“Untitled” by Debby Stratford, printmaking, 16x30in, linoprint, $175.00
Debby Stratford is an artist and living in Louisville, KY. She spent many years teaching art to public school students in Louisville (as well as a stint with Louisville Visual Art in 1980s), and is now printing full-time.
The journey of any individual artist to find the medium that offers them the most satisfaction is not always easy. For some, once a brush is picked up, the search has ended, but for others, it can be trial and error over a period of years. Debby Stratford is a printmaker, but her first efforts frustrated her and she turned to clay for many years until she was reunited with linocut in graduate school at the University of Louisville.
“The cuts on the plate contain my tears of joy and sorrow as I have traveled through my life,” explains Stratford. “My subject matter is life as I see it, feel it, and remember it. My hope is that those looking will find a common ground with me.”
That relationship with medium and, in the case of printmakers, process, is a crucial aspect of the artist’s identity: “I work in the printmaking process because it affirms my place as an observer and participant in life. Through printmaking, I can turn an image around and get another view. It is like looking in a mirror to see who you are. My conception of an image happens on the sheet of linoleum. I draw directly on the linoleum block; revising my image as I cut into the linoleum using a one millimeter gouge. The gouge is like my pencil or brush. I develop my image as I create the print. Because life moves on, my style is constantly evolving, much like a painter. I don’t concentrate on developing a style and then repeating that look time after time.”
“Untitled” by Debby Stratford, printmaking, 16x30in, linoprint, $175.00
Stratford’s images have the feel of storybook illustrations from far back in time, framing snatches of narrative from tales full of darkness and foreboding. Her forests are dense, she uses formal framing devices, and animals appear in symbolic and metaphorical roles, characteristic not the sanitized fairy tales of today but more the traditional European stories in which authentic threat and peril taught children a healthy respect for fear.
Debby Stratford will be participating in the Louisville Visual Art/ University of Louisville Hite Art Institute 2019 Open Studio Weekend on November 2 & 3. She also is included in the Open Studio Weekend Juried Exhibit at The Cressman Center, which opens November 1, from 6:00-8:00pm.
Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: BS Art Education, Edinboro University (Edinboro, Pennsylvania); MAT with Emphasis in Printmaking, University of Louisville, Kentucky
Website: debbystratfordartist.com
“Untitled” by Debby Stratford, printmaking, 16x30in, linoprint, $175.00
“Untitled” by Debby Stratford, printmaking, 16x30in, linoprint, $175.00
Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2019 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved. In addition to his work at the LVA, Keith is also the Managing Editor of a website, Arts-Louisville.com, which covers local visual arts, theatre, and music in Louisville.
