Spirits of Trees

• Woodcut

Carol Summers was born in 1925 in Kingston, NY and raised in Woodstock, NY. He received a BA from Bard College in 1951 under the GI Bill after serving in World War II. Summers taught at Hunter College, the Brooklyn Museum School, Pratt Graphics Center, and Columbia University. He often used his travel experiences to Europe, Asia, and across the United States as influence in his work. Summers is known for his large-scale prints and unique woodblock technique. Known as the “Carol Summers technique”, he placed the paper on top of the block then transferred the ink by applying ink with a brayer and feeling for the edge of the carved block. Summers frequently printed on both sides of the sheet and sprayed the paper with solvent to transform the inks into dyes, encouraging the pigment to bleed into the surface and create a watercolor appearance in the porous paper. This produces rich colors and soft, blurred edges. His work is known for its big, bold, beautiful forms and joyous colors. Summers’ work has been shown in two major retrospectives and is held in the collections of many distinguished institutions in the US and internationally including The Museum of Modern Art (New York), The Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), The National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC) and The Art Institute of Chicago.