Evan Charney

EVAN CHARNEY

High School of
Music and Art, New York City; major in Fine Art

Printmaking
coursework in lithography, intaglio, screenprint, relief at:

Rochester
Institute of Technology: Rochester,
New York

Maryland
Institute of Art: Baltimore,
Maryland

Worcester
Art Museum: Worcester, Massachusetts

Workshops in
advanced printmaking techniques at

Haystack Mountain
School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine

Art
New England, Bennington, Vermont

Truro
Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, Massachusetts

Zea
Mays Printmaking, Florence,
Massachusetts

For as long as
I can remember I have been fascinated with printmaking. This is an art form that demands patience to slowly
acquire sufficient hand skill, like a musician who must first master the
instrument before being able to make beautiful music. And unlike the directness of applying paint
to canvas, the outcome in printmaking is indirect and hidden, the result
uncertain until “proved”. But then there
is nothing as satisfying as pulling the print, the “Aha!” moment when you lift
paper from press and the final result is revealed. After all these years printmaking is still a
daunting challenge, but what a wonder when it comes out right!

I was
introduced to wood engraving in a weekend workshop in 2007 and was immediately
smitten. The constraints of the medium: a small monochromatic image and a
technique unforgiving of error are more than offset by the detailed, crisp,
black and white images that can be created. I find wood engraving the most compelling of
all the printmaking techniques I’ve tried.
The hours of careful work required to engrave and print the block draw
you into a private and serene world. Some
chamber music may be allowed but multitasking is out of the question. And the
fact that this centuries old art form has repeatedly been abandoned in favor of
new technology (e.g., photography, digital imaging) only to be reborn and
rediscovered as a valid art form is particularly satisfying.