Photos that gravure attention

The April Show at Manzanita’s Hoffman Gallery features photogravure etchings from Sherrie Wolf and fabulous and functional ceramics from Mary Roberts, Friday, April 2 through Sunday, April 25.

The colored prints in Wolf’s show represent two of her lesser-known bodies of work, one of which was initially commissioned by the Cleveland Art Museum Print Club. The print was a limited edition for their members and the artist’s personal inventory. The other four etchings in the exhibition are a suite of prints titled “Histrionics.”       The limited-edition prints are all hand-colored by the artist.

Departing from her usual studio still-life settings, Wolf’s “Found” series celebrates random images and observations gleaned from travel. The artist captured the organized chaos of antique malls, garage sales and thrift stores in the US as well as in England and France. All of the new work is in black and white acrylic on yupo paper, focusing on the shapes of light, shadow and rhythmic patterns. Wolf’s use of counterpoint and polyphony emphasizes the entire ground equally, rather than one element in particular, resulting in spellbinding compositions.

The “Shape and Surface” collection by Roberts are all functional, wheel-thrown vessels in subtle seacoast colors and textures.

“In ‘Shape and Surface,’ my aim is elegant and modern,” she said “Round, oval, angular; often brought to conclusion by exaggeration. A diminutive or elongated neck, platters impossibly ample, bowls coaxed upward or folded, each energetically lifting off the base, clean, assertive and new.”

The Pacific Northwest coast inspires each surface — delicately lined shells, sculpted driftwood, fissured bark, overcast skies and granite rock and incandescent spring growth.

The Hoffman Center for the Arts is located at 594 Laneda Avenue in Manzanita and is open Friday through Sunday from 1 to 5 pm. For more information, go to hoffmanarts.org or call 503-368-3846.