(Posted September 15, 2003)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- The use of woodcuts -- once a 19th century technology used for newspaper and magazine illustrations -- is the focus of a new exhibition, ?American Woodblock Prints,? featuring the work of more than 40 American artists. The exhibition runs from Friday, Sept. 26 through Nov. 8 at the Juniata College Museum of Art.

There will be an opening reception for the show at 5 p.m., Friday, Sept. 26 in the art museum on the Juniata campus. The reception is free and open to the public.

The exhibition, which is comprised of works on loan from the Syracuse University art collection, features woodblock prints from more than three dozen American artists, including Jim Dine, Rockwell Kent, Milton Avery, Helen Hyde, Leonard Baskin and Antonio Fasciono.

Woodcuts and wood engravings were used in the 19th century as mass media tools for reproduction of illustrations in newspapers, books and magazines. As reproduction techniques advanced, woodblock printing fell by the wayside. In the 20th century the technique was revived and popularized by German Expressionist artists.

American artists, inspired by these European experiments and by Japanese woodcut designs, began to make woodcuts and wood engravings in a wide range of genres.

The ?American Woodblock Prints? exhibition divides the output of the artists into thematic groups, allowing visitors to see how American artists from different eras and backgrounds used the woodblock technique to interpret a variety of artistic techniques.

The exhibit reveals how different artists used the woodblock technique to create landscapes, urban scenes, figurative images and expressionist images.

The Juniata College Museum of Art is located in historic Carnegie Hall at 17th and Moore streets in Huntingdon. Museum hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. For more information, please call the museum at (814) 641-3505, or visit the Juniata College Web site at http://www.juniata.edu/museum.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.