An award-winning painter, printmaker, teacher, and Copley Master, Ginny Zanger lives and works in Jamaica Plain (Boston) and Truro (Cape Cod). Her work is inspired by the  flows of the natural world which influence her imagery and process. In the Summer of 2024, Zanger had the opportunity to participate in the Copley Society’s residency program at the Fine Arts Work Center (FAWC) in Provincetown. Her work from this period is now on display in a solo show entitled Elements, viewable through May 4th at the Studio53 Gallery and Art Space in Roslindale, MA. We had the chance to chat with Ginny about her journey as an artist, the evolution of her practice, and what impacted the work showcased in Elements.

Copley Master, Ginny Zanger with her work at Studio53 Gallery

Could you give us some background on your career as an artist? What was the journey of developing your practice?

Well of course I have always been an artist in one way or another! That part of me continued to be fostered At Buck’s Rock Work camp which is an amazing arts camp and then I continued studying at the Art Students League in New York City in Woodstock, New York. But when I went to Harvard, the college did not have a studio art program. I understand that they have since rectified that. But that lapse caused me to take about a ten year pause in my training as an artist. 

I started back in the arts in my 30s and fell in love with watercolor and studied with Joel Janowitz for several years. I was never very interested in painting in any other medium until I saw [former Copley Society member] Joyce Zavorskas do a demonstration of her monotypes and the colors just blew me away. So I said I need to learn that monoprint technique. I have never been interested in any other form of printmaking, but I went to study with Joyce, and I took a number of courses here, there and everywhere including my first experience with the FAWC, where I had the great good fortune of taking Michael Mazur’s last workshop in monoprinting. 

“Flight of Fancy I” on view at the Copley Society through July 3rd, 2025

Your work has a particularly special relationship with Yupo Paper. For the uninitiated, what makes Yupo so distinct and such a critical part of your process?

So I like to paint when I’m travelling but I don’t always get to it. One winter I was diving in the Caribbean and I said to myself: “Oh gee, I should bring my paints but I know I don’t always get to it, but maybe if I treated myself to some new materials I might be more tempted..” So I went down to the art supply store and I found something called Yupo paper which I had never heard of before. I fell in love with the silky surface of this polypropylene paper. It has very interesting properties because the paper does not absorb watercolor, which means that the paint stays wet longer and does interesting things while it sits on the surface and it can be removed! Shortly, I was experimenting with using the paintings as plates for monotyping. Instead of doing the piece as-is I would soak a piece of watercolor paper or printmaking paper while the painting was drying and then run it through a press. The result was a monotype of the watercolor painting that had really lovely velvety textures. I did that for quite some time while working on an undersea series because of how it softened things and created that ‘undersea’ landscape effect that I was after.

A view of “Elements” at Studio53 Gallery in Roslindale, MA

Last summer you had the opportunity to attend the Co|So residency at the Fine Art Work Center (FAWC) in Provincetown. Could you tell us about your experience and how similar opportunities have influenced you?

Over the years I had seen the application come by for the residency at FAWC. Last year It occurred to me that because of how exceptional that print studio was, that it would be an incredible residency for me to challenge myself to combine watercolor on Yupo with etching ink monoprints of botanicals. Leaves, feathers, beach grasses, Lunaria (those little money trees). I had learned some of these techniques at a weeklong workshop of the Nature Printing Society in 2023. It was very exciting when I won the residency, and even more exciting to spend the month just playing. “Playing in the leaves” I called it.

I began by reviewing all the monoprinting techniques that I had been taught (many in that studio even!), such as  the use of carborundum grits to get the very rich black color you can’t really achieve any other way. I collected beach grass every time I went to the beach. Then I began wondering if I should print the botanicals with etching ink on the top of the watercolor – or should I put the watercolor on top of the mono-printed botanicals. So I played with it all and I experimented, and brought back over 50 prints.  When I brought these pieces back to my mentor, Teri Malo, she said,“Great ! Now you have some great starts to work on!”. She was right – and so I spent the whole fall working up the pieces that I had done in Provincetown.

Ginny with “Elements” curator Terry Boutelle

You are currently exhibiting your work in “Elements” a solo show at Studio 53 Gallery in Roslindale MA. What would you like to share with us about the exhibition?

Recently I gained access to the press at the Menino Arts Center and have continued to develop my pieces from FAWC.  Now I have weekly access and have discovered the thing that is so great about etching inks on Yupo paper is that you can alter the pieces by using a solvent and that allows me to keep working a piece back and forth, adding and subtracting as I go. 

I am continuing to work developing this sort of “dual process”. I was invited to have a solo show at the Studio53 Gallery in Roslindale curated by Terry Boutelle who is just a terrific curator. She selected work that I wouldn’t necessarily have chosen, but it really works. I’m just thrilled with how it’s come out. I don’t know if I would have evolved this body of work on my own, but having access 24/7 to that amazing print studio at FAWC with this project in mind was just the chance of a lifetime, so I am very grateful!

I love to get feedback. It’s been such a lovely experience to share my work in such a personal way. When I share my work at my galleries (Co|So or The Cove in Wellfleet), I’m always thrilled when someone buys something but I never get any real feedback! So this opportunity to do some gallery sitting and host a number of gallery talks has given me the chance to see how other people perceive what I’m making. It’s very meaningful both to me and my audience! 

Elements will be on view Fridays, Saturdays, and Sunday afternoons through May 4, 2025 at Studio 53 Gallery and Artspace located at 53R Tyndale Street in Roslindale, MA.

Scheduled gallery hours are: 2-4, and by appointment. To make a private appointment to see the exhibit, contact ginnyzanger@gmail.com or tboutelle@comcast.net. You can see more of Ginny’s work at Cove Gallery in Wellfleet, MA, Copley Society of Art in Boston, or at www.ginnyzanger.com, on Facebook and Instagram.