Medium: Reduction woodcut
Dimensions: 17 1/4 x 24 inches (image)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: American, 1938
Date Finished: 1990
Edition: of 130

Recommended by Suzannah (Marketing and Communications Manager):

Gordon Mortensen achieves incredible realism and brilliance in his reduction woodcuts, a process that is complex and requires intricate planning on the part of the artist. “Evening Gold” is less detailed than many of his larger pieces, but draws and keeps your gaze as much as his well known floral landscapes. Bold blocks of color and subtle gradients make up an impossibly luminous landscape. The soft pink in the water floats, the purple in the background is deep and cool, and the golden grass shines blindingly bright. All together, this impressionistic and almost abstract scene feels at once peaceful and magnificently beautiful. 

Medium: Reduction woodcut
Dimensions: 8 x 10 inches (image)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: American, 1938
Date Finished: 1985
Edition: of 180

Recommended by Nikki (Fine Print Photographer & Content Publisher):
"Gordon Mortensen uses precise registration and his keen eye for layering color in this reduction woodcut. Mortensen prints a single color of ink; cuts away a small amount of wood; inks the same block in a different color, before cutting away more from the block; and repeating for as many different colors as the viewer can spot. This process can be daunting for many artists because once you cut the block, there is no going back. The result of Mortensen’s intense labor is a wide variety of texture and an expert build up of layers into atmospheric perspective that make for a stunning landscape."

Medium: Woodcut and drypoint
Dimensions: 14 x 9 inches (image)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: American, 1983
Date Finished: 2014
Edition: 9/9 EV

Recommended by Suzannah (Marketing and Communications Manager):

"There is an aching tenderness and familiarity in Ellen Heck’s portraits of young people. Each child is full of peace and personality, and the combination of woodcut and drypoint mediums produces playful blocks of color and precise feathery lines. I was particularly struck by “Two”, a portrait of a child obscured but looking directly out of the page, holding two hearts against their chest. Worked exclusively in grey tones, the child’s expression shows such freedom and soulfulness, an ineffable emotion and state of being that feels unreachable in adult life. The child does not wonder who they are or how they must be in the world. They simply are themself, and have never considered being otherwise."

Medium: Woodcut and drypoint
Dimensions:14 x 9 inches (image) 22 x 15 inches (sheet)

Signature: Signed
Artist details: American, 1983
Date Finished: 2014
Edition: AP

Recommended by Nikki (Art Photographer / Marketing and Exhibitions Specialist):

Heck’s ability to meld drypoint and woodcut together with perfect registration is incredible. The little girl is focused on tying her heart wing strings, while we watch her busy at work. Children are immensely talented at dreaming and imagining. This piece reminds me that it takes careful consideration and softness to dream, but it is just as important to do as an adult, as it is for a child.