2021 ~ Jean Gumpper “Imminent”
12″ x 18″ image. Wood Engraving on Okawara Handmade Paper.
9 color runs with oil based lithography ink printed from one block of shina plywood
Edition size: 90 Available: unavailable
Jean Gumpper is Artist in Residence and Lecturer in the art department at Colorado College. Widely exhibited, her color woodcut prints can be found in numerous private and public collections in Asia, Europe and North America. Her work is represented by Blue Spiral, Davidson, Ebo, Groveland, William Havu and Olson Larsen galleries in the United States and Open Studio gallery in Canada.
ARTIST STATEMENT
As an artist, I am always drawn to water. Born in Hawaii, raised in Michigan surrounded by the Great Lakes, I now live in the arid west. My prints draw inspiration from the lakes, rivers, marshes, ponds, seeps and springs I find both far away and near my home. To me, these images become rich in meaning as they suggest resilience, renewal, beauty and new life in a time of constant change.
My work comes from observation of the natural world – which for me, requires time spent outdoors. Walking, hiking and looking are the beginnings of my prints. This contemplative, restorative practice is an intimate and direct approach to visualizing nature.
My work often hovers on the edge between representation and abstraction and often focuses on the edges between water and land. I’m intrigued with the rhythms of mark making and the possibilities of color, texture, and movement to create spatial relationships. I hope to capture the sense of being in the landscape, hearing the sounds, feeling the air. Back in the studio, during the long repetitions of carving and of printing layers of ink, I try to pay attention again. Making the print becomes a way to record an experience, to go through it again, to integrate the memory and the experience and to share it with others.
In this presentation print, I hope to capture a sense of the multiple layers of changes and shifts we have all been experiencing during this past last year.
