Printing for the people

Palo Alto Weekly writer, Rebecca Wallace wrote an article about the current print exhibit at the Pacific Art League’s Norton Gallery. Entitled Printing for the people the article states that the, “Influential medium gets the spotlight in exhibit showing many types of printmaking.”

A the opening of the exhibit, Printmakers of the Pacific Art League, Kent Maske, a Foothill College art professor and printmaker, gave a lecture about the influence of printmaking in Western history. Printmaking was the art medium that allowed for the greatest spread of ideas and culture.

Body Heat the 4-color reduction woodblock print was displayed at the exhibit.

The book Myth & Medium describes the piece as follows:
Body Heat
26.25"x20.25"
4-color reduction block print. Translucent yellow, green, blue, and navy blue.

While working on this print I was absorbed in the recognition of the body as an expression of energy and a manifestation of consciousness. A slight transparency was added to some of the inks to communicate the simultaneity of our embodied self-expression.

Printmakers of the Pacific Art League will be on display from JUNE 1 - 27, 2007.

Alan May

During the second month of Pacific Prints at Pacific Art League, Alan May lead a tour around the print exhibition. Alan commented on the various works, from his experience and finely tuned sense of aesthetics. Alan explored each print with quiet intensity and unpacked the variety of techniques with comfortable ease.

In his long career as a printmaker, Alan May has developed a number of new techniques in printmaking. Particularly, he engineered easy and safe non-toxic etching techniques. His style has the simple graphic quality of some of the best illustrators.

Stopping at my print the Minotaur, Alan said, “This beautiful print is a great example of a chiaroscuro print. It uses two or three blocks to get the wonderful effect of the dark shadows. One of the difficulties of the cutting of this print is all of the cross hatching. What the artist had to do was cut out all of the space between the lines, a lot of work. A lovely print!”

To the left is a version of this same print in dark brown and black inks.

This work and others will be up for sale on Ebay next week.