“Pelecanus erythrorhynchos,” wood engraving.
A journey of 10 miles and 12,000 years is spotlighted in a new exhibit at the James Watrous Gallery in the Overture Center for the Arts.
Gaylord Shanilec: A Natural History displays the work of one of the leading color wood engravers and creators of fine art books of the last four decades. Shanilec has studios in Stockholm, Wisconsin, and St. Paul, Minnesota, and his works explore the Upper Mississippi River over a panorama of time. The exhibit — which runs through April 7 and is hosted by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters — features four of the artist’s books along with some of his working materials. The styles run from photorealism to abstract, with prints drawn from wood grain, plants and fish. But there’s a common thread.
“These book projects have been so much about place,” says Jody Clowes, the gallery’s director. “That’s one of the reasons why I was interested in showing them here. He’s so focused on the landscape and the wildlife of this place that he’s lived in for 30 years.”
“Big-tooth Aspen, end-grain,” woodcut.
Included are Mayflies of the Driftless Region (2005), Sylvae (2007) and Lac des Pleurs, about Lake Pepin (2015). The centerpiece of the exhibit is My Mighty Journey, a personal and historical exploration of the Upper Mississippi River, which Shanilec recently completed. The Academy displays the first bound copy. It has pride of place in the gallery.
“The first thing you see is a very big book that we’ve been working on for almost four years now,” says Shanilec. “The Minnesota Historical Society asked me to illustrate a children’s book. I had never illustrated a children’s book before.”
It is enormous, nearly five feet across when opened, “It would be interesting to see what a child, left to their own devices, would actually do with it, because it’s so big,” he says, laughing.
Shanilec is an artist, a writer, a letterpress printer, a designer and illustrator. And, adds Clowes, “he really is a naturalist,” which means the exhibit is drawing a diverse audience. “We’ve got people who are focused on the book arts. We’ve got people who love fishing.”
A native of North Dakota, Shanilec says he comes from “a literary tradition.” He began writing poetry, and then moved into fine art printing in the 1970s. In the ’80s, he became part of an emerging artist book movement.
Those who, like Shanilec, were steeped in the literary tradition of fine printing “had to sort of make the adjustments to fit into the contemporary book world,” he says. “It all kind of grew out of the fact that the computer was starting to take over the book as far as our main source of information. So now you have this amazing printing industry that started 500 years ago that was suddenly obsolete.”
"Spirit Island," direct print and wood engraving.
But some personal good came of it. “There was all this equipment for next to nothing, so I was able to put together a very substantial print shop over the course of about 20 years.”
His book, Mayflies of the Driftless Region (2005), represented a new direction. “It was kind of the first turn in my career toward the natural world, which all of these books have in common,” says Shanilec. “I worked on that one for four years and it was basically a study of mayflies, becoming familiar with the local fly fishing community and finding which species hatch where and collecting them.” He worked with an entomologist to create the text.
“Mayflies are spectacular,” says Shanilec. “They’re the sign of a healthy ecosystem too, a healthy river.”
Similarly, he works in an ecosystem of publishing, in which he finds great satisfaction.
“I get to work with people all over the world who are the best at what they do,” he says. “Whether it’s binding books or making paper or designing type. You get to a certain level and you get to work with really good people.”
In association with the exhibit, Tandem Press will offer a printmaking demonstration on April 6, 3 to 5 p.m. Advance registration required at wisconsinacademy.org.
