Community Arts Center to hold reception Sept. 28 for Printmaker's Invitational exhibit

HANCOCK -- A Printmaker’s Invitational is on exhibit at the Copper Country Community Arts Center’s Kerredge Gallery through Sept. 29, 2012. A closing reception will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 28.

"Tamarack" by Emily Gray Koehler. Collagraph with color-reduction woodcut. (Photo courtesy Copper Country Community Arts Center)

The five printmakers in this exhibit all have something in common: they have a romance with the Great Lakes and Northwoods region and they all use wood and linoleum blocks to make color reduction prints in small editions. The artists come from varied backgrounds in their studies, but their inspiration has led them to this -- a celebration of place.

Betsy Bowen lives in Grand Marais, Minnesota. She works prolifically, collaborating with writers, illustrating books with her block prints which capture life in the Northwoods and feature the many creatures found there. Included in the exhibit are four new bird pieces and two other favorites, framed in barn wood embellished with rediscovered hardware.

Mary Brodbeck studied Japanese woodblock printmaking in Tokyo with Yoshisuke Funasaka through the auspices of a Japanese government Bunka-Cho Fellowship in 1998. The Japanese woodblock printmaking process differs from Western techniques by the use of brushed on water color paints and pressed by hand with a baren rather than a mechanical press. The Sleeping Bear Dunes woodblock print series is in the permanent collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Four of these are in this exhibit along with two from Lake Superior. Brodbeck resides in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Emily Gray Koehler’s work largely focuses on regional environmental and modern land use concerns. Her newest work, made for this exhibit, depicts trees silhouetted against dynamic skylines. In "Weathered Pine" and "The Roost" she has combined another printmaking technique, monotype with woodcuts. In "Tamarack" she used collagraph with color-reduction woodcut. Emily lives in White Bear Lake, Minnesota.

Tom Rudd is a sculptor and Margo McCafferty is a painter. Their collaborative work over the last 20 years has resulted in a huge body of many layered color-reduction block prints. They live in Calumet, Michigan; and their work in this exhibit is large prints from their Allegheny Flood series.

The Community Arts Center is honored to bring these extraordinary artists together in one exhibit.

The exhibit is supported by a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Community Arts Center is located at 126 Quincy Street in Hancock. For more information call (906) 482-2333.