Anita Hunt is perhaps best known for her intricate etchings and bold, black and white monotypes. Her recent forays into collage represent a new direction, one in which she samples and remixes her images to create new compositions. As a prolific printmaker of 40 years she has, in addition to printing hundreds of editions, squirreled away a large treasure trove of trial proofs, alternate versions and color experiments printed in a variety of mediums—etchings, aquatints, mezzotints, monotypes, linoleum cuts, woodcuts, lithographs, nature prints and rubbings taken from trees, plants, rocks, and local, historic gravestones. She mines this rich archive as the raw material for collage. Each collage is assembled from a careful arrangement of prints combined with hand-marbled paper and hand-drawn elements into a unique composition. The collages illuminate her exploration of subjects, forms and ideas as her vision has evolved across decades. They embody many eras of her lifelong printmaking journey.

“To begin, I select some pieces from the drawer and consider how they might work together, the palette, the focal points, and the mood. Then I spend an inordinate amount of time—days, weeks, months—cutting, rearranging, adding, subtracting, putting aside, and starting over again and again. I respond to the interplay of the materials, allowing one move to lead to the next, until I discover a focus or narrative and steer in that direction. I generally work on several collages simultaneously and they engage in a group dialogue. It’s a serious play of push and pull, of call and response, akin to piecing a crazy quilt or solving a puzzle. When I feel satisfied a particular arrangement has all the elements it needs, I photograph the final version before I carefully deconstruct it, piece by piece, and apply the glue. I refer to the photograph as I paste it all together, sometimes making further alterations before it’s finished.”

Anita Hunt is past president of the Monotype Guild of New England, an elected member of the Society of American Graphic Artists, the Boston Printmakers and the Los Angeles Printmaking Society. Her images feature in professional journals, textbooks and literary publications. Hunt’s work has shown at the Print Center New York, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, the Print Center Philadelphia, BIEC de Trois-Rivieres in Quebec, London Print Studio, Danforth Museum of Art, the Janet Turner Print Museum, the Tokyo Print Triennial and in dozens of national and international group exhibitions. Permanent collections include: the New York Public Library, Yale University Art Gallery, Portland Museum of Art, Smith College Museum of Art, Tama Art University Museum, Tokyo, Decordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Bradbury Art Museum, Syracuse University Art Galleries, the Blick Art Collection, Douro Museum, Portugal, Hood Art Museum, Tsinghua University, Beijing, the Boston Public Library and others.