Making the Cut

By Jayna Hintz, curator of education

Tuesday evening the Woodson Art Museum’s classroom was filled with laughter. Hearing students and parents say “this was a lot of fun,” "I love the sticky ink,” “I love this stuff,” “Mom I got my hands dirty (with a big smile)!” Nothing fills this museum educator’s heart more than the sounds of happy, busy, young artists immersed in a process. In this case, the printing process.

Relief printmaker Sherrie York is the artist in residence this week at the Woodson Art Museum. She’s introducing students and visitors to relief printmaking processes: creating a block, inking the block, and printing it. Sherri uses linoleum blocks and woodblocks as her primary “supports” and hand prints most of her work. She has many years of experience and is a wealth of information on the ins and outs of relief printmaking and “tricks” of the trade.

Student visits begin with an introduction to Beguiled by the Wild, an exhibition featuring Charley Harper’s screenprints. Minimal realism is Harper’s signature style; the simple shapes he utilizes in his work inspire students as they set out to carve their own designs into linoleum blocks.



Sherrie’s residency is made possible by a Community Arts Grant with funds from the Community Foundation of North Central Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Arts Board, and the B.A. & Esther Greenheck Foundation . . . and we’re grateful.
 





Plan a Night Out @ the Woodson Art Museum this Thursday, May 2, 5:30 – 7pm for Art History 101/Hands-on Art, when Sherrie shares her techniques and process for creating linocuts. She’ll lead visitors in the creation of Styrofoam prints and also make some of her linocut and woodcut blocks available to participants to help them learn the printing process.

Sherrie is in residence at the Museum throughout the week and will oversee the steamroller printing event on Saturday, May 4, Noon – 5pm. Join us then to witness the printing of twenty large-scale (3 x 4 feet) wood blocks created by teams of area high school students from Wausau East, DC Everest, and Mosinee. We’ll be easy to find: look for the steamroller in the Museum’s parking lot. If it’s rainy and wet, we’ll print beneath the shelter of a tent.

Rain or shine, we’ll “Let the Good Times Steamroll!”

PS. The Urban Street Bistro food truck will be on the scene on Saturday, too, providing yummy food for purchase. Check out their fabulous menu.