Artwork built on a solid foundation

Published 6:00 pm Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Gary Groves finds reassurance in rock.

Gary Groves’ new show at Arts Studio unites his longtime interests in photography and woodcut in abstract images of rock formations – a form that has compelled him since he began making photographs of glacial erratic rocks in Eastern Washington.

“I’ve gone back and forth between woodcut and photography,” Groves said, “and I wanted to see if I could take my photographs as the raw material and see if I could do something with woodcuts that’s a little different.”

The finished works are far more than a dispassionate experiment, however.

Many of the woodcuts began as photographs he took in the Columbia River Gorge, images of rocks formed from basalt eruptions over millions of years.

Their seeming permanence draws the artist to return to the same vantage point every year to shoot rocks he finds comforting in their consistency.

To transform photos of rocks into prints, Groves starts with the photograph, which he manipulates by enlarging and collaging cut sections. He then transfers that image to wood, using a solvent transfer process to move the photographic toner to the wood veneer.

“That allows me to get the detail I want,” Groves said.

He next uses a flexible shaft with dental bits to carve away the surface in a pattern so fine it resembles lace; this becomes the texture of the stone. Groves lets the various grains of walnut and oak show.

It’s a mind-bendingly tedious technique – unless one happens to be an artist totally absorbed by one’s work.

“I’m very patient,” Groves said, “and, for me, it’s a way of experiencing this image. When I’m carving these I’m sort of reliving the textures on this subject. It’s like anything else: if you work on something long enough, you see it a different way from those who just observe it and leave.”

Finally, the wooden surface is rolled with black ink and put through an etching press in a process similar to photogravure – except that the subject is not a literal rendition, but has been pushed toward abstraction.

Groves’ approach defines the shapes and textures of stone with light.

“Consider the fact that these 11 million-year-old rocks have been sitting there and they don’t move, but the thing that moves is the shadows that they create,” he said, “It’s almost like a moving part to a fixed image.”

In several works, Groves introduces topographical map elements or calligraphy. About a half dozen of the 16-by 20-inch printed images are affixed to a double layer of Laotian paper and floated about three-quarters of an inch below an unframed sheet of glass.

Using the rocks as a sort of baseline for his life lets Groves move forward while maintaining a connection that, he says, gives his life consistency.

“When the political scene sucks as it does and my life might have some wrinkles in it, the rocks are always there,” he said. “Not only are they the repositories for the whole history that went on around them, but it’s also reassuring.

“I can go back to these rocks and they’re the same.”

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Sense of permanence

Arts Studio presents “Woodcut Prints” by Gary Groves, May 22-July 22, with a reception 2-6 p.m. May 22 at 7869 Fletcher Bay Road. The gallery is open to the public 1-5 p.m. weekends and weekdays by appointment. Call 842-7154 or 842-1294 or contact adgrice@earthlink.net.