The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature’s upcoming exhibit, Close to Home, Three Printmakers, featuring artists Claudia Borfiga, Karen Schroeder and Sara Woodburn, will be on view Oct. 9-February in the Valley Oak gallery, 1511-B Mission Drive, Solvang.
The public is invited to meet the artists, 3-5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 17.
The works of Borfiga, Schroeder and Woodburn center on a recurring theme of nature as a place of solace and beauty where growth and change can seem intimate or expansive. Layers of color, pattern and printmaking are the dialogue the artists use to share stories of Earth.
For the showing, Borfiga was inspired by new landscapes and plants, capturing her joyfulness in places like Ganna Walksa Lotusland, the Carrizo Plain National Monument, as well as Joshua Tree and Sequoia national parks. The new works also mark a transition in her process, sh said.
“After many years making screen prints using stencil exposure, I’ve recently been exploring mono screen printing; something that feels closer to drawing or painting, freeing me to be more gestural, impulsive and playful,” Borfiga said. “These prints capture an environment I’m in constant awe of.”
For Schroeder, her work allows her to become a narrator through her series of new woodblock prints. The story is one of connections, a binding thread between humans and the natural world.
“My prints are a graphic story, a personal vision of the natural world, and one I love to share,” she said.
Woodburn will present a year-long series of monthly “Quarantine Garden” woodblock prints capturing the changes and visitors to her backyard garden in Santa Barbara, as she narrowed her daily attentions waiting for a return to normal over the last year and a half.
“The waiting for a return to a ‘normal’ life is palpable, but bringing my attention to what is right outside and taking notice is beautiful and satisfying,” Woodburn said.
The three artists each provide distinct perspectives on the art of printmaking. Also included in the exhibit will be a display of the different tools used in their individual printmaking processes, as well as insight into how different style prints are created.
For more information and to follow programming updates throughout the exhibit, visit www.wildlingmuseum.org/news/close-to-home.