Craigville Church 1932

Fiske Boyd made this woodcut, Craigville Church, and look at how he's carved out these graphic marks. There's something so simple and direct about this approach, and it's cool how he commits to that process so wholeheartedly. The whole thing is black and white, right? But then, everything is about how much light comes through by what you remove; the texture is so key here. Look at the mountains in the background and how the white contrasts with the black. How the white changes from a cross hatch to horizontal lines, almost like a topographic map. Then, your eye is pulled down to this railroad track with all these figures doing all sorts of different things. It reminds me a little of some of the prints that Stella did, but with a folk art quality. You know, artmaking really is just an ongoing conversation across time. There isn't one right way to understand it; the beauty of art is that it's always open to new thoughts and feelings.