John Center

Artist statement

Printmaking Working Consideration an Elegy

Wood

Copper  

& 

Steel

     Printmaking Working Considerations and Elegy includes artist's books, prints, blocks and wood working that refer to the work of Albrect Durer.  It is best understood as a dialogue with History, I seek to understand and respond to the craftsmanship of the past in the present.  In my work you can see the hand of a art historian, The study of northern European woodcuts and metal engravings has led me to take a Hegalian dialectical approach to looking at movements from the past and making my own contribution to the art of the future.

Wood, copper, & steel have one thing in common I have engraved them all. They are all shown in this show, but wood is the key component as it is in all parts of the work.  It is used as the block for thewood engraving and wood cut, as part of the lectern, as part of the frames or as part of the wood carving.  The craftsmanship in working with this material  is important to me.