Jean Gumpper

JEAN GUMPPER
ARTIST STATEMENT

In my work, I respond to landscape as a metaphor for emotions and experiences. The layering of the ink, for me, echoes natural processes such as the layering of leaves, water, trees and light as well as the overlay of my thoughts as I walk through the landscape. Making the prints is a way for me to relive an experience and, in some cases, to help come to terms with it.

The monoprints use actual leaves and branches from where I often walk as printing blocks. Included are symbolic winged dragonflies in gold leaf. I completed this series after going through radiation treatments for breast cancer. The prints represent change and possibility after a surprising diagnosis.


Constant Change, woodcut, 20” x 42”

In this print, color is applied in a series of transparent and opaque layers through a reduction woodcut process and, gradually, the layers build up into a completed image. The image comes from a hike in the mountains that started as a sunny day. A few drops of rain started to fall in the pond along the trail. I glanced behind me and saw an ominous black thundercloud. One constant in my life is change.