Wild Future/Wet Hands

Title: Wild Future/Wet Hands
LC Subject: Prints--Technique Print makers Linoleum block-printing Men in art Fishing printmaking linocuts (prints) linoleum-block printing
Creator: Cunningham, Dennis, 1949-
Description: This print divides the main picture plane from the surrounding decorative border of images geometrically. The main picture plane, a vertical rectangle, occupies the center of the piece, and it depicts a man standing in water with a fishing pole. Beneath the surface of the water, a thick hand grabs a fish by the tail.Two horizontal rectangles flank the upper and lower sections of the piece, and the main picture plane is flanked by a series of squares and rectangles. The shapes that create the border around the main picture plane contain a conglomeration of fishing equipment, geometric shapes, and landscape elements. Wild Future/Wet Hands; linocut print; (46 x 22 inches(image)); edition of 20; 1996 The Oregon Arts Commission has ten Regional Arts Councils that provide delivery of art services and information. The Council for this location is: Linn-Benton Arts. You may view their website at: http://www.artcentric.org/
Location: The Valley Library >> Benton County >> Oregon >> United States Benton County >> Oregon >> United States
Street Address: 121 The Valley Library, Corvallis Oregon
Date: 1975/2012
Identifier: 1995_osu_valley-library_16_b01
Accession Number: 1995_osu_valley-library_16_b01
Rights: In Copyright
Dc Rights Holder: Cunningham, Dennis
Type: Image
Format: image/tiff
Measurements: 46 x 22 inches
Material: Printmaking; linocut
Set: Oregon Percent for Art
Primary Set: Oregon Percent for Art
Relation: 1995 - 1997 Biiennium Valley Library Oregon State University, Corvallis Oregon 1995_osu_valley-library
Has Version: slide; color
Institution: Oregon Arts Commission University of Oregon
Note: To view a map of the artwork location in context to Oregon State University, see http://oregonstate.edu/cw_tools/campusmap/locations.php
Color Space: RGB
Biographical Information: These prints represent a visual narrative or storytale about our relationship to the river environment and our responsibility to protect it while we use and enjoy it. They symbolically present practical and philosophical experience of how we might act when we recreate in the native home of wild fish. Originally commissioned as part of a federal wild river pilot project for the Wind River Ranger District in Washington State, these images were intended to help streamside visitors appreciate the life cycle of the fish by being good stewards of the river. I consider three issues to be important in the development of my artwork. The first is my awareness as a child that I wanted to be an artist. Everything that I have done in the past forty years stems from that optimistic vision of my place in the world. I continue to hold that childhood desire: it nourishes me every day I work. The second is that I believe in the value and the power of art to move us towards a better existence. I want my work to be meaningful to other people. This has guided me for nearly two decades to visually describe the character of who we are and the place that we live. The third is that I have an abundant need to create with my hands. My curiosity about process, craft, and the appearance of materials has led me to explore a variety of disciplines, each suggesting new possibilities for the others. My future plan is to continue to work on all three of these issues in order to further my development as an artist.