Woodcut

Bryan Nash Gill is an artist in rural Connecticut, where he lives with his wife and son, Forest. His prints, drawings, and sculptures are heavily influenced by the New England countryside he calls home.

If there is, indeed, nothing lovelier than a tree, Connecticut-based artist Bryan Nash Gill shows us why. Creating large-scale relief prints from the cross sections of trees, the artist reveals the sublime power locked inside their arboreal rings. Gill creates patterns not only of great beauty but also year-by-year records of the life and times of fallen or damaged logs. He rescues the wood from the property surrounding his studio and neighboring land, extracts and prepares blocks of various species (including ash, maple, oak, spruce, and willow), then makes prints by carefully following and pressing the contours of rings and ridges until the intricate designs transfer from tree to paper. The results are colored, nuanced shapes-mesmerizing impressions of the structural integrity hidden inside each tree. These exquisitely detailed prints are collected and published here for the first time, with an introduction by esteemed nature writer Verlyn Klinkenborg and an interview with the artist describing his labor-intensive printmaking process. Also featured are Gill's series of printed lumber and offcuts, such as burls, branches, knots, and scrubs. Woodcut will appeal to anybody who appreciates the grandeur and mystery of trees, as well as those who work with wood and marvel at the rich history embedded in its growth.

Detailed prints of woodcuts- cross sections through trees. Various species of trees are represented: oak, maple, locust, ash, cedar, and more. The prints reveal the unique beauty of each tree, including its history (through its shape and rings) and defining characteristics (bends, branches, and burls). In addition to the trees, there will be prints of dimensional lumber and images of the wood blocks used to create the prints. Behind each work is a laborious process - the book may include an account of this process, including how the artist acquires the trees and what he looks for in the cuts, how he prepares the wood for printing, and how he transfers the details of each cut to paper.