Beginning with the print Elizabeth and Her Laptop, this portfolio, currently titled Plus a Century, references the color etchings of Impressionist artist Mary Cassatt, shown at Galeries Durand-Ruel in 1891, and sometimes referred to as “the set of 10.” My own portfolio, influenced by Cassatt's compositions and techniques, presents portraits of young women from this century as they go about daily life. Upon completion, the series will be able to stand on its own, as well as work in conjunction with Cassatt's popularized portfolio to highlight, within the context of history and art history, that which has changed and that which has remained the same in the lives of Western women.

The prints are multiple-plate combinations of drypoint and aquatint on copper over woodcut. I have substituted the use of aquatint for woodcut on the main areas of flat-color to reduce chemical reactions between the copper plate and the inks, to embrace the natural texture, and to most effectively achieve the Japanese woodcut appearance that Cassatt herself was referencing through aquatint.