Opening this weekend! SAGA 89th Annual Members Exhibition

In the Shallows
reduction linocut © Sherrie York
12" x 12" - Edition of 20

If you are in New York City this weekend, why not head out to the beautiful galleries at Governors Island for the Society of American Graphic Artists' 89th Annual Members Exhibition, featuring over 150 hand pulled prints by brilliant SAGA printmakers from across the country. (Including In the Shallows, by... me!)

The opening reception will be held on Saturday, October 26, 3 - 5 pm at The Arts Center at Governors Island, next to the ferry landing. The Trust for Governors Island operates year-round ferry service to Governors Island.

Ferries will also run from Brooklyn, this weekend only. There may be delays and more visitors riding the ferry due to the annual harvest festival on October 26 and 27; please plan your visit accordingly.

SAGA's exhibition is free and open to the public from October 22 to November 3, Thursday to Sunday from 9 am to 6 pm or by appointment.

Linocut in Progress: Wait. Did I really finish in fewer than 10 steps?

Carrying on with the snowy linocut in progress. I do feel like I'm tempting fate just a tiny bit by imagining fresh snowfall, but here in Maine we should still be several weeks away from such things. (Although it rained here all day yesterday and I broke down and lit the wood stove for the first time this season, just to clear the chilly damp.)

After the greens-on-top-blue-across-the-bottom of Step 4, I cleared all the remaining material from the lower two thirds of the block. So satisfying to do so... and of course it means I'm now working with only a very small portion of the block. It should all go fairly quickly now...

So let's roll up a sort of middle-value green and print Step 5.

Reduction linocut in progress: Step 5 rollup

Step 5 printed

Okay! Feeling pretty good about that, although it's really too much green. I think we can remove everything from the block now that should remain green and concentrate on the trunks and branches.  The ink rollup for Step 6 was a gray brown.

Step 6 printed

Ugh. This is a terrible photo... so sorry! Apparently it's the only one I took at this stage, and I was working at night. I tried to adjust the photo a bit but only made it worse, so you'll have to use your imagination. The brown didn't read completely brown, but it wasn't this green. (And the snow was not purple.)

I was feeling good about the suggestion of a sunny gap in the upper right of the image, but wanted to emphasize that by bringing some of the tree trunks visually forward while also keeping them in shadow. First, however, I thought I should lighten the nearest ones just a smidge, so they could show more detail when the darks were added.

Step 7 rollup

Step 7 printed

Yes, okay... this photo has a bit too much contrast, but it's better than the previous one! You can see that the lightened trunks aren't really light. But they are light-er, which will hopefully allow for some more details in those closest trees, to help them feel even closer to us.

Step 8 rollup

Back to a darker brown to bring out some details and move the cluster of trees forward.

Step 8 printed

Another nighttime photo... Too contrasty, and now radically skewed because I was trying to avoid shadows from the overhead light. I have mentioned I'm not a photographer, right? 

However.... we are super close to finished here. I think a small cluster of the closest trees needs to get hit with one more dark, and maybe that will be it. Really? In fewer than ten passes? Are we sure this is my work?

Step 9 rollup

Only those two right-most trees received ink here. (The middle brownish-looking ones are just stained from previous color passes.) 

And, voila! All done. (And this one is a proper scan with good contrast and no skew!)

"Stillness," reduction linocut, edition of 18, 10" x 8"
©Sherrie York

This new linocut and more than two dozen other pieces are headed west for the opening of my solo exhibition at Blue Sage Center for the Arts in Paonia, Colorado. Show opens October 25 and runs through December 19. Do check it out of you're in the neighborhood!

Linocut in Progress: An early snow.... at least on paper

 Alrighty, then! Things have been happening in the studio! It's definitely autumn.... my favorite season of the year, and one in which I find it much easier to get things done. Summer is way too hot and humid... my brain and the paper both turn to mush. 

Of course it's getting cool enough now that lino is getting a bit trickier to carve. But never fear! A heating pad set on low underneath my carving surface will overcome that excuse-in-waiting. 

I've got a solo exhibition coming up back in Colorado at the end of this month, and I wanted to get "just one more" new little piece together for it. An 8 x 10 snow scene seemed like just the thing. 

I jumped into it so fast that I just plain forgot to take any photos of the early ink rollups, but they were pretty straightforward, so I think you can follow along just fine!

Step 1: A light blue, top to bottom. Easy peasy.

Reduction linocut in progress: Step 1 printed

Nothing much to see here.... let's carry on with Step 2. This one got a little fancier, but only a little. I printed a blended roll that went from gray at the top of the image to blue at the bottom. Like this:

Step 2 printed

And then, just for good measure, I did it again.

Step 3 printed

One of the things I enjoy about making snow scenes is that they resolve into something interesting fairly quickly. I mean.. honestly... there was a time when I would have just thrown one dark value on to this and called it a day. But those days? Long gone, my friends. I can't help myself.

By Step 4 I remembered that I should be taking photos of the ink rollup, especially since I decided to do something a bit funky. I could have removed all of the material in the snowy foreground, and indeed that was the original plan. But I decided I wanted just one more bit of subtle contrast in the very bottom of the image... and of course it was time to tackle the background trees. So... I took all the lino out of the middle and inked it like this:

Step 4 rollup

Tricky, eh? That's another blue along the bottom, but then a light-to-mid-green blend in the top that went from one side of the image to the other. 

Step 4 printed

It all looks a bit clunky now, but trust me! I have a cunning plan. Sort of. I'm going to try to suggest a bit of a sunny patch in the upper right. Stay tuned to see if I manage to pull it off.

Upcoming Exhibitions!

I've got another new piece underway, although I'm not doing a great job of documentation. I'll put something together eventually, but in the meantime....hey! There are some shows underway and coming up soon!

Birds in Art

The flagship exhibition of the Woodson Art Museum in Wisconsin is the highlight of every year. I'm delighted that "A Certain Light" was selected for the show and will subsequently be accessioned into the museum's permanent collection. Birds in Art opened September 1 and continues through December 1.

"A Certain Light," reduction linocut © Sherrie York

Society of Animal Artists

The SAA's 64th juried annual members exhibition, Art and the Animal, opened September 1 at the Sioux City Public Museum, Iowa. The show continues through November 30. And... hmmm... look what's on the cover of the exhibition catalog. (Catalogs can be ordered online at the SAA website.)

Society of American Graphic Artists

SAGA's 89th Annual Members Exhibition will run October 22 to November 3 at the Arts Center on Governors Island, New York. 

"In the Shallows," reduction linocut © Sherrie York

Also.... I've a solo exhibition coming up at Blue Sage Center for the Arts in Paonia, Colorado, opening at the end of October. More details on this soon!