Painted Canyon

Gordon Louis Mortensen

A large-format reduction color woodcut of the Painted Canyon valley, situated in Roosevelt National Park in Billings County, North Dakota. Mortensen captures in vivid detail the colorful layering of rock and sediment that make up what is commonly known as the "badlands", a snaking complex of canyons carved by the the Little Missouri River. He's chosen a raking morning light that highlights the emerging lavender hues, and the large format allows the viewer to feel transported to the unique landscape.

Gordon Mortensen commented on the process he uses: "Only one woodblock is used. On it an image is drawn in India ink. Before the first color is printed, any areas that are to remain unprinted (white or the color of the paper) are cut away from the surface of the block. Then an oil base ink is used to print the first color on all of the sheets of paper that are to be used for the edition and proofs.

After the first printing the block is again cut, removing any surface of the block that is to remain the first color in the finished print. After each subsequent color is printed, the block is cut, the process continues until the print is finished and most of the surface of the block is cut away."

Born near Arnegard, North Dakota on April 27, 1938, Gordon Mortensen received his BFA degree with Honors in 1964 from the Minneapolis School of Art (now the Minneapolis College of Art and Design) and he was enrolled in the graduate program at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul between 1969 and 1972.

Originally a portrait painter, Mortensen almost entirely abandoned that media for reduction woodcutting, achieving the creative freedom he desired. He is one of the few practicing artists of this method in the United States. During this transitional time, he taught briefly at the Saint Paul Art Museum, the Rochester Art Center, and the Minnetonka Art Center in Wayzata.

Early in his printmaking career, Mortensen circulated his color woodcuts via exhibitions in the Midwest. His work reached a wider audience in 1976 when he participated in the Brooklyn Museum National Print Exhibition and the following year he joined the Boston Printmakers.