ARTIST STATEMENT
I don’t have much enthusiasm for crystal goblet typography; I prefer the more
rambunctious effects of nineteenth-century commercial typography—the lavish
mixing of typefaces and the creation of an overtly interpretive visual structure. I’m
also interested in relief printmaking, and creating images that contribute to a text
or stand in place of one. I work primarily in linoleum, and over the past twenty
years have cut an entire kitchen floor’s worth of tiles. This source exhausted, I
have had to explore more modern sources of supply to continue an ongoing
series of narrative cuts.
What this means is that I like text to make pictures and pictures to make text. I
have an MFA in painting from American University, and was trained in
typography at the University of Iowa and at Bowne & Co., Stationers, South
Street Seaport Museum, where I am currently employed as Curator and Master
Printer.
Barbara Henry
October 2003