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Margaret Barnaby

Five Birds
multiple plate woodblock print, 59 x 21 inches

Pond Life II
multiple plate woodblock print, 36 x 46 inches

Recognition
multiple plate woodblock print, 30 x 44 inches

Tropic of Capricorn
multiple plate woodblock print, 46 x 36 inches

Eight Ibis
multiple plate woodblock print, 44 x 30.5 inches

Margaret Barnaby, a 30- year studio art jeweler, painter, printer and sculptor, exhibits paintings and prints at the Volcano Art Center and Volcano Garden Arts in Volcano, HI, Carega Gallery in Sandwich, NH, and Living Arts Gallery in Hawi, HI. Her monoprints, represented by Pelavin Editions in New York City, are in many corporate collections, including those of United Parcel Service and Texas Instruments.

In 2002 the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts purchased the watercolor ‘Pink and the Inner Child.’ Recent woodblock prints were awarded the John Charlot prize in the 2006 Honolulu Printmakers show, and the Honblue purchase award in 2007. In 2008 the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts purchased “Kink” a multiple plate woodblock print. It is currently on exhibition at the Hawaii State Art Museum in Honolulu, HI.

Her small editions of woodblock prints use both Japanese and western approaches and techniques. Each print requires that at least four plywood plates be hand-carved. The plates are then inked and printed in succession on an etching press.

“The natural world around me has always been the starting point of my work, whether it be jewelry, paintings or prints. My new series of prints uses the ‘alala, endangered Hawaiian crows, as a metaphor for hope and change. I was able to see the birds (of which there are only 67) at the Keauhou Bird Center in Volcano.
Multiple plate woodblock printing satisfies my love of craft and provides a vehicle to experiment with color, composition and content.”