“Ringcrow” 2007
3 x 4” chiaroscuro relief print
5 variable editions of 5
Crows and ravens have always fascinated me. I love their black shapes cutting across the sky, their raucous calls, their mystique and their intelligence. I know many people that think that crows are evil or dangerous. I like that they serve as instigators and clever tricksters in Native American myths, companions of Odin in Norse myths and land finders in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
These black birds have always brought a smile to my face no matter where I may be. When I lived in Cincinnati a murder of crows would arrive by the hundreds (maybe thousands)to roost in the trees of Mount Adams. Their pops, gurgles and snapping language would greet me in the morning as I went to work at the Art Museum and again at night as I left for home. I have to wonder if the famous Rookwood Pottery studio just up the road took it’s name from the annual arrival of these magnificent birds.
“Ringcrow” is a simple ode to those pursuers of shiny things. In this case the little thief has captured someone’s ring. A wedding band perhaps?
The prints in this particular series entitled “Unfinished Stories” were my first attempts at multi-block multi-color relief prints. The color editions are small, just 5 (sometimes 6) prints per color with a total of 5 color runs per print. I like the way a different color will change the mood of the image even if ever so slightly.
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