Mar 21, 2013

Fine Artist LuAnn Roberto Adds Fresh Organic Approach to Traditional Printmaking Technique

LuAnn Roberto a visionary artist who melds her graphic design skills with monoprinting, a form of fine art printmaking, today announced that she will debut her art licensing portfolio at Surtex in NYC, May 19-21, 2013. LuAnn is one of five founding members of Art Licensing LA (ALLA), a new collaborative agency, and will exhibit with ALLA in booths #734 & 736. LuAnn will showcase ten new collections including a beautiful series of fresh vegetables, a fun menagerie of various animals and a refreshing group of beach lifestyle images. The “mash-up” of design, painting and printmaking result in rich painterly effects with loose line work and a transparent layering of colors, textures and shapes.

By day, LuAnn Roberto is a creative director, brand strategist and owner of 411 Graphics (www.411grfx.com) based in Redondo Beach, California. But LuAnn Roberto is foremost and always an artist. With her refined sense of design, a deep appreciation for the accidents of creativity and experimentation, and a generous sense of humor, she creates wall art, patterns and prints for any application.

“My medium is both contemporary graphic design and old school monoprinting,” LuAnn says. Whereas my professional designs have to be really tight and controlled, with monoprinting, you have no idea what’s going to happen on the press. Whatever you paint will be backwards and get smashed when it rolls through the press. This has enhanced my daily design work and made me an advocate for trying the unexpected.”

Monoprinting is a combination of painting and printmaking techniques that gives the artist freedom to work with a wide selection of materials such as inks, pencils, crayons, and pastels, and to choose from a variety of methods to transfer images.

To create a monotype the artist paints or rolls ink onto a blank plate. The image is created by manipulating ink with various tools (brushes, rags, stencils,etc.) Ink can be layered, color over color, and printed on the same paper in successive passes through the press. Because there are no permanent marks on the plate, it is not possible to create exact multiples of the image, Each monoprint is different and unique and the artist may use one or more techniques to achieve the image that he or she wants to create.

“I love the monoprint medium,” she adds. “When I’m on the press,” Roberto explains, “I love working with the brightest ink colors. I enjoy trendspotting and antiquing, and fusing these concepts into a single design. I experimentwith a variety of materials. For example, recently I found a most unusual netting that was used to hold together firewood. I used it on the press to create a beautiful flowing pattern” she adds.

LuAnn began painting and printmaking after the death of her mother as a way to get through her grief. After 6 months, she began to show her work and became familiar with the world of licensing art.Being an advertising professional, she easily made the addition to her business and www.LuAnnRoberto.com was born.

LuAnn’s monoprints and monotypes:
Combine painting and printmaking techniques
Are intuitive and instantly gratifying to create
Provide an end result that always creates movement, tells a story or evokes a feeling
Are loose and spontaneous
Utilize all skill sets: printing, design and painting
Are multilayered — effects are created by first enhancing prints with gouache, colored pencil and marker, then digitally scanning the print using digital talents to tweak color, lighting and size

Enjoy LuAnn’s portfolio at www.artlicensingla.com/luannroberto
Please contact luann@411grfx.com with project inquiries.

Background
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, LuAnn won her first art contest at age 11. She had several artistic influencers in her life whoencouraged her to be an artist, a designer and an entrepreneur. She excelled as an artist thru high school,showing leadership in creative thought and then attended Central Academy ofCommercial Art, a private 2 year college, focusing on advertising and graphic design. LuAnn began successfully working in various studios and ad agencies. In 1984, she moved to California where opportunities to work in entertainment as well as corporate and packaging were abounding.

In 1989, LuAnn founded 411 Graphics, specializing in strategy, graphic design and brand identity. Maintaining that core purpose, LuAnn has successfully led her company into an expanded marketplace with a broadly diverse clientele and ever-shifting technology base. She holds the Women’s Business Enterprise Certification (WBEC), is a founder and exhibitor with Studio 1613, and was named “Woman of the Year” by the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce Women in Business Committee for her contributions to community vitality. LuAnn also serves on the committee of POP-UP Gallery, seeking to install artwork in underutilized commercial spaces.

Creating artwork that reflects her passion for color and design and has a broad audience appeal, LuAnn is “easily inspired.” “Some of my favorite things are laughing out loud, dancing, the color magenta, the smell of fresh basil, baking cakes and my extra large wiener dog, Frank Furter Roberto,” LuAnn says.

LuAnn’s art is influenced by:
Seeing the humor in most things
Vintage trends — anything from house wares to old industrial tools
Personal life experiences (crazy Italian family, life, death, etc)
Found objects, collected finds
Urbanity and nature
Digital as well as traditional techniques

Art Licensing LA (ALLA)
Art Licensing LA (www.artlicensingla.com), is a collaborative group of artists based in the cultural melting pot of Southern California. The five founding members include: Sara Berrenson, Ginger 17, Jeanetta Gonzales, LuAnn Roberto and Debra Valencia. Inspired by the California lifestyle: progressive, modern, colorful, confident, bold, non-traditional — they have a sense of style that translates across all markets and regions. More than an art resource, the ALLA artists are partners with each manufacturer for successfully building brands, designing innovative productlines and growing sales and categories. Their vast combined experience includes art direction, branding, graphic design and production, character art, fineart, package design, style guides and point of purchase displays. They currently offer popular licensing themes: florals, nature, wildlife, beach,food, wine, coffee, holidays, travel, pet, home, garden, baby, children, paisley, novelty, inspiration, humor and more. In addition, they can develop custom themed collections upon request to meet the demands of current trends. They understand consumer trends and provide strategic direction for productline development to manufacturers. Press Contact: Debra Valencia Tel: 310-589-0501 email: dv@debravalencia.com www.artlicensingla.com