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Nancy Reinke's early experience
as a commercial artist and illustrator provided her a solid
background in graphic design. This is evident in the etchings,
woodcuts, wood engravings, oils and caseins she creates in
her Alexandria, Virginia studio.
The disciplines of printmaking demand
enormous time in the preparation of the plates and wood blocks.
It took two years to carve the four cherry blocks required
to print the full range of colors in the artist's largest
woodcut. This prompted a return, in recent years, to the spontaneity
of alla prima painting in oil. It was a most welcome change
of pace, but the satisfaction of working at the press was
missing.
The ideal solution has been a marriage
of both media, resulting in the creation of a painterly print
called a monotype. An image is painted on a plate of zinc
or Mylar and put through a press. The oil paint is magically
transferred to paper with a few surprises. This partnership
with the press gives the original painting a new dimension.
Some areas smudge, colors run unexpectedly or fail to "lift"
in fascinating ways. A favorite palette is the family of grays.
The warms and cools seem to invite the viewer in for a closer
look.
The artist's numerous sketch books of
figure drawings provide a source for recent monotypes. Subjects,
very often women, most comfortably dominate a space of their
own picture plane. Sometimes a dog or other figures become
a part of the composition, relating to one another in a scenario
the artist has created.
Nancy Reinke's work is represented
in numerous corporate and private collections including the
Library of Congress, the Virginia State Legislature, the Hilton
Corporation and the Marriot Corporation. Commissions include
the American Institute of Architects and the Folger Shakespeare
Library.
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