International Printmakers

BRIAN CURLING Mark making and metaphors reflective of nature Connected to the American landscape, Brian Curling planned to be a landscape architect.

However, studying under Robert James Foose and Ross Zirkle at the University of Kentucky, he was introduced to book and printmaking. Almost immediately, he was “hooked� and began experimenting with form, visual language, mark making and metaphor. He went on to complete the MFA program at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where he was influenced by Karen Kunc.

While at Nebraska, Curling worked, as he does now more or less, with the specificity of time and place. The highly organic and reflective nature of his imagery serves to connect him to his roots and his early interest in the landscape. Creating delicate woodcuts, Curling overlaps three or four pieces of thin Japanese paper. Sewn together at the top corners, the tissue thin, layered papers hang gracefully together.

Following graduate school he was awarded a residency by the Finnish Graphics Council and traveled to Helsinki. Returning to America, he taught briefly at the Cleveland Institute of Art before accepting a position as assistant professor of art at The American University in Cairo, where he taught until 2010. He lives in Radebuel, Germany, where he is actively engaged in making woodcut prints, creating large scale public installations, and publishing collaborative letterpress books under Goldfinch Press.