"Hand, Human"

Hand, Human
Reduction woodcut with 2 blocks, 2 colors each
6" x 9"
Limited edition of 30

I made this print for Baren Forum Exchange #76. While contemplating the theme "Humanity" I kept thinking about the time I was at the Columbus Zoo and a gorilla put her hand up on the glass, and I was struck by how much it resembled my human hand. Googling images of gorilla and other great ape hands, I kept finding scientifically cataloged specimens, cut off at the wrist and set on a table to be photographed or illustrated and labeled. So for this print I decided to make an image of my own hand severed at the wrist, set on a table, and titled as a sample specimen. I thought of doing it as a black and white woodcut or engraving, but that seemed to narrow the concept to a one liner. Instead I wanted to use color bright complimentary colors (that are commonly found in many of my reduction color woodcuts) to give the piece another dimension to interpret. The unnatural, flat purple hue on the hand emphasizes the graphic depiction while obscuring the race of the individual, and the yellow can seem both cheery and garish or alarming.

The broader concept will be to create a small series that includes other primate hands (at least the great apes) depicted in the same way and then exhibit them as a set.

Relief Monotypes of Animals by Kids

These are scratch foam relief prints with the water-based block printing ink that the kids painted on with paint brushes. They then printed on paper just by rubbing. They were made by my K-2nd grade Animal Kingdom art class at the University City Arts League.

"Moving North" by Gail Priday

Image posted with the permission of the artist. More of Gail Priday's artwork, including several stunning color woodcuts, can be found on her website. 

This is a serigraph, not a woodcut. I was driven to feature it here at least partially because I'd recently been captivated by prints of cross sections of trees such as those of Bryan Nash Gill. Here we have what initially appears to be that, but it is not. It is a stylized representation. Upon closer look, it reads less and less like tree rings, and more like an illustrative landscape with a line of evergreen trees above layers of sediment. But then there also seems to be a strip of snow over a blue sky and a circling, rushing river. Behind the cross section we see more falling snow and coniferous branches...as winter arrives, a broad view of this witness's biosphere is written into the grooves of its trunk.

The Nautilus and Ammonite Read Aloud

"Self-Portrait after Hieronymous Bosch" by Antonio Frasconi

We don't need to define our existence. We can simply listen to the scratching against the wind.

"Goldfish No. II" by Elizabeth Norton

Orange reflections behind the floating green against a backdrop of peach read like sunset. The roots are visible and tickly. Our companion swiftly sinks downward, out of earshot. The secrets we exchange this moment are forever embedded in this flat space, connecting us as one for all of time.

Another illustration by Alan Bold

One can peel away layer upon layer, scoop out countless ladles of water from the body of water spread out before us, but to what end? What discovery? Better to stand still and confront what is in front of us in this quiet and fertile moment.