Intaglio prints by Curt Labitzke on display at The Island Gallery

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.

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.

A reception with the artist is 6 to 8 p.m. First Friday, Aug. 1. Ranger and the Re-Arrangers will provide the entertainment with a concert on the plaza.

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.

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.

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

For more information, call 206-780-9500.