Process …
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I've been experimenting and making image transfers with a variety of transfer mediums. My new work, Hasta Cuando, is the first time I used the transfer process in a deliberate series. The "hands on" experimental process is one that I thrive with... I love the fact that the process lends itself to unexpected "failures" which ultimately have the potential to become an interesting element in an unintended collage or mixed media work. The most recent work I am experimenting with combines images I took as a teenager in the late 1970's with very recent documentary work from Calle Ocho in Miami. The center image is one of my first experiments. I will be using Dass transfer film products for this series. I'm not sure yet where I will take this and may end up with very straight forward work, but I haven't been this excited about creating in a long time! So often the process is more exciting than the outcome...
I am experimenting with Dass transfer products, which were introduced to me by a colleague and photo artist, Yasmin Mazloom, (thank you, Yasmin!) If you want to check these products out, (no, I am not an influencer...just want to help a very professional company and any artist who is interested), here is their website: https://dassart.com/shop/
Just FYI: the other two images are layered image transfers from paper with Acrylic Medium and Mod Podge products. (February 2023)
I am experimenting with Dass transfer products, which were introduced to me by a colleague and photo artist, Yasmin Mazloom, (thank you, Yasmin!) If you want to check these products out, (no, I am not an influencer...just want to help a very professional company and any artist who is interested), here is their website: https://dassart.com/shop/
Just FYI: the other two images are layered image transfers from paper with Acrylic Medium and Mod Podge products. (February 2023)
These images and many more were made with my phone as a took a stroll around my neighborhood in early spring 2020. Sadly, I encountered countless litter from the masks and gloves related to the fear of covid 19. I wanted to reflect on them. Are there compositional elements at play here that make these valid subject matter, or are they just a document/reminder of our fragility? The effects of these past 2 years, mask mandates, lockdowns, social isolation have created devastating results. I wonder if in the future, we will look back at this time in history and ask ourselves if the "prevention and cure" yielded more tragedy than the actual virus. Time will tell. But as humans, all we can do is make the best possible decision with the facts on hand, let's pray we have the truthful facts, let's hope we made the right choices, but mostly, let's pray for the eradication of this horrible virus and the global devastation it has and continues to create. I am working on a series of books, journals, if you will, this year. These images from my walks will be included in one of the "Journal" books, though I am not yet sure what I will call it. (May2021)
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Inspired by a gift from a friend, the Vinedresser’s Notebook, written by Judith Sutera, my recent work is an evolving series titled, Visual Silence. The work is an exploration of faith, process and documentation of two grapevines planted by my husband in our small backyard. The studies below are only part of the process. They are documentations of the vines as they grow, connect, intertwine…and eventually produce fruit. Some of the more complete pieces of this thematic, and evolving series, will be posted as they are completed. (7/16/2018)
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The Vine, mixed media © Belenna Mesa Lauto, December 2018
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Featured here is the completed tryptic, from work inspired by the grapevine. These final works are a combination of sun prints, photographic images, and also include the work of Barry Schwortz, the photographer the official photographer for the Shroud of Turin Project. (06/01/2019)
A few months ago, I saved a leaf that had fallen off a tree near my home. I originally intended to use it as a subject in some sun print experiments I was working on, but then forgot about it. When I came across it again, it was basically a leaf skeleton and seeing it deteriorating, I decided to photograph it as many times as I could before losing interest in the possibilities. I shot over 200 images. (I am sharing 16 of them below.) A few days after my "documentation" I experimented with layers in Photoshop using the leaf skeleton combined with some of the marionette images I have in my "collection". I liked the results and thus began to create a body of work that I have now decided to call, Diaphanous. I will continue to work on this series until I feel it's potential has been reached… 6/01/2015
