Micropolis Cooperative Art Gallery Opening Reception March 12

Micropolis Cooperative Art Gallery will hold a “Meet the Artists Reception” on Thursday, March 12, between 4:30 and 7pm. Diane Castle Babcock, printmaker, will be the featured artist.

Diane has been practicing the art of linoleum block printing for almost fifty years. The process she uses is called the reduction method, because she continually cuts away from one block to create a multiple color image. Her images are created in four to six steps of cutting and printing. As the print is created, the block is destroyed, ensuring a limited edition. She chose linoleum block printing as her medium because of its vibrant colors and textural quality.

The Adirondacks and Rochester provide artistic inspiration

Inspiration for her work comes from what Diane sees on walks and hikes through the Adirondacks where she lived for fifteen years, as well Rochester, NY, her current home. Hallmarks of her work include mountain scenes, white birches, and moonlight scenes.

She takes photos for reference, but her work represents the feelings and memories a particular place instills in her. Some of her work is specific to a location. Other pieces are a composite of several photos or derived purely from memory and imagination. Her work is Impressionistic because she works with small dots and lines of color, as well as a sense of light and atmosphere.

As part of her process, Diane collects birch bark and branches during her hikes, which she incorporates into her prints.  She makes birch bark frames and builds shadow boxes with birch branches included in her landscapes.

A graduate from Nazareth University and Binghamton University, Diane’s degrees include art and art education certification. She worked as a visiting artist with Young Audiences of Rochester. She retired from Adirondack High School in Boonville, NY where she taught art.

Diane has received awards at the Clothesline Festival, Corn Hill Art Festival, Artists Row, and Colorscape Chenango.

She is a juried member of the Roycroft Arts and Craftsmen Guild.

In addition to the artwork of the featured artist, the gallery is filled with paintings, drawings, pastels, photographs, fiber art, mixed media, glass, digital art, jewelry, pottery, woodland assemblages, baskets, turned items of exotic wood and fine art cards by the members of Micropolis Cooperative, Inc.

The reception is free and open to the public and is part of a broader evening of arts programming downtown. “Material Conversations,” an exhibition at Glove Cities Gallery, 52 Church St., Gloversville, will also be opening with a reception from 4:30-7pm on March 12. Both shows will run through the end of April.

Micropolis, located inside Mohawk Harvest Cooperative Market at 30 N. Main St., Gloversville, is open Monday-Friday / 9am-6pm and Saturdays from 9am until 2pm.