Ripple River Gallery
Original work by exceptional artisans
2004 Guest Artists
“How Aliens Avoid
Detection”
—Faye Passow, stone lithograph
SEPTEMBER 15-OCTOBER 10, 2004…
Printmakers Invitational
While printmaking in the Western world has
a history of over 500 years, the history of the art form could
be traced much farther, to the discovery that a relief
surface—like the human palm—can be transferred to a
cave wall or animal hide to create a simple likeness. From the
first crude handprint, printmaking has evolved to encompass the
technical challenges of myriad printing
processes—woodcut, etching, engraving, lithography, and
more.
Printmaking is not solely a means of
reproduction, but an original, creative medium.
Artists—from the great masters to contemporary
visual artists—have turned to printmaking as a means of
exploring new ideas and images and often as a diversion from
the process of painting. To be considered an original print,
the artist must draw, create, carve or engrave the image on the
printing plate; the image must be the artist’s own, not a
copy of another image; and the artist must be directly involved
in the actual printing process.
“Our goal is to show a range of
printmaking techniques and a wide variety of work,” said
gallery co-owner, Bob Carls. “We’re excited about
the number of artists who have responded and the quality and
variety of vision that will be shown.”
Featured in the exhibit will be work by
both established and emerging Minnesota artists including
Roberta Allen, Charles Beck, Jil Evans, Stephanie Hunder,
Harriet C. Lievan, Faye Passow, Joanne Price, Jerry Riach,
George Robinson, Trevor Roediger, Brian Sago, Jan Shoger,
Richard Stephens and Nick Wroblewski. Techniques exhibited will
include reduction wood cut, woodcut from multiple blocks,
linoleum cut, intaglio and intaglio combined with mixed media,
dry point, serigraph, lithograph, etching, monotype and wood
engraving.
JULY 14 - AUGUST 8, 2004…
Woodcuts by Nick Wroblewski
There are many ways to record the natural
world—painting, drawing, photographing, to name a few.
Nick Wroblewski has chosen the art of wood block printmaking as
his vehicle for conveying the infinite detail in the world of
plants and animals.
In woodblock printing the block is carved
and the raised surface of the wood is inked to produce the
print. Wroblewski uses a process called reduction woodcut, due
to the eventual elimination of the surface of the block. A
single block of wood is used and specifically carved for each
color that is printed until all that remains are the lines of
the black image. This is a traditional method of creating a
multi-colored print from one block of wood.
The Minneapolis-based artist says he is
very interested in the history of printmaking and the
traditional approach to creating reproduced images.
“There is something about the positive and negative space
interplay within nature that inspires this practice,” he
said. “The forms created by the shapes devoid of objects
become just as important in composing a woodcut as the subjects
themselves. I use the process as a way to create a multiple
that ideally represents the spirit of an animal, plant or
place.”
Wroblewski is also drawn to the woodcut as
a method of creating multi-colored prints because of its
inherent handmade qualities. He purposely uses traditional wood
cutting tools and handmade paper to exemplify the
medium’s qualities.
Wroblewski, who studied art at Bennington
College in Vermont, travels extensively to find inspiration for
his work. In Brazil he produced a plant and animal
identification guide. The visual experience he acquired working
on farms in Vermont and Wisconsin has found itself into his
woodcuts. A winter spent in the Northwest Territories of Canada
produced a number of woodcuts of the arctic landscape and its
inhabitants.
“Dogwood” — Reduction
woodcut
by Nick Wroblewski
26”x32” - framed
MAY 5 - JUNE 13, 2004…
Paintings & Masks by Joan Malkerson
Visions, dreams, a sliver of sunlight or a
veil of shadow, a midnight forest or the passage of time
— Joan Malkerson’s canvases evoke these images, and
more. “I focus on the essence of things. I like to bring
to light or unveil a core, a solitary moment, a whisper or the
nitty gritty of a subject or scene,” painter/sculptor
Joan Malkerson says of her work.
“I explore the space between the
wonders of the perceptible world and an inner world found in
dreams, visions, experiences, and in the working process
itself,” Malkerson says.
And while she may paint the forests of
Minnesota, dwarf birch trees in Alaska, or a still life in her
studio, she describes her paintings as abstract,
nonrepresentational art work. “These works create
imaginary places and beings within the art object.”
For the past eight years, Malkerson, who
now divides her time between Bay Lake and New Mexico, has
exhibited her work from Maine to Minnesota. Her education has
included studies in Colorado, Minnesota and Maine, and
workshops in printmaking, ceramics and doll making. She is
currently involved in a mentorship program through the
Women’s Art Registry of Minnesota. Malkerson has taught
watercolor, ink drawing and oil painting at several Minnesota
art centers and was co-founder of the 108 High Street Gallery
in Portland, Maine.
