The Black Swan
Sharri LaPierre, Vancouver WA USA
Information on the print:
Woodblock Print
Water based ink and gold paint
The paper is Somerset Satin and the inks are Gamblin oil relief ink (black) and etching ink (red). For the pistils and stamen I carved a tiny little lino piece which was then glued to a flat head screw with the threads wrapped in masking tape.
Comments from the artist:
A black swan, as was explained to me, is a disastrous event which has exceeded the parameters of all planning and expectations. It seemed the perfect metaphor for what happened with the quake, tsunami and subsequent failings at the nuclear power plant in Sendai, Japan. The flowers are a very abstract wysteria and some of them are the icon for radioactive materials. The image is from two blocks. I carved three, but then could not find a gold ink that I considered bright enough, so ended up painting the gold with a wonderful gouache. The gold swans are the stalwart, stoicism of the Japanese as they deal with this catastrophic event.