Buster Levi Gallery is pleased to present Mokuhanga Woodcuts, selected works from 1993 to 2018 by Ursula Schneider at 121 Main Street in Cold Spring, New York. The exhibition will run from September 6 through September 29, 2019. The opening for the show will be on Friday September 6, 2019 from 6-8:30 pm.

Schneider’s initial influences on her woodcuts were the prints of Albrecht Durer, Paul Gauguin and Edvard Munch for their expressive content and their economic use of line and color. This is evident in a series of woodcuts Schneider made in 1989 based on figures interacting with their architectural environments. Executed in black and white this series was printed using two blocks of wood to enhance the sense of space and movement.

In 1993 Schneider decided to focus on color influenced by the contemporary Japanese printmaker Ansei Utchima. At the same time, she began working Bill Paden who taught her the Japanese technique now called Mokuhanga The prints use water based pigments such as gouache or watercolor that are impressed onto damp paper using a separate wood block for each color. Colors are often overlapped to create multiple tones that are embellished by handmade papers using fibers derived from plants such as Kozo.

This is evident in landscapes first based on the Hudson River such as Tomkins Cove 1993 and then in drawings made when traveling in the Artic such as Sadlerochit Mountains, 1995. The technique is also used in abstract prints such as Circle Split, 2011, which are derived from random marks carved on the block that are then rotated when printing to create repetition. Her most recent print in the show is Schylla & Charybdies, 2018, was printed from four different blocks again using random marks though this time made by a grinder with a course blade.

Drawing is the basis of all of Schneider’s prints as is a vision of reality based on a combination of observation and imagination. Technical innovation and experimentation are also important elements in her work, whether it is rotating blocks, developing random marks by either hand or machine or experimenting with colors to enhance the expressive content of the work.

Buster Levi Gallery is open Friday through Sunday from 12-6 pm.

For more information: busterlevigallery.com