Snapshot In Time: Soon after this woodblock print was created, Carol Summers was chosen Printmaker of the Year 2004 by the prestigious Mid-America Print Council known in earlier times as the Prairie Printmakers Association. It was just one of many many awards Summers has collected along the way in a career that has spanned over half a century in printmaking.

Art Smart Fact: At the top of CHAMBA BAMBA is a crown created with copper-colored metal leaf.....only a handful of Summers' silkscreens, lithographs and woodblock prints over the past 50 years have used metal leaf as part of the image. Using metal leaf to make fine arts prints is extremely difficult and requires an experienced printmaker's hand. CHAMBA BAMBA has many patterns and colors in addition to the metal leaf architectural crown. After completing the wood and ink work in this woodblock, Summers was ready to tackle the metal leaf.

First Summers cut a stencil in the shape of the crown that would be placed at the top of the picture over the columns. Then he applied "size", a special adhesive inside the stencil on the mulberry paper (also known as Japanese woodblock print paper) used to make the woodblock. He let the size dry until it was clear and tacky to the touch. After separately inking a sheet of metal leaf a copper-color and letting it dry, Summers cut part of it to fit the stencil crown shape. Then he carefully placed this metal leaf crown into the waiting area on the paper that had been "sized", much like putting a puzzle piece into a wood puzzle. A soft brush was used to smooth the metal leaf out and then the stencil was removed.

Originally the art of metal leaf came from Asian artists who created Japanese and Chinese woodblock prints; it was not used in American fine art prints to any degree until the early 20th century. The subtle glow and gleaming quality of metal leaf artwork is impossible to duplicate with ink or paint. As you might imagine, light has a spectacular effect on CHAMBA BAMBA.

About The Art: The artist said, "Given the state of the world, I just felt like doing something silly!" And we're glad he did. Despite the whimsical feel to this artwork, since the turn of the millennium, Summers’ woodcut prints have generally been somewhat smaller in scale but more complex and more technically difficult to create. CHAMBA BAMBA (and LOS VOLCANES DE DIA Y NOCHE which was completed a year later) both required multiple blocks, plus many more inks and much more roller work than did the majority of the color woodcuts created earlier in Summers' career. CHAMBA BAMBA is from the Art India Woodblock Series.

Note: With a purchase of any of the Carol Summers woodcuts at 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 Peggitys.com.