The Adored and Aggrieved

Sylvia Solochek Walters

Walters' work began in the late 1950s with strong black and white figurative compositions, and gradually became incorporated more subtle narratives. She developed an inventive technique with stencils, which allowed her to use a full color palette in her prints using a single block of wood.

Sylvia Solochek Walters learned the technique of color reduction woodcut at the University of Wisconsin, Madison from printmaker Alfred Sessler, considered by many to be the originator of the reduction woodcut.

The artist commented on this image: "The Adored and Aggrieved" pairs the image of a Praiseworthy Chicken as conceived in ancient religions and cultures -- with a huddled flock of "industrial chickens," demeaned and awaiting an unsavory fate. If it was once thought of as a symbol of wisdom, courage, and maternal love, today the chicken has largely lost its lofty place in our imagination as well as its ability to live its life and express iself naturally in the everyday world. The difference and inequities seen in this print between the revered bird and its lumpen maltreated cousins could also echo our own divided class structures."