Jean Gumpper
Jean Gumpper
Jean Gumpper is Artist in Residence and Lecturer in the art department at Colorado College. Widely exhibited, her color woodcut prints can be found in numerous private and public collections in Asia, Europe, North America and Scandinavia, including The Art Bank at the Department of State, Turku Art Museum, Springfield Art Museum, Flint Institute of Arts and the Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art. Gallery representation by the William Havu, Davidson, Ebo, Green Lion, Groveland and Olson Larson galleries in the USA and Open Studio gallery in Canada.
As an artist, I am always drawn to water. Born in Hawaii, raised in Michigan surrounded by the Great Lakes, I now live in the arid west. My prints draw inspiration from the lakes, rivers, marshes, ponds, seeps and springs I find both far away and near my home. To me, these images become rich in meaning as they suggest resilience, renewal, beauty and new life in a time of constant change.
My work hovers between representation and abstraction and often focuses on the edges between water and land. Walking, hiking, and looking are the beginnings of my prints. This contemplative, restorative practice is an intimate and direct approach
to visualizing nature.
I’m intrigued with the rhythms of mark making and the possibilities of color, texture,and movement. I hope to capture the sense of being in the landscape, hearing the sounds, feeling the air. I work within a structure, the tradition of woodcut, which allows me to freely explore the layers and shifts within it. The limitations of process offer unlimited possibility.