This newest body of work, Wildness Lost, takes a new turn to connect with environmental themes through the use of mythical figures. These figures confront the realities of encroaching technology and diminishing wilderness while continuing the search for utopian ideals and indulging in desire as a form of resistance. This group of etchings is inspired by the history of fantastical beasts in printed imagery from the 1500s and 1600s. These creatures were invented out of a need to simultaneously propagate an ideal and escape from confining social expectations. For example, The Wild People are mythical human-beast hybrids who were free of societal constraints and morality. They were a precursor to the myth of the contemporary Yeti, who is normally depicted as a solitary figure (but falls in love with a human girl in a clear-cut forest in my recent piece The Wildness).
In Social Media Siren a mermaid employs social media to lure men to the rocks, this time depicted as a pile of discarded electronic waste. These allegorical figures are forced to deal with the reality of contemporary problems, drawing poetic attention to current contradictory desires of idealism and materialism.
*Jenny Schmid will give an artist talk on Friday 10-5 at 6:30 at Pratt in the Yellow building
**Jenny will also be conducting a walk through of her work during the First Thursday, Art Walk starting at 7:00pm.
View Jenny's BIO and more of her work HERE.
Woodblock printing, which incorporates skills I have acquired over a lifetime of working with my hands-mainly finish carpentry, cabinet making and building architectural models-feels like the right medium for me. The art of carving woodblocks is straightforward and direct in that in what is left on the surface of the wood after carving becomes the image. The carving, however, offers its challenges depending on the degree of detail intended, and many hours can be spent arriving there. The subject matter for my prints generally centers on objects in nature that I feel possess a special quality I want to bring to the viewer’s attention. In an attempt to have the prints reveal these qualities, I spend a lot of time in the arranging and rearranging of parts and forms in order to show their hidden interest and beauty. These grapevine prints have been very interesting and enjoyable to work on. The subjects, like little twisted critters, are playful. Some seem to almost dance with each other and with their shadows. This series of prints also reflects influences from my past. I have spent a lot of time studying and living in Japan and have a strong interest in the esthetics and the art of that country. I feel that the grapevine images are somehow more connected to these influences than in my earlier work.I have always thought that my artwork should reflect what my life has gifted me with. I have seldom had such fun with my subjects as with these, and I am happy to share them with you
what ties us together is not the knots nor the twists and turns but the earth that nurtures the roots and arteries of ancestors born of a tiny seed ~ Alan Lau
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