Wendy Ernst Croskrey, “Shadows of Nature”
&
Yumi Kawaguchi, “With Pierce”
Exhibits on view: Sept. 2 – Oct.1, 2016
in Fairbanks Arts Association’s Bear Gallery
Gallery Hours: 12- 6 PM, Tuesday-Saturday (Winter Hours)
First Friday Opening Reception: September 2nd, 5-7 PM
Wendy Ernst Croskrey:
“I am primarily a multi-media sculptor. The natural shapes formed by nature inhabited by animals are the source of inspiration for my work. I relate these shapes to private spaces and to accounts of things that contain emotive content. My artwork utilizes industrial materials to create color fields that are more complex than those available through traditional paints. Crazing and surface tension is developed through dissimilar materials and their interface are descriptive identities within the work.
I have been an Alaskan resident since 1990. I served two years as an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University. In addition, I served as an Associate Professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Since 2014, I have served as a full Professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I received my B.F.A. in 1985 from The University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN. with a concentration in sculpture and printmaking. Additionally, I studied sculpture and received an M.F.A. in 1990 from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.”
Yumi Kawaguchi:
“I was 9 years old when I made the first woodcut in Japan, where everybody gets a set of carving tools at the fourth grade. 8 years after I moved to Alaska, I took a printmaking class at University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and made the first woodblock print in 20 years.
I love all the process that printmaking requires: design, transferring image onto block, carving the blocks for days and weeks, inking the block, printing the images on papers by hand rubbing with a baren. Slow and labor intensive process requires much patience and that is what I love most about woodcut printmaking.
I work on the Baltic birch woodblock with a set of high quality Japanese carving tools and printing Alaskan images on Washi, Japanese papers. Only highest quality of Japanese carving tools make it possible creating details on the hardwood blocks, and Washi has soft and organic touch I cannot miss making my prints.
Having a degree in Wildlife Biology and living in Alaska for 15 years, my art is greatly inspired by nature and wildlife in Alaska, and also my Japanese background. I create my prints hoping they bring smile to someone’s daily life and connect people through what we treasure in our life.”