William hays

Turner Falls, MA

Printmaking | William H. Hays Artist Statement

Landscape is the foundation of my inspiration. I often work more from memory or an impression than from a particular place. The compositions are the framework on which I hang a sequence of layered colors in rhythmic patterns to create a mood and a harmonious image. Using reduction printing techniques and (often) multiple blocks allows me a level of complexity which suits my drive to create artworks which evoke my imaginings, my experiences and my creations.

The technical challenges and severe limitations of the medium have become a part of my natural vocabulary over time. I have become fluent in that I frequently change aspects of my original design as I go along, sometimes adding additional blocks as I progress. I never plan my palette as I’ve found the results of that rather unpredictable. The process of carving and printing an edition offers me much, meditative time to consider every aspects of each print as I am working. Most of the decisions about color are made during this time according to what has come before in the sequence of printing. In reduction printing, I only get one chance to get it right.

I’ve never found my inspirations to be forced. There are many more ideas which never make it into a work of art than there are finished images in my body of work. My deep connection with the land started in my childhood and was formalized in my first university degree, Geography. Although I have an academic and esthetic background embracing abstract, conceptual, and expressionistic art, I gradually settled into representational landscapes in order to communicate more fully with my audience. My efforts have been honed toward depictions of the physical world which possess a strong sense of mood and beauty, elegance and harmony. Although my audience responses frequently reference a particular place or experience, my work is rarely specific and composed and composited from my sketches, drawings, and photographs I’ve taken.

After decades of painting and sculpting, I began exploring (casually, initially) relief printing in 2007. In just a few years my drive to create another print supplanted my work in oils. I was surprised and delighted to find that I had a unique and personal voice in relief printing. Finding that voice is, perhaps, my most significant artistic accomplishment.

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