2003 - John Walker

  John Walker created Diagonal Hollyhocks, a hand-colored etching, as the Print Club of New York's 2003 Presentation Print. Mr. Walker was born in Birmingham England and has held teaching positions at a variety of institutions, most recently as Professor of Graduate Painting at Boston University. He exhibits internationally as both a painter and printmaker. Best known for his highly expressive abstract paintings, Walker explained that he is an avid gardener. His son had become interested in growing hollyhocks, and the artist had made a painting of hollyhocks for him a few summers before. He made several other hollyhock paintings for himself and other family members, as well as several monotypes. The Print Club's print employs several layers of aquatint, which Walker then finished by hand coloring, a laborious process, but one more cost-effective than creating a four-color print. Also, the hand coloring gives the print the fresh quality of a monotype. Walker, who worked with master printer James Stroud on Diagonal Hollyhocks, is extremely experimental as a printmaker. He experiments by adding sticks, scraps of various kinds and nails on top of the plate to see what will happen. Always, he is aiming for spontaneity.

~ Gillian Greenhill Hannum ~

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