“Cathie Crawford: Luminous Layers, Woodcuts" at Black Hawk College's ArtSpace Gallery -- through April 6. (pictured: Crawford's "Namaste 36X24)
Exhibit: Through Thursday, April 6
Reception and Artist Talk: Thursday, March 23, 4 – 6 p.m.
Black Hawk College's ArtSpace Gallery, 6600 34th Avenue, Moline IL
The winner of 50 awards on both national and regional levels, Midwestern artist Cathie Crawford is, though April 6, displaying her latest collection of beautiful and arresting works at Black Hawk College's ArtSpace Gallery, with her Luminous Layers, Woodcuts a showcase for the talent who has exhibited in 29 states as well as Bulgaria, France, Poland, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom.
Originally from New York City, Crawford returned to Illinois in the fall of 2004 after living overseas with her husband, with three years in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and another three in Grenoble, France). Since completing her Master of Fine Art degree in 1987 from Peoria's Bradley University, she has concentrated on the color reduction woodcut, and her work has been included in more than 300 exhibitions, 30 solo exhibitions, more than 90 juried national shows, and 25 international juried exhibitions since completing her 1971 BFA from Ohio State University. Crawford also received a Bachelor's degree in Art Education in 1972, and has said, "My color reduction woodcuts celebrate the magical moments of my life. I strive to capture the truth and beauty of my subjects. Some images deal with a particular feeling or emotion I have toward my immediate environment.”
Describing her process and the pieces on display in Luminous Layuers, Woodcuts, Crawford said, "Taking a break from my more figurative work with up to 21 runs through the press, my recent work has been a gradual transformation to a more non-objective approach to the landscape. The beauty of water and the ever-changing colors of the landscape have been a constant source of inspiration throughout my 35-year printmaking career. My recent work is a convergence of color, line, shape, and texture in an ambiguous space with whispers of landscape. I have been striving to pack as much color as possible in the fewest runs thru the press using blended or split fount rolls of transparent inks. I print reductively from one piece of quarter-inch plywood as a printing matrix. I also use mylar stencils to work reductively within one shape at a time to extend the color possibilities, printing ‘pochoir.’
“While my art does not tend to be political," Crawford continued, "I have seen the bleaching of the coral reefs as a scuba diver. I have witnessed the disappearance of the beautiful glacier, La Mer de Glace in Chamonix, France, between my first visit in 1977 and my last visit in 2004. I am very worried about the impact of fossil fuels on the environment. The warming of our oceans will have a negative impact on all of us as well as future generations. I have been thinking a lot about climate change and our responsibility to the life of our planet the past two years. I feel Mother Earth is getting even, with this pandemic, for all of humanities abuses. It was inevitable that these realizations would influence my art.”
A reception and artist talk in conjunction with Cathie Crawford: Luminous Layers, Woodcuts will take placeon March 23 from 4 to 6 p.m., and the exhibit itself will be on display in Black Hawk College's ArtSpace Gallery (on the first floor of Building 4) through April 6. Admission is free and the gallery is accessible during normal college operating hours, and more information is available by e-mailing ArtDesign@bhc.edu and visiting BHC.edu.
