Mollie Doctrow

––Seasonal Crossings

Opening reception: Saturday, May 3, 4 - 7pm

Exhibition dates: May 3-31, 2014

New Smyrna Beach, FL –– Arts on Douglas presents, Seasonal Crossings, a solo exhibition featuring woodblock prints by artist and printmaker Mollie Doctrow. The exhibition will be on view from May 3, 2014 through May 31, 2014 with an opening reception on Saturday, May 3 from 4-7 pm. The opening reception and exhibition are free and open to the public.

Seasonal Crossings features exquisite black and white woodblock prints of native habitats and plant species found in Central and South Florida, Big Cypress, and the Everglades. Mollie Doctrow slogs through swamp lands, weeds, and brush to capture the drama of the environment. Her process begins "on site" with field sketches where she spends time observing and reacting to the details and nuances of that particular location. She then carves the imagery onto woodblocks, which are later hand-pulled through a printing press with water-based ink on Japanese kozo paper. “Through this artwork I connect to the natural world and hope to bring attention to these fragile environments,” explains Doctrow.

Influenced by East Asian printmaking and Western landscape traditions, Doctrow’s goal is to achieve a balance between the black and white areas, or carved and uncarved areas of the woodblock imagery. To do this the artist explains: “The carving demands spontaneity, letting go, and following the movement or feeling for the form. The carved marks are visual shorthand for simplifying complex images to express rhythm, texture, form, and space."

Mollie Doctrow holds a B.A. in philosophy and an M.F.A. in printmaking from California State University, Northridge. As a professional artist, Doctrow has participated in solo and group exhibitions in California, Hawaii, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and Florida. She has received numerous cultural arts fellowships, awards, and grants. Doctrow has held art residencies at Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park and Archbold Biological Station. These residencies provided access to remote and pristine areas in Florida, inspiring much of her recent work. She is currently the curator at the South Florida Community College Museum of Florida Art & Culture in Avon Park, Florida.