2024 Featured Artist Kent Ambler

I enrolled in my first printmaking class at Ball State University, where I discovered an innate “feel” for the process of creating woodcuts.

I love carving the blocks, mixing the inks, and printing them. Most of all, I enjoy the revelation of the first proof printed from a carved block.

Woodcut prints are simultaneously a direct and indirect means of creating an image. The act of carving the block is direct, involving intuitive exploration of the image with a variety of chisels and gouges. However, I am not working directly on the printed image; the block itself serves as the medium from which the image is created.

People often inquire about how I am able to “see” the entire process. My response is to let a woodcut be a woodcut. It is neither a drawing, a painting, nor a photograph. Woodcuts can develop suddenly or follow a meandering path of many layers and proofs before an image emerges.

I loosely sketch an image onto a pine plank, drawing inspiration from my life and immediate environment. Typically, my creative process involves quick observational sketches and recollections from memory.

The 2024 Ann Arbor Street Art Fair Commemorative poster designed and created using my direct observations and techniques. I was inspired by my many years as an exhibitor at the Street Art Fair. I choose to depict the iconic Burton Memorial Tower with the fair's artists and patrons celebrating the return of the The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, The Original in its 65th year.