"Sight Readings," Pete & Susan Barrett Art Gallery, Santa Monica College

Photos: Top - Opening Reception
Center - Outdoor Banner
Bottom - Inked block for "Pythia" on the press bed

A special "Big Up" to Curator Gordon Fuglie for always believing in my work & being the prompt I so often need to keep my tools sharp & my blocks at the ready. His lecture last night was thoughtful & a verbal translation of what I do on paper visually.

The review below is from the Santa Monica Mirror. The exhibition runs until 10/11/14, & I'm doing a printing demo on Weds., 9/24, from 3 - 4 PM in room 126 of the Art Department on the Main Campus.

SMC Exhibit "Sight Readings" From Artist Roxanne Sexauer Opens Tuesday

POSTED SEP. 1, 2014, 9:17 AM

MIRROR STAFF

The Santa Monica College Pete & Susan Barrett Art Gallery is presenting “Sight Readings: A 35-Year Survey of Work by Roxanne Sexauer,” an exhibition of original works by the printmaker renowned in the contemporary printmaking community as an artist whose aesthetic of abstraction references nature. Sexauer’s work recognizes a long tradition built in the distinctive qualities and processes of hand-pulled prints.

The show will be open to the public from Tuesday, Sep. 2, to Saturday, Oct. 11, with an exhibit reception on Saturday, Sep. 13, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

A gallery talk by exhibit curator Gordon Fuglie, Director/Head of Curatorial Affairs at the Central California Museum of Art, will be held on Saturday, Sep. 13, at 5 p.m. in The Edye (adjacent to the gallery).

Sexauer, who teaches in the Printmaking and Art History Disciplines, School of Art, at California State University, Long Beach, will hold a print demonstration on Wednesday, Sep. 24, at 3 p.m. in Art 126.

As a young art student in 1973, Sexauer fantasized about studying with the last surviving German Expressionist woodcut master, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (1884-1976). Her earliest woodcut prints crackle with the dark angularities of classic German Expressionism.

By the 1980s, Sexauer embraced postmodernism, developing a hybrid, multi-layered approach that mixes botanical and zoological forms with ideas and images from the history of science, printmaking, and mythology. This direction continues to inform her images, which in recent years combine lithography, silkscreen, and collagraphy.

“I have seen her imagery progress for two decades,” said Fuglie. “Roxanne’s art is distinctive because it is complex, vibrant, and always recognizable for its adroit use of technique with multiple images bearing layers of meaning. Connoisseurs regard her as one of the best woodcut artists in the region.”

The show presents the first career survey of Sexauer’s work, beginning with a 1973 self-portrait in the German Expressionist style, and concluding with works completed this past summer.

SMC’s Pete & Susan Barrett Art Gallery is located at the SMC Performing Arts Center on Santa Monica Boulevard at 11th Street, Santa Monica. Due to construction in progress, enter the building from 11th Street. Exhibits, gallery talks, artist demonstrations, and opening receptions are free.

Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call 310.434.3434.

Saddleback College Steamroller Printmaking Event Rolls Out

A Review byVanessa Donofrio

4/29/14

              Saddleback Steamroller Woodblock Party

Held in the Theater Circle at Saddleback College, this printmakers dream is a must and a delight to experience. Every printmaker has got to try it at least once. I guarantee you will be counting the days until the next time the steamroller’s back in town. Vinita Voogd and Rick Reese, the two Saddleback printmaking professors, and their printmaking students hosted this sweet event. The Dean of the Fine Arts and Media Technology, Bart McHenry, was also there to take part in the festivities and carved a mini plate. There were Easy-Ups to shade the students while they rolled ink over their woodblocks. There were also other shady spots for guests to carve out a mini woodblock and have it printed on a turquoise shirt (also the color of the team shirts this year). There was a section set up for printmaking students to sell some of their prints. Vinita, Rick, and some students got to drive the steamroller over these wooden images. BFK, Stonehenge and tapestries were used to print on, with packing blankets and rubber carpet pads used in place of the traditional catcher, cushion, and pusher blankets/felts. These life size wood blocks were cut with a number of different carving tools such as Speedball tools, motorized Dremels, and other woodcutting tools. The Saddleback radio station, KSBR, had this event on the radio and held interviews with students and Vinita. There was a yummy food truck to keep us fed. It was an awesome time. I enjoyed seeing Vinita and Rick and my former classmates from Saddleback again. I was very much inspired by the amazing images and hard work put into them. I can’t wait until next year. Thank you Vinita, Rick, and Saddleback Print students for a fabulous woodblock party!

Dirk Hagner: Deep Cuts

A review by Bevis Hari

The exhibition runs until 5/28/2013

Dirk Hagner: Deep Cuts, found inside Biola University’s library, features breath-taking prints done by artist Dirk Hagner. Walking inside the library for the first time, one is greeted with large-scale woodcuts  mounted on the walls. Beautiful prints over twenty by forty inches in size are framed, while the original wood block used in the process hangs next to them.

The artist’s main subject is portraying prominent people known throughout the course of history. Although most of his prints depict simply faces, Hagner successfully gives a dramatic look and pose to each. For instance, Hagner’s Tilman Riemenschneider (2002) shows the prolific German woodcarver curiously looking off into the distance. It is apparent that this was done using the suicide cut method. One side of the composition is dominated by shadow, and the background is composed by a vertical textured pattern that mimics the look of etched marks. In fact, what I find to be my favorite feature amongst the prints by Hagner is the obvious display of "chatter" marks. Its as if he intended not to be too careful about his mark making, however still keeping every details with the different width of the various gouges. One can also recognize that Hagner paid attention to light, as each of his prints assumes one light source that directs the lighting and shading. All these elements combine to create successful and dramatic composition within each print.

I have seen a few woodcut prints that are magnificent, but not as iconic as Dirk Hagner’s. The consistency in style and subject matter amongst his prints makes him a successful printmaking artist. There is no doubt that Biola University chose the right artist to represent art in printmaking.