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"Spaceman for Stevie" Click on image to see larger view. Black and White Woodcut, 1966. This piece was inspired by visions of Steve racing around Madison, Wisconsin on his motorcycle in the 1960s. Steve and I hung out quite a bit more in Madison than we did in Milwaukee as the age differences between us diminished, and as I was able occasionally to help edit his writing, feed him, give him sisterly advice about women, etc. |
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"Byzantine Baby" Four color woodcut, 1970. In the early 1970s I began a series of family "portraits" styled very graphically with colors inspired by Byzantine decoration and spirituality. This portrait of Steve is the only one in the series to actually look like the subject. The pose, halo and strong abstract surface patterning were meant to suggest a kind of divine reflection. |
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"Fathers and Sons" Click on image to see larger view. Multicolor Reductive Woodcut, 1997. This is the first of three woodcuts also devoted to a family theme. The small detailed image in the upper left is actually derived from the photo of Steve and our Dad engaged in a childhood game of "cowboys and Indians." Its playfulness notwithstanding, it also resonated with all the loving father-son conflicts that also arose between them later in life. This print is intended to play with ideas about father-son relationships in general. Other images and the text in the print contribute. The text (archaic, scrambled Hebrew script) comes from the Old Testament passage about Abraham and Sarah conceiving a son. |
| These images of woodcut prints created by Steve's sister, Sylvia Solochek Walters, feature Steve—as inspiration or as direct model. The notes are the artist's. Sylvia is Chair of the Department of Art at San Francisco State University and has been practicing her art steadily through the decades as these excellent examples indicate. To see more images of Sylvia's, click here. |