Downtown Artist Series @ Tuscan Café

January 9 – March: Dennis Gordon – Ann Arbor, MI

My background in printmaking has led to the exploration of new options in relief printing, specifically woodcuts and wood engravings.

While printmaking areas such as intaglio, silk screen, and lithography have all embraced the photographic and digital process as part of image development and image transfer, wood engravings and relief printing in general, have not.

About five years ago I began manipulating my photographs and images of my paintings and drawings using digital software such as Photoshop. I sent these images to a laser engraver to have them cut into wood plates. After about 300 hours of experimentation, I was finally able to produce interesting and exciting prints from the plates when inked in the traditional manner and printed in a press.

I often enhance my woodcuts by inking the wood plate and printing them on a painted background. The background image is usually loosely applied with a brayer or rubber roller and simple in design allowing the more defined woodcut print to be prominent.

The style of my work fluctuates from semi-realistic to impressionistic and expressionistic. I believe that good art should attempt to capture more than an image by creating a mood and evoking an emotion in the viewer. – Dennis Gordon

November 7 – January 22: Brant MacLean – Detroit, MI

“As an artist, my creative journey began somewhat unconventionally. Though my mother, an art teacher and painter, sparked my initial love for art, it wasn’t until my 40s that I truly embraced it as my own path. Starting with live models and landscape painting, I eventually joined the Michigan Plein Air Painters, where painting outdoors became a formative experience.

Art has since become not only my passion but an integral part of my life, transforming my perspective and sense of purpose. My approach centers on evoking mood and feeling through an interplay of light and color, balancing painterly realism with expressive nuance. Many viewers are drawn to my use of light and shadow, elements I focus on intentionally to bring depth to each scene. While I often seek the bold contrast of light and shadow, I’ve found equal beauty in painting the softer atmospheres of rainy, cloudy, and foggy days.” – Brant MacLean