SEPTEMBER exhibit: WOOD AND INK, KRAIG BINKOWSKI

The opening reception will be September 14, 6-8 pm.

From September 14th to October 5th, 2019 we will be showing “Wood and Ink”, woodblock prints by Kraig Binkowski.

“I have been making prints for almost 30 years since pulling my first proof off an ancient Charles Brand etching press in college. Throughout my years of printmaking, I have created imagery that explores the play of light across figures and surfaces. Always concerned with process and the inherent and distinctive qualities of mark-making in etchings and woodcuts, I celebrate the richness of the medium – my woodcuts are recognizably “of wood” and never hide the distinctive beauty of carving into wood. Some of the universal ideas that weave through my prints are isolation in the urban environment, sadness and tranquillity, and nature’s interaction with modern life. In my prints, I’m interested in an honesty of mark making— emphasising the natural qualities of the wood block. The image, the wood, and the tools used to create it live harmoniously within each woodcut and the grain of the wood is always an important partner in the print. I make still, quiet scenes – a greyness pervades, but hopeful notes of light and shadow penetrate the solitude.

Biography:
I grew up in Detroit, Michigan and received my BFA in printmaking from Wayne State University in Detroit. I continued in printmaking, earning my MFA at the Ohio State University. I began to work exclusively in woodcuts more than 15 years ago and have been enthralled by the process ever since. I have taught woodcut techniques at the Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven and have also lectured Yale History of Art students on printmaking processes and procedures. I have worked in the research libraries at the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Delaware Art Museum, and am now fortunate to be able to work in one of Yale’s most iconic modernist buildings surrounded by beautiful works of art at the Yale Center for British Art, where I have served as Chief Librarian for 14 years.