Here is a new woodblock that I’ve been working on lately. It’s printed in black and white on a very fine, almost translucent Chinese paper. I’ve completed an edition of 10, and I have plans to do a version with color as well.

The second picture, though a little blurry is the inked block on the press bed.

Dying Warrior of Aegina
22 x 30 inches
Graphite on paper

The marble sculpture of this dying warrior resides in the Glyptothek Museum in Munich. It was taken from the west pediment of the Temple of Aphaia and is dated from 490-480 BC.

Please join us for the Seattle exhibition of PrintZero Studios Exchange #7 during the Georgetown Artwalk:

Opening Reception: August 14th 2010, 5-10 pm

PrintZero Studios: Seattle
4810 Airport Way South
Seattle, WA 98134

Exhibition runs Aug 14 – 28

Aphrodite of Morgantina
Graphite on paper
30 x 22 inches

The Aphrodite of Morgantina is a larger than life size marble and limestone sculpture which is believed to have been looted from an excavation site in Morgantina, Sicily. The sculpture was purchased by the J. Paul Getty museum from a London art dealer who had bought it from a Swiss family. The swiss family had purportedly been in posession of the sculpture since 1939, which is the same year that the Italian governmen, in an effort to preserve the cultural heritage of the region, passed a law preventing the removal of antiquities from the country.

The J. Paul Getty museum has since reached an agreement with The Italian government to return the sculpture and several other antiquities. It will remain on display at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles until 2010.

More info at the website for the Illicit Antiquities Research Centre. More info about the sculpture at the Getty Museum.

Summer has arrived! What better way to celebrate the gorgeous weather than strolling around the streets of Ballard and enjoying the artwalk on Saturday July 10th? The Ballardworks building will be open from 6:00-9:00pm and will feature ArtTown 2010, a collection of contemporary artworks by Michael Alm, Mike Azzano, JenniferBauer, Naomi Beecroft, Noel Berube, Zachary Bonenkamp, Amber Dye, Marianne Kovacs, Brian Lane, Colin J Nelson, John “Lucky” O’Donnell, Noah Overby, David Rossmand and Nate Stottrup.

Don’t miss it!

Saturday July 10th, 2010
6:00-9:00pm

The Ballardworks Building
2856 NW Market Street
Seattle, WA 98107

Woman in Garden No. 1
Noah Overby
Graphite drawing with woodblock print
Images size: 5.5 x 3.25 inches    

.    

Woman in Garden No. 2
Noah Overby
India ink drawing with woodblock print
Image size: 5.5 x 3.25 inches    

.    

Woman in Garden No. 3
Noah Overby
Walnut ink drawing with woodblock print
Image size: 5.5 x 3.25 inches    

.    

Woman in Garden No. 4
Noah Overby
Graphite drawing with woodblock print
Images size: 5.5 x 3.25 inches    

.    

Woman in Garden No. 5
Noah Overby
India ink drawing on paper with woodblock print
Image size: 5.5 x 3.25 inches    

.    

I just completed a series of drawing based on my woodblock print “Venus and Garden.” I have been looking at the amazing woodblock prints of Edvard Munch lately and thanks to the book “Edvard Munch The Complete Graphic Works” by Gerd Woll I learned that Munch used a ‘coping saw’ to cut his woodblocks into pieces as if making a jigsaw puzzle. This allowed him to ink areas of his image with different colors and then reassemble them before printing. The advantage to doing this is that he did not have to carve a new block for each color that he wished to print, and he could create multicolor prints with a single pass through the press.    

I adapted the idea by cutting away the figure from my woodblock. This allowed me to print several blanks that I could use as the basis for new drawings, reinserting different figures into the environment. Since I’m always interested in what I call the language of the drawing and experimenting with different qualities of line and media it was a really fun experiment and seemed to work out great!    

Although the garden scene that forms the background for these figure studies is fictional it reminds me of my trip to Versailles years ago. The beautiful garden with classical sculptures and fountains of flowing water made quite an impression on me at the time. I tried to capture the feeling of frivolity and peaceful sanctuary that the gardens represented for me in these figures.

Available in my Etsy shop for $35 each.

Venus and Garden
Noah Overby
Woodblock print in an edition of 20
Image size: 5.5 x 3.5 inches
available at noahoverby.etsy.com

“Venus and Garden” is a woodblock print on Japanese Masa paper, printed in a blue-grey. The figure is inspired by an ancient Roman, marble. The garden is loosely defined but depicts a fountain, irises and suggestions of blossoms and foliage with clouds in the distance. It provided an opportunity to bring together my current interest in statues of Roman antiquity while alluding to themes in traditional Japanese screen painting, such as the irises, blossoms and clouds.

I have always been fascinated by the artwork of Ogata Korin who worked in the decorative Rimpa style. His paintings of irises make reference to the Ise Monogatori, or Tales if Ise in which a poet who is traveling far from the capitol constructs a poem in which each line begins with a syllable from the word for irises. His poem expressing a longing for his lover who is far away in the capitol. This link includes an image of some of Korin’s screens depicting irises and more information about their meaning.

Roman Head
10 x 7 inches
2 Color Woodcut on Japanese Paper
available at noahoverby.etsy.com

I just finished printing my edition for the Print Zero Studios Print Exchange #7. “Roman Head” is printed in black and blue/grey from 2 blocks of pine. The edition size is 15 which are all going to the print exchange, but I have a few artist proofs that I am offering for sale.