20/20 Vision, Second Edition

The Art of Contemporary University Printmaking

Scott Ludwig

For the past several years, my work has addressed issues of place and time. Fostered through my travels to various parts of the world, I am interested in developing a personal, visual conception of “the documentary”. By researching the regions visited, and then subsequently distilling the various forms of documentation that take place before, during, and after the experiential event, the goal is to create something enlightening; something imbued with insight and meaning. Ultimately, the underlying content of my work is directed toward forging connections, seeking understanding, and raising consciousness, (in myself and the viewer), as I glean through collected data associated with the environs, culture, and history of a particular context.

In the summer of 2007, I visited British Columbia as an Artist in Residence at Malaspina Printmaking Studio in Vancouver, Canada. Over the course of six weeks, I made regular excursions to various, isolated destinations to photograph diverse aspects of this incredible region. I was also granted permission to conduct research at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, which specializes in artifacts from Native Cultures of the Pacific Northwest. Numerous layers of imagery referencing totems, aboriginal mythologies, maps, and regional characteristics of both land and sea figure prominently in this work. Through this layering process, I strive to create a visual atmosphere where image, surface, nuance, and complexity coalesce, suggesting allusions to geologic stratification and the progression of time and history.

Spiritual references from the Haida culture appear in this image: in one of the uppermost, intaglio layers, a killer whale from a totem is featured, while the term in the title, Sgaana Xaaydagaay, translates into the “killer whale people” who dwell in the sea.