“Nocturnal Forest - Bay
Lake”
Oil on panel by Joan Malkerson
11.5”x11.5” - $650
JUNE 16 - JULY 11, 2004:
“Lasting Impressions” —
Inuit Prints
Guest Curator - Jerry Riach, Raven Gallery
“Lasting Impressions” features
original stone cut and stone lithograph prints created by the
artists on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic Territory of
Nunavut. The limited edition hand-pulled prints are from the
Raven Gallery collection and represent the work of several
Inuit artists and printmakers of the last 10 years. Guest
curator for the show is Jerry Riach, owner of the Raven
Gallery, Eden Prairie.
Printmaking among Inuit artists can be
traced to the 1950s when a small group of men and women began
experimentation in graphic arts to interpret and present the
creative expression of their life and culture. Today the Inuit
artists and printmakers work together to produce some of the
most unique and sophisticated prints available. While a variety
of techniques are employed—stencil, etching, aquatint and
copper engraving—stonecut and lithograph are the
mainstays.
“Lasting Impressions” reflects
a landscape of unending horizons and perpetual mysteries. In
the Inuit culture, knowledge is passed from generation to
generation, and fantasy and myth are as important as
observation of nature. Birds, fish, walrus and whales, are
common themes in the prints, as are Inuit mythology and
everyday pursuits like hunting, fishing and community and
family life.
MARCH 31 - MAY 2, 2004
“Saints Preserve Us”
Snippets of fabric and paint, bits of
paper, a length of string, a shard of glass and a scrap of
metal—these are some of the elements that artist David
Norstad brings together in “Saints Preserve
Us!”
A prolific artist who creates in a variety
of media, Norstad became intrigued with the tradition of saints
several years ago. A friend passed on a copy of “Saints
Preserve Us!” written by Sean Kelly and Rosemary Rogers
(Random House), which began Norstad’s exploration of the
topic. Through playful juxtaposition of myriad materials,
Norstad’s collages offer saints for jobs, hobbies,
problems, illnesses and more. According to Kelly and Rogers,
“No, you don’t have to be a Catholic, or even
Christian, to have patron saints. They are like enzymes,
gravity or the CIA—invisible, yes, but eternally present,
and hard at work on your behalf, whether or not you know
it—or like it.” In our complex world, sometimes we
need all the help we can get!
“Saints Preserve Us!” marks
the third year that Ripple River Gallery has featured an
exhibit of Norstad’s work. In 2003 Norstad’s
paintings were featured and in 2002 his color field abstract
collages were shown.
A graduate of North Dakota State
University with a BA degree in humanities and social science,
David Norstad has been a full-time artist since 1981. He is
known for his mixed media collage--exhibited at Ripple River
Gallery in 2001--as well as for his acrylic, watercolor and
pastel work. He participates in numerous regional, national and
international juried art shows annually, and has won numerous
honors, including many “best of show” awards. He
has produced over 42 solo exhibitions, including the North
Dakota Museum of Art and the Rourke Art Gallery Museum in
Fargo, ND. Norstad was honored with a solo traveling exhibition
in 1987-88, “Living on the Ragged Edge,” which
toured nine galleries across North Dakota, and in 1997 he was
one of 17 American artists selected for inclusion in the
National Acrylic Painters Society International Art Exhibition
Far East Tour which included exhibition sites in Thailand,
Taiwan and the Philippines.
Norstad has served as a board member of
the Lake Region Art Council of the Minnesota State Arts Board
and in 1999 was awarded the Arts Leadership Award by the state
of Minnesota. He resides on Island Lake in the Smoky Hills of
Becker County near Detroit Lakes, where he works in his Ragged
Edge Art Studio.
Agness—Patron Saint of Virgins
Mixed media collage
by David Norstad
SOLD
FEBRUARY 4 - MARCH 28, 2004
“Self Portraits & Dead
Birds”
“The content of my work is, for the
most part, biographical in nature,” Robinson said.
“It develops as my personal experiences and thoughts as a
Christian, artist, teacher, husband, father, lover,
friend and passenger on this Spaceship Earth are impacted by my
education, heritage, environment and culture.”
One series of self portraits,
“Journal Drawings,” is executed in colored inks and
was completed during his yearlong sabbatical from teaching. As
an element of the composition, each drawing includes a written
record of the artist’s daily activities for a particular
month. “The use of words as a textural element is my
answer to the emphasis on writing as a way of validating the
accomplishments or success of a faculty member’s
activities when on a sabbatical from an academic
institution,” Robinson said. Working with waterproof
colored and pearlescent inks and mixed mediums on watercolor
paper, Robinson uses his life experiences as the subject and
content of the drawings.
As for his drawings of dead birds,
Robinson says that foremost is his love of drawing and the
potential of ink as a medium. “Some viewers see the birds
as morbid or ugly, but I see in them the beauty of line, color,
texture and shape. It is easy to see beauty in that which is
bright and lively, but it takes a special vision to see beauty
in the fallen, battered and broken of this world. I have tried
to make something beautiful out of that which appears to have
no beauty.”
Robinson retired as professor of fine arts
and chairperson of the department of fine arts at Bethel
College. He has exhibited his drawings, paintings and original
prints in over 100 international, national, regional and local
juried exhibitions and has earned numerous honors and awards
for his work.
Ink Drawings by
George Robinson
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