Wood Block Gallery

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The Iroquois Four Winds

Print Size 18"x 23"

 
Coyote
Print Size 18.5" x 19.5"

 
Coyote and Buffalo
Print Size 17.5" x 21"

Coyote, Fox and Whale
Print Size 16.5" x 19"

The woodcut is a form of print making which has its origins in ancient Egypt and China. The technique spread to Japan where it remains as a major art form. In Western art, the woodcut descended from textile printing. The art form evolved with the introduction of paper in the 14th century and by the 19th century artists such as Gauguin and Edvard Munch introduced woodcuts as a more expressive art medium. The process of woodblock printing is simply carving a design into a piece of wood, much like a rubber stamp. The print is produced by rolling oil-based ink on the raised surfaces of the block, placing a sheet of Japanese rice paper over the ink, and burnishing the surface of the paper with a wooden spoon, thus transferring the image. One of the advantages of a printing method such as this is that the artist produces more than one copy of his idea. The resulting group of prints are referred to as an edition and are signed and numbered by the artist. Most of the editions shown here contain 50 prints.

For more information contact Jim Mateer at (440) 647-5123.