The Oregon Coast Council for the Arts presents the work of Dallas, Oregon printmaker Patrick Simon in the Upstairs Gallery at the Newport Visual Arts Center. Simon will exhibit linoleum block prints inspired by the Newport area and the Oregon coast.
“I enjoy all the phases of creating an image by keeping my editions small and printing all the images myself,” Simon says. “I can ensure that from conception to the final run that the prints are traditionally handmade, archival and personal.”
Simon Grew up in Nebraska and received his BFA in sculpture from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in 1992. He has exhibited his work in numerous galleries and institutions throughout the West, and in 2013 he received the Lawrence Tenney Stevens award for Outstanding American Print at the Boston Printmakers North American Print Biennial.
“I love the process of linoleum block printing. The carved surface produces an image with unique clarity that distinguishes it from other mediums,” he says. “The materials and techniques lend themselves so the artist might share an idea through intimate groups of multiple images.”
The most basic element of “relief” printmaking is the printing block which is simply made up of an eighth-inch layer of linoleum, glued to a plank of wood. The linoleum surface can be tooled in any imaginable way to create an interesting texture. The block is carved, scratched, gouged or worn away to develop an image.
A wide variety of different effects can be achieved in printmaking, but with the method Simon uses, each color usually requires a separate block. For Simon, that means producing between six and eight blocks. For this technique, multiple blocks are used, but with few exceptions printmaking produces a mirror image so the blocks must be hand carved in reverse.
“My ideas originally stem from the sciences,” Simon says. “Growing up on the University of Wyoming campus, you can see lots of fossil records pertaining to the amazing life of an inland ocean. And I was floored by the sensation of walking up to a real ocean for the first time. All of my interactions with the ocean have been profound.”
The Upstairs Gallery is open from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, please call 541-265-6569 or email vac@coastarts.org.