The Island Gallery presents Intaglio prints and paintings, recent works  from Curt Labitzke, chairman of the printmaking program at the University of Washington School of Art, through Aug. 31.

His work is influenced by his extensive travels and reflects a passion for the sensuous quality of Etruscan art, the beauty of the Renaissance, the poetic storytelling of the Greeks and the blunt directness of the German Expressionists.

The intaglio prints, often built of iconic figures inspired by ancient Greek and Roman portrait busts, peer from their ambiguous space seeking empathy as they passionately engage the viewer.

Labitzke was born in New York in 1958, his father an illustrator and his mother a quilt-maker. He received his Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Notre Dame in 1984 with a concentration in Painting, Printmaking and Drawing.

Upon completion of his degree he joined the Studio Art faculty at the University of Washington. He regularly teaches in the School of Art’s study abroad program in Rome and Florence, Italy.

His work is influenced by his extensive travels and reflects a passion for the sensuous quality of Etruscan art, the beauty of the Renaissance, the poetic storytelling of the Greeks and the brut directness of the German Expressionists.

His artistic process involves several stages: Sketching, etching the sketched figure onto a copper or plexiglas plate, inking the plate, running the inked plate through a vintage press onto archival paper, distressing the printed paper with a variety of tools and adding pigment, again inking the plate and running the initial printed paper through the press again, repeating the distressing, pigment and print steps up to five times. The resulting print resembles a treasure unearthed from an archeological dig.

Labitzke’s work has been exhibited internationally in Italy, France, Mexico and Chile, across the United States, and locally at venues such as the Seattle Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, and the Jacob Lawrence Gallery.

The Island Gallery is at 400 Winslow Way E., Suite 120.

For more information, call 206-780-9500.