Corona Spring

Sylvia Solochek Walters

Sylvia Solochek Walters learned the technique of color reduction woodcut while studying at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, from printmaker Alfred Sessler, considered by many to be the originator of the reduction woodcut in the U.S.

Walters' work began in the late 1950s with strong black and white figurative compositions, and gradually became incorporated more subtle narratives. She developed an inventive technique with stencils, which allowed her to use a full color palette in her prints using a single block of wood.

Walters commented on "Corona Spring":

"Flowers have been a recurring motif in much of my work, and over the years have served as metaphors for the good life, for joy and celebration, as well as for death, and all of the passages in-between. In Coronoa Spring the central black and gray roses were meant to underline the despair of the pandemic year. Surrounding them, the cumulative horrors of the time are suggested: the spiraling spread of infection, masking, daily death statistics, lockdowns, turbulent politics and threats to democracy, racial injustice, global warming and in the end - total breakdown of daily life. A small, but thriving pink rose near the lower margin, and bustling garden activity above and around the central Capitol building imply the ebb and flow of life. The print proposes that these horrors may subside in time and give way to healing -- and to life.

"Corona Spring" was conceived in spring of 2020 and took about 15 months to complete.