on experience to hone her formidable skills into an inspired artistry. Finally, she could depict the natural magnetism of the landscape that had held her enthralled for so many years.
Samaniego says the landscape that she has lived in all her life constantly moves her to want to portray it with "an honest heart"
Cheryl Hannah
Braidwood, 2009
