Lithograph Series (8 Original Limited Editions)

Betsy Damon’s lithograph series arises out of Meditation with Stones for the Survival of the Planet, which began at the Soho 20 Gallery New York in 1982, performing the wisdom and healing powers of stones. At these full moon events, Damon would divide participants into groups of 6 to 8 people. These groups would take turns gathering in a circle to discuss how stones had the power to be used both as a weapon and to heal people. Participants were then asked to lay on the ground with their heads at the center of a circle with their legs radiating outwards aligning feet at the circle’s perimeter. Damon, who had been an avid collector of stones, then gave each person a stone, directing them to place the stone on their body in a place where they needed to be healed. She would ask them to consider, “What’s one thing you want to make sure survives on this earth? What’s one action you can really take?” After completing the interactive performance with a guided meditation, the next group would then be invited to begin this process anew. Betsy’s Damon’s belief was and still is that such mindful and conscious interactive performances help people to heal themselves, and then in turn to heal the planet.

According to the artist, we must first heal ourselves before we can heal the earth. Hence the title of her performance artwork, Meditation with Stones for the Survival of the Planet. This lithograph series created in 1983 by the artist was inspired by these performances. Solo Press (New York, New York) provided Betsy Damon with use of their lithography press. There she received the guidance of a Japanese master of lithography in producing these original artworks. In this series, three of the artworks exhibited: Earth, Sea, and Sky belong to a limited run of 30 prints created 40 years ago. Most of these multiples are in collections throughout the world. All other lithograph prints exhibited here today are one-of-a-kind.

Piece Description:

Text: Sophia Kidd

Lithograph Series I: Earth features two large stones constellated by an array of smaller ones both between and around them. According to the artist, stones are water come into solid form. It is important to spend time examining stones, especially when they are laying in a riverbed. Imagine how they are formed of solidified water. Imagine how, then, they have been shaped by water flowing around them. Watch the water running over them, around them, cast into vortices of movement in relation to the stones.

Piece Description:

Text: Sophia Kidd

In Native American indigenous tradition, every stone is seen and felt to be a sacred healing object. In the 1970s and 80s, Betsy Damon performed both alone and in collaboration with other artists at many venues, and particularly on the streets of New York. In some of these performances on the streets, people would lay flat in the streets with stones on and around their bodies. In Lithograph Series II: Sea, the color palette is the cool blue of the sea. Two large square surfaced stones were laid on a stone printing plate, with scattered stones arranged around them. Each separate color in these lithographs (there are usually three or four main colors) required a separate print run, creating a rich and dimensional visual affect, mirroring the complexity of human existence in the natural world.

Piece Description:

Text: Sophia Kidd

According to the artist, these lithograph prints were quite difficult to produce, and required a good deal of experimentation to achieve the affect she was looking for. The challenge was that everything you see in the print was caused by an interaction between stones and the lithograph plate (which is also made of stone). Each color wash (Lithograph Series III: Sky has a particularly complex color palette) involved a separate set of interactions. The artist felt this series well worth the effort it took to make, as she felt it could be an effective way of engaging people in the reality of stones.

Piece Description:

Text: Sophia Kidd

Unlike the first three artworks in this Lithograph Series, which each belonged to a limited edition of 30 prints; this, along with 5, 6, 7, and 8 is a one-of-a-kind, created on the lithograph plate in an instance of inspiration of color and form. The rust and earthen tones hearken to the tableau we saw in Earth of this series, but here the main stones seem to be effaced by their constellations, leaving behind a plethora of forces which shimmer in layers of affect.

Piece Description:

Text: Sophia Kidd

Unlike the first three artworks in this Lithograph Series, which each belonged to a limited edition of 30 prints; this, along with 4, 6, 7, and 8 is one-of-a-kind, created on the lithograph plate in an instance of inspiration to play with color and form. Warm stone lifts off into the yellow and ochre spectrum, towards the sulfur of earth’s decomposition, into fermenting phases of water as it continues its transformation accumulating into metals, where particles lose their dynamic flow, steadying into earthen and then petrified state.

Piece Description:

Text: Sophia Kidd

Unlike the first three artworks in this Lithograph Series, which each belonged to a limited edition of 30 prints; this, along with 4, 5, 7, and 8 is a one-of-a-kind, created on the lithograph plate in an instance of inspiration of color and form. Obsidian departs from the colorful palettes of the other 7 artworks in the Lithograph series, engorging itself with the absolutes of black and while, while luxuriating through spectrum of greys and silvers. This is a study in light and dark, featuring the stones that are all small to medium in size, arranged in spiraling movement from the inside towards the edges of the composition.

Piece Description:

Text: Sophia Kidd

Unlike the first three artworks in this Lithograph Series, which each belonged to a limited edition of 30 prints; this, along with 4, 5, 6, and 8 is a one-of-a-kind, created on the lithograph plate in an instance of inspiration of color and form. In the Dark resembles Obsidian in that it leaves behind the colorful palettes of many others in this series, choosing to hover within the fields of an even higher key contrast of light and dark. See here the two large squarish stones that we saw in the Earth, Sea, and Sky artworks, but with the additional elements of bubbling forms of stones that seem almost to be birthing themselves from the mother stones.

Piece Description:

Text: Sophia Kidd

Unlike the first three artworks in this Lithograph Series, which each belonged to a limited edition of 30 prints; this, along with 4, 5, 6, and 7 is a one-of-a-kind, created on the lithograph plate in an instance of inspiration of color and form. Sunset fittingly resembles Sky in this series, but in Sunset, we appreciate the rosy hues which deepen towards the center stone, which in turn radiates towards the smaller stones in its orbit. This color palette recalls the artist’s belief in the healing powers of stone, in this case providing us with the warmth of personal and centered feeling as we interact with others in this world.