Lifting our Eyes to the Mountains
an exhibit of mountain-themed prints by various of our roster of TNLG printmakers
March 25 - June 25
"Mama's Yama", color woodblock print by Lynita Shimizu
Evidence of the ever-changing forces of our earth’s crust, mountains can be from one viewpoint massive and looming, from another distant and crisp; our perception of mountains is especially responsive to the influence of our point of view. If we catch sight of them while cresting a hill in our car they might stand tall, if we see them far off from a flat sloping field they might shrink to become distant bystanders, blips on a long ridge-line at the far-off horizon. And if we get up into the mountains? The lofty views from mountains offer relief from stresses and troubles. We can gaze out and over the valleys in which we live out most of our lives and our troubles and anxieties become smaller. On mountaintops we sense diminishment’s of our attachments to worries and trouble. With this detachment comes a feeling of increased connection with the wind, with the air, with distant weather systems. This feeling is what we hope this show might do in some small way: offer glimpses of relief and perspective in a time of acute doubt and trouble.
"Migrant Sky", color linocut print by William Hays, 12" x 9"
William shared with me this print was not birthed on a mountaintop, it was inspired by a witnessing of a cloud effect from his back porch in downtown Brattleboro. The mountain feeling of the image is mostly invented!
Interesting. His isn't the first story I have heard of an artist describing the creation of an evocative image with a very real tactile feeling as actually being mostly from the mind's eye.
