Snapshot In Time: The Khumbu Glacier in Nepal, perched on the Himalayan slopes of Mount Everest, melts at a height of 17,500 feet creating the source of the Dudh Kosi River. Dudh Kosi (the Milk River) in Tibet is the highest river in the world. The source waters of the Dudh Kosi start off shallow and rocky, however the river soon swells to a raging torrent, falling over 13,000 feet in its first 50 miles. Master printmaker and woodblock artist Carol Summers has travelled extensively throughout Nepal, Tibet and India and other parts of the world. His favorite treks are to mountains and valleys interlaced with bodies of water such as rivers, lakes or ponds.

Art Smart Fact: In the year 2000, when he was 75 years of age, two Carol Summers Woodcuts, 50 Year Retrospective major exhibitions were held, one in New York and the other in California. Subsequently, Summers was awarded the “Printmaker of the Year” prize by the Mid-America Print Council (an outgrowth of the prestigious Prairie Printmakers Association). This event included another commemorative exhibition of his work once again attended by record crowds.

Since those early 21st century events, Summers’ woodblock prints have become even more complex in imagery; ones that required the extraordinary skill and expertise acquired after years of woodblock printmaking. DUDH KOSI and CHAMBA BAMBA, both completed in 2004, are good examples of this more complicated woodblock artwork. Both woodcuts used multiple blocks and required significantly more inking and roller work than many prior images which featured large, color fields. Both of these more recent woodcut prints are part of Summers' Art India Woodblock Series.

About The Art: The woodblock print DUDH KOSI also shows a well-planned use of color by this master printmaker. The entire landscape is an exercise in color contrasts. The green next to the red, the red next to the blue, the blue next to pink, the pink next to the orange...each juxtaposition makes the color next to it brighter to the human eye. In addition, the shapes and forms also used within this woodblock make it appear much much larger than it’s true size. Using a bird’s eye perspective, an ongoing preference for landscapes and his love affair with saturated colors, Summers has us spellbound by that swervy, curvy blue blue river!

Note: With the purchase of any of the original Carol Summers woodcuts from Peggity's you receive free a four-color, 48-page Catalog Raisonne; a four color, 64-page 50-Year Retrospective Exhibition Catalog (including a color woodcut frontispiece); and the museum poster ROLLING SEA.....all personally signed by Carol Summers. Each of these items can also be acquired separately at Peggity’s.