Darrell Smith’s white-line prints
THE COMMONS
46 Bradford Street
Provincetown
April 18-30, 2023
Opening Reception: Friday, April 21st 6-8PM
DIVE INTO THE HISTORY OF WHITE-LINE WOODBLOCK PRINTING AS AN ORIGINAL AMERICAN ART FORM ORIGINATING IN PROVINCETOWN.
Welcome to Darrell Smith’s white-line prints
About the Teaching Artist
Darrell Smith spends his summers in Provincetown. He learned white-line woodblock printing from Kathryn Lee Smith (no relation), who learned the technique from her grandmother Ferol Sibley Warthen. Warthen was taught by Blanche Lazzell in Provincetown. Darrell has also studied the technique with Lisa Houck at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He has exhibited in open and juried shows at the Provincetown Art Association Museum and at The Provincetown Commons. One of his prints was selected for the 50th annual Trail of Tears Art Show held in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. He completed the Teaching Artist Development Program at PAAM in 2022. He teaches workshops in the Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Museum School at PAAM.
His work has focused on typical Provincetown imagery, florals (classic for Provincetown printers), and a series of abstractions. He calls his latest work “biomorphs” which are sinuous organic-style abstractions.
Originality, Simplicity, Freedom of Expression, and above all Sincerity,
with a clean-cut block are characteristics of a good wood block print.
— Blanche Lazzell
I first came to Provincetown in 1987. For years, I admired white -line woodblock prints. A Provincetown printmaker (Joan Barron) told me, “I could teach you how in a day.” My life as a physician was too busy at the time I thought, but I never forgot what she said.
After I retired, I took a white-line woodblock printing class at PAAM. I had no previous formal art training. Kathryn Lee Smith (no relation) was my first teacher. She learned the technique from her grandmother Ferol Sibley Warthen. Blanche Lazzell taught Warthen. My work has been shown in open and juried exhibitions at PAAM and at The Provincetown Commons. I completed the Teaching Artist Development Program at PAAM in 2022. I teach workshops in the Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Museum School. One of my prints was selected for the 50th annual Trail of Tears Art Show held in Tahlequah, Oklahoma in 2020.
It has been said that there are only two original art forms invented in America: jazz and the white-line woodblock print
