ARTIST STATEMENT
My color reduction woodcuts celebrate the magical moments of my life: Bliss of Being. I strive to capture the truth and beauty of my subjects. I have always been especially attracted to water, seeking it out for its restorative powers. Some woodcuts involve a close up view of an underwater world. I have been a scuba diver since 1986. I photographed this small turquoise octopus on a night dive in Cozumel, Mexico. Too Cute to Eat was completed in seven runs using mylar stencils for PALATE TO PLATE, prints and recipes from members of the Boston Printmakers held at the Newport Art Museum. My woodcut octopus is life size as I remember him.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Originally from New York City, Cathie lived overseas six years in Saudi Arabia and France. She returned to Peoria in 2004 from Grenoble, France. She has concentrated on the color reduction woodcut since earning an MFA degree in 1987 from Bradley University In Peoria, Illinois where she had a one-person retrospective in December of 2016.
Her work has been included in more than three hundred exhibitions, thirty solo exhibitions, ninety juried national shows and eighteen international juried exhibitions since completing a BFA from The Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio. Crawford has received forty-five awards at both the national and regional level including three this year. Her woodcuts have been exhibited in twenty-eight states as well as Bulgaria, France, Poland, Saudi Arabia, and the UK.
Crawford’s prints are included in private and corporate collections in eight countries including the International Print Center New York in New York City; The American University Museum in Washington DC; The Safeya Binzagr Darat in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; the Newark Public Library, Newark, New Jersey and the Peoria Riverfront Museum in Peoria, Illinois.
© Cathie Crawford