26 May “A Forest for the Trees”

Printmaker Emily Gray Koehler featured in new gallery exhibit

Woodland images are the focus for printmaker Emily Gray Koehler in a new exhibit of her work at Ripple River Gallery. “A Forest for the Trees” opens June 9 and continues through July 4. A reception to meet the artist is set for Saturday, June 12 from 2 to 4 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

Koehler, who was born and raised in Traverse City, MI, received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking from Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, MI, in 2006. After relocating to Minnesota in 2008, she opened her own print studio in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul metropolitan area.

Koehler uses her passion as a gardener and fascination with the natural world to explore themes of environmental and ecological importance through printmaking. “This forest harbors the magic of life, death and rebirth. A language spoken in insect buzzes and bird chirps, wisps of pollen and chemical exchanges, the scarcity of drought and the bounty of a summer storm. This forest is a microcosm; an analogy for existence from which we have many lessons to learn if only we could see the forest for the trees.”

Using multi-block color reduction woodcuts as well as reduction woodcuts combined with collagraph, Koehler captures the complex mystery of the forest. “Trees reach forth ever eager for the nourishment of the sky. Light and air transmogrifies into such strong stuff when translated through the cellular mechanisms within a lowly leaf. It is no wonder transcendence is sought under these canopies, at the feet of these monolithic organisms.”

In 2015, Koehler received a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative grant for development of a body of work entitled “The Trespasser’s Garden” which investigated the ecology and natural history of invasive plants in Minnesota. In 2017, Koehler was awarded a Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Next Step Fund grant enabling major equipment upgrades to her Northeast Minneapolis printmaking studio.

Koehler’s work may be found in public and private collections across the United States and in Europe.