Shara Mercado Poole
- Apr 9, 2018
- 2 min read

Sustained Ingrain: Contemporary Woodcuts from East to West

Xiao Fuping, woodcut detail

I'm glad to be back home after spending four days attending Altered Landscapes, this year's Southern Graphics Council International conference was at Bally's in Las Vegas. Founded in 1972, SGC International is an organization dedicated to advancing the art and practice of printmaking and the annual conference is the largest gathering of printmakers in North America. This was my first time attending this type of conference, there was an overwhelming amount of product information, demonstrations, and exhibitions. I'm still reeling a bit from the experience, processing all the new information and recovering from the environment of flashing neon through a smoky haze.

Among the many events for conference attendees, there were several themed print exchanges on exhibition. One particular exchange of note, Sustained Ingrain: Contemporary Woodcuts from East to West, was co-curated by professors Scott Ludwig from Appalachian State University and Liu Jing from Changsha Normal University in China. This exhibition featured the works of 24 artists, 12 from North American and 12 from China. Aside from being a beautiful display of contemporary relief printing, it showed that the art and craft of woodcuts is live and well the world over.

"Shina, cherry, pine, birch, basswood; all familiar species for printmakers engaged with the woodcut process. This project is an international, cultural exchanged folio of woodcut prints."

Caonceived to parallel the theme of the 2018 SGCI conference, the artists were free to interpret the concept of "altered landscape" based on their personal and/or own cultural context. Taken literally and/or broadly, the participating artists addressed issues of sustainability, climate change, environmental/cultural degradation, social justice and globalization.

Artist: Scott Ludwig

Media: woodcut

Scott Ludwig, woodcut detail

Artist: Liu Jing

Media: woodcut, multiblock

Conceived to parallel the theme of the 2018 SGCI conference, the artists were free to interpret the concept of "altered landscape" based on their personal and/or own cultural context. Taken literally and/or broadly, the participating artists addressed issues of sustainability, climate change, environmental/cultural degradation, social justice and globalization.