In 1994, Frida Baranek, a Brazilian sculptor known for her wiry constructions of industrial trash, became the third woman to be sponsored by the Women’s Society of Washington University to print at the Washington University Collaborative Printmaking Workshop.(1) Working with Joan Hall as her master printer, Baranek produced three artworks that incorporated her experience with working in three-dimensions into a flat medium that she had never before encountered. It is not surprising that Hall would invite an artist who had never made a print to experiment in St. Louis. By this time, the WUCPW was becoming recognized as a place that encouraged its artists to challenge accepted methods of mark making. One of the works that Baranek created was #3 Wire and Handmade Paper (HMP) Print. While it was considered a print, its dimensions (measuring 23 1/8 x 26 x 9 7/8 inches) were quite unusual for a print. #3 Wire and Handmade Paper Print was produced by covering sculpted wire with paper pulp and then putting it through a press with an etched plate. The resulting piece was then pulled apart to produce the final three-dimensional piece. In the end, Baranek’s creativity had pushed the WUCPW staff’s printmaking expertise into untested territory.

Marilyn Kushner
Curator and Chair of the Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
Brooklyn Museum of Art