LaFayette Clearing 1930

Wayne Davis made this print, LaFayette Clearing, without a date that I can see, using a printmaking process that I find really fascinating. It is like drawing, but with acid! The whole composition is built up from tiny etched lines that somehow conjure this expansive scene of workers in a landscape, almost like figures in a snow globe. Look at the way the lines vary in thickness and direction, creating different tones and textures. There's a real tactile quality to the etched lines which is cool, but it is also like, how did he DO that? The dark lines around the edges of the mountains give them weight and volume. I think of artists like Whistler, who also played with the tonal possibilities of etching. Both artists remind us that art is about the process, the journey of discovery, and embracing the unexpected. It is about finding new ways of seeing and representing the world around us.