Betty Woodman - Picking Plum Blossoms
American, b.1930
Picking Plum Blossoms, 2008
Color woodcut with chine colle and gold leaf, 25.75 x 48.5 inches
Edition 14/30
Shark's Ink
08.014

Gift of the Global MBA Class of 2008

Betty Woodman began her career with clay as her chosen medium. Today, Woodman is internationally recognized as one of the most important ceramic artists working today.
Since 1985, Woodman has collaborated with Master printer Bud Shark to produce monotypes, woodcuts and lithographs with the same inventiveness and exuberance of her ceramic work. Taking up the challenge to work in two dimensions, Woodman paints, cuts, and collages her prints to create glorious pots sitting in interiors, just as she forms, cuts and assembles her ceramic pots. Woodman's painterly prints make reference to the rich history of ceramics around the world.

Picking Plum Blossoms is based on a recent triptych of ceramic vessels decorated with Japanese figures. In the woodcut she carefully chose the distinctive grain of various woodblocks, with gold leaf and chine collé, to create rich textures and patterns. These elements, with the characteristic carved woodcut line and her lively colors, coalesce in a spring-like three-panel print. The edition was printed in twelve colors from eight hand-cut woodblocks on white Thai Mulberry, with Yatsuo chine collé and 22k gold leaf.