Close to Home, Three Printmakers
October 9, 2021 - February 28, 2022
Claudia Borfiga, Carrizo Plain
Karen Schroeder, Migration
Sara Woodburn, July 2020
The Wildling Museum is pleased to announce its upcoming Valley Oak Gallery exhibition, Close to Home, Three Printmakers, featuring artists Claudia Borfiga, Karen Schroeder, and Sara Woodburn, on view October 9, 2021 - February 28, 2022.
The public is invited to meet the artists on Sunday, October 17, 2021 from 3 - 5 p.m.
The works of Borfiga, Schroeder, and Woodburn center on a recurring theme of nature as a place of solace and beauty where growth and change can seem intimate or expansive. Layers of color, pattern, and printmaking are the dialogue these artists use to share stories of Earth. They value natural areas and seek to bring inspiration to the viewer.
Claudia Borfiga is inspired by new landscapes and plants and captures her joyfulness in places like Ganna Walksa Lotusland, Joshua Tree and Sequoia National Parks.
Karen Schroeder becomes a narrator in her series of woodblock prints. The story is one of connections, a binding thread between humans and the natural world.
Sara Woodburn presents a year-long series of monthly “Quarantine Garden” woodblock prints of the changes and visitors to her backyard garden in Santa Barbara, as she narrowed her daily attentions waiting for a return to “normal.”
Claudia Borfiga
Claudia Borfiga
Claudia Borfiga is a California-based artist specializing in screen printing; a medium that she enjoys for the technical boundaries it presents, as well as the physicality of pulling prints. Through her work, she’s compelled to communicate and amplify the sensations she feels when exploring the wonders of the natural world. As a teaching artist, Claudia uses her screen print workshops as a wide-ranging platform to foster community, as a means to explore trauma, and for the simple joy of getting other peoples hands messy. She enjoys making and learning in lots of formats, including growing her own veg.
Claudia grew up in the suburbs of London, and studied Textile Design at Loughborough University. Her affection for traditional textiles can be seen in her prints, with elements bursting across the page, forming patterns or pathways to be discovered. In celebrating the treasures found in natural environments, she hopes we are able to foster a deeper appreciation for them.
For more information, visit: www.claudiaborfiga.com.
Karen Schroeder
Karen Schroeder
Karen Schroeder grew up in Los Angeles, California, surrounded by the diversity of a big city. Her love of art began at an early age which led to a degree in art from California State University Northridge. She later received a Master’s Degree in Education and taught for many years.
Karen’s early travels to Central America, Mexico, Australia, and South Africa instilled in her a love of culture and the natural world. Nature is a constant theme in her prints. The woodcut is a way for Karen to share a visual story, a look through a new lens. “My goal is to create an image that the viewer would like to enter, a unique environment that welcomes you.”
Karen shows regularly at galleries on the Central Coast and is a member of the Santa Barbara Printmakers, California Society of Printmakers, Goleta Valley Art Association, Santa Barbara Art Association, and Carpinteria Arts Center. She has exhibited her work in solo shows in Santa Barbara, at the Faulkner Gallery East, and Gallery 113. In 2012 she won Best of Show at the Channing Peake Gallery, sponsored by the Santa Barbara Arts Commission. More recently, her work was highlighted in Montecito Magazine’s 2020 summer-fall issue as the cover artist.
Karen continues to teach art to adults, giving workshops on white-line woodcuts. “Sharing my love of art with others gives me great joy.”
Sara Woodburn
Sara Woodburn
Sara Woodburn is a native Californian, born in Long Beach and educated at UC Davis, who studied textile, graphic, and costume design. She studied yuzen, a kimono dyeing process, in Tokyo, Japan and started a hand-dyed textile and one-of-a-kind clothing business (Sara McCook Textiles) in the San Francisco Bay Area, later moving it to Santa Fe, New Mexico. In New Mexico, she was a frequent Artist-in-Residence, teaching students textile printing in communities all over the state. She earned an education credential at the University of New Mexico and was an educator in New Mexico and California for many years.
In 2012 and 2016, Sara was awarded scholarships to attend the prestigious Anderson Ranch Art Center in Colorado to study mokuhanga, the centuries-old Japanese woodblock printing method with the master printmaker, Hiroki Morinoue and reduction woodcut with Jean Gumpper. Her work has been shown at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara, the Wildling Museum, the Elverhoj Museum, Marcia Burtt Gallery, Sullivan Goss Gallery, and Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum. Her collaborative series on climate change is currently on view at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara. In 2019, she participated in a series of collaborative silkscreen workshops called Print Power, for survivors of domestic violence. She is a member of the California Society of Printmakers, Santa Barbara Printmakers, and part of the Santa Barbara Mesa Artists Studio Tour.
For more information, visit: www.sarawoodburn.com.