January 2020: Print Show
GENE FLORES has been working with all aspects of printmaking for over 33 years. A majority of his works are etchings on copper that are then hand colored with watercolors. His works are greatly influenced by literature, music, politics, religion and everyday activities. His images have been described as humorous, insightful, and disturbing. Gene was born and raised in El Paso, Texas and received a MA and MFA in Printmaking, with Honors, from the University of Iowa. Gene continues to exhibit his works nationally and internationally. Gene is currently the Dean of the Arts, Performance and Design division at Portland Community College Sylvania Campus
HEATHER HALPERN has been drawing since she could hold a crayon. She is an accomplished printmaker, painter, and sculptor. She founded and directs Whiteaker Printmakers, a nonprofit community art studio in Eugene, Oregon. In addition to teaching art, Heather manages studio members, workshops, shows, and special events. She is also Board President of Fine Arts Brigade and a Board member of Print Arts Northwest.
YUGI HIRATSUKA: “There are small transitions in my work from time to time, and my interest is always based on unpredictable texture that is printed from the etched surface of the copper plate. My prints explore the complex relationship of paper, ink and etched plates to describe my thought, as well as the relationship which occurs between figures and space to express other human experiences. Always I try to investigate the maximum potential available to me as a printmaker.”
MARGRET VAN PATTEN is a printmaker who combines various intaglio and drypoint techniques to create uniquely personal prints. Making prints is very much a process oriented art form for her, and she uses this to her advantage by working directly on the surface of the plate and letting each mark respond to the previous mark. Using a wealth of diverse symbolism and metaphors (such as birds, insects, clothing, body parts, letters and numbers). Margret creates multiple layers of meaning. She actively works to create questions about the relationships between oftentimes disparate elements.
CHRISTY WYCKOFF works in printmaking, painting, drawing and photography. He taught printmaking at Pacific NW College of Art for 33 years. His approach to printmaking ranges from drawing on lithographic stones to mixed media processes that combine photography and computer tools as in the pigment prints of this show. He is examining the awkardness, hesitancy, misunderstandings and beauty that can occur in encounters between cultures in many ways different from each other and yet similar in some essential ways. “The prints are inspired by my recent pilgrimage at Shikoku Island in Japan.”Christy Wuckoff
NICOLE RAWLINS is a printmaker and painter. She runs the Printmaking department (Trayle Studio) and the Adult Visual Arts program at the Multnomah Arts Center in Portland, Oregon, USA. For 16 years, she was an artist member of Inkling Studio, a professional printmaking cooperative in Portland, OR. Nicole currently works out of her home studio, Pandora Press Art Studio, in NE Portland. Nicole predominantly works in intaglio printmaking, which includes etching, mezzotints, spit bite and drypoint. Her work is in the collections of several museums and colleges in Oregon.
Cameron York’s prints for this show are part of a series titled Hot Chips. “When I began drawing the layout of these print, I knew that I wanted to work with a copper plate I had already etching imagery into. I wanted to reshape the plate, take some old imagery out, and add new ideas. I like being able to see the reclaimed copper plate’s history appear in a print. I find that it gives the viewer clues about the way the artist works while also creating more depth in the print. My imagery references religion, consumerism, myths, and death. I like to counter my dark imagery with layers of sugary-sweet colors to get lost in.”
GREG PFARR centers on Place. This has always been a central focus of Greg’s art. Since moving to Oregon in 1980 Greg has hiked, backpacked, drawn and painted in the Pacific Northwest, where recent trips to Alaska have heightened his interest in glaciers as a visual phenomenon. Greg’s large scale etchings in his mountain series involve an interest in combining innovative and traditional methods. He uses unusual soft ground drawing methods, traditional and non traditional lift ground aquatints and white ground as a way to combine painting and drawing methods on copper plates.
NANETTE WALLACE’s monotypes are inspired by vintage photos she collect from the early 1900s through the 1960s. She uses photographs as a starting point, not with the intention to recreate the photo itself but to help instruct the gesture and convey the emotion that she felt with the photograph. “I’m never too concerned with making exactly what I set out to make. I have found that having something super specific in mind can end up being very disappointing. Monotypes do not like to be controlled; they work best when I allow the medium to take the lead. There’s always an element of surprise when I pull a monotype, and I find that thrilling.”.
JENN FEENEY creates monotypes which are one of a kind prints, also known as the painterly print. They are created by applying ink to a smooth plexi plate, and then transferring the image to paper by means of pressure through a press. Jenn enjoys the chemistry of the inks and solvent and the effects created by using tools to remove and add ink, layering color over color, texture over texture. Her works have been described as organic, underwater scenes or other worldly, microscopic viewsIn addition to printmaking, Jenn also paints in both acrylic and oil on canvas or wood.
MARY FARRELL is a soon to be retired Professor of printmaking at Gonzaga University. She uses a wide variety of print processes in her work with a special love for woodcut, mezzotint /drypoint, and monotype. “Printmaking is a unique way of thinking. I love the way it pushes, layers and develops an image beyond the drawn marks. I love the feeling of the tools in my hand, the physicality of the process, and the resulting surprises.”
ELISE WAGNER has primarily been a painter using encaustic and oils. She was lead to and became hooked on printmaking through experimentation when she discovered that she could create collagraph prints from the encaustic textures of her paintings. Ever since then, she has enjoyed sharing the process in her studio workshops and at printmaking ateliers throughout the U.S. and Canada. Elise has long explored the interrelationship between science, art, the sublime and the celestial which have consistently shaped and weaved into the story of her work. Her printing and painting practice coincide resulting in richly textured prints that echo her painting's geologic-like imaginary territories.