Crossing Over

Linda Adato

British-born, Washington D.C.-based printmaker Linda Adato is known for her architectural compositions, which often feature the clean, strong geometry found in human-made forms set against an organic element to offer juxtaposition. Each piece, like this portion of a low bridge arcing over a tidal body of water, is exquisitely delicate and subtle.

Adato has said of her intaglio printmaking process: “I am attracted to the interplay of light and shadow which is especially amenable to the etching process. ...As I take a journey from the drawing to the final print, each proof tells me where to go and what can be.”

In 1979, a group of Washington, D.C.-area printmakers came together to create a small edition of 12 original prints offered in calendar format. Called the Original Print Calender, the works were selected by a new juror every year. The artists are chosen from a regional span that has gradually extended to include artists from across the country and, occasionally, abroad.

The calendars were housed in the archives of the former Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and are included in the collections of the National Gallery of Women in the Arts; Georgetown University; The National Museum of American History, the Smithsonian Institution; and the Library of Congress, among others.

The 2001 Calendar was juried by Eric Denker, former Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC and now Senior Lecturer at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.