The new multi-gallery show at the Petaluma Arts Center celebrates the old-fashioned crafts of handmade prints and books. “The Voice in the Hand: Book Arts and Printmaking” brings together 31 artists from around the nation and Canada whose passion is for pressing ink onto a surface, be it paper, silk or even a quilt.
Curated by Petaluma artist Macy Chadwick, who spent six months putting the show together, the exhibit consists of about 100 prints and books.
“These artists are part of a community,” said Chadwick. “I’ve met or worked with all of them. What I love about the printmaking and book-art community is the sharing of tools and techniques. These are naturally collaborative art forms.”
Several of the artists have worked with Chadwick at her Petaluma press.
Unlike the digital images we encounter every day, each work in the show was hand-carved, etched, exposed or drawn into a plate that was inked and pressed onto paper or some other material, often one color at a time.
Just as no two voices are alike, each of the pieces reflects not only the visual choices of the artist — concept, colors, composition — but the kinetic energy of their hand, captured in the act of making.
This is evident in the delicately scratched lines of the etchings by Elysabeth Cianci and in the carved marks in relief prints by Edie Overturf.
“It’s important for visitors to know that in contrast to digital art these are works with tactile qualities,” said Chadwick. “There is a significant use of hand-making. Also, they should look for sense of narrative in these pieces. They have a story to tell.”
Each artist has several pieces in the show, so Chadwick recommends looking for themes and a unique style when looking at the works of a particular artist. Signage makes it clear which pieces can be handled by visitors and which should be left alone. Much of the art is for sale, both framed and unframed, with prices posted.
An entire wall is devoted to the work of Katherine Warinner, with eight works, including a large and stunning flower.
Three works by Eunkang Koh, including “Lime Squeeze Boogi Woogi,” bring humor to the exhibition. Working with “multiple color intaglio,” she has created prints of animals in incongruous action.
An artist couple, Michael and Roxanne McGovern, have three large pieces in the show, including “Owl Cat Ink” and “Corvidae.” These colorful works blend a riot of disparate images to create a surrealistic effect.
Artist Kristina Nobleman, who works with textiles, ink and paper, has two large “crumbled” monotypes that convey a powerful, three-dimensional effect in black and white.
The offerings by Selena Matranga include rubbings she made in Liberty Cemetery in Petaluma, as well as a book entitled “Anger,” made with letterpress and pressure printing.
With startling irony, Rhode Island artist Lois Harada draws on her family background to create what look at first to be silk-screened travel posters similar to those produced by artists in the Work Projects Administration, or WPA, in the 1930s. On closer examination, the works represent Japanese-American incarceration sites where her grandparents lived during World War II.
Books as art objects take printmaking into specialized and often mysterious terrain, for you cannot see all of the work at once. You must turn the pages. The exception is the “accordion” book, or some variation thereof, that can be unfolded. The show includes fine examples of both types.
Every component of an art book tends to be created by hand as a unique part of the work: the paper, the cover, the binding, the printmaking, the text. The books tend to be one-of-a-kind or else created in small runs.
“Moonlight,” for example, a book of multiple layered images of a lunar eclipse, exists as an edition of one. Artist Nora Pauwels printed the work on organza silk.
Pauwels also has two very large sheets of silk in the show on which she has printed images called “Fire Sunset” and “Red Pine Tree.” Created with a technique called “intaglio plexi gravure,” they defy easy description, as do many of the works in the show.
To fully appreciate them you have to see them.
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