The Curator's Eye

Bill Colby’s Riffing Nature

“Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it. Do something else to it.” Brick House Gallery owner Peter MacDonald quotes Jasper Johns while contemplating Pines at Dusk, an intaglio-woodcut on Thai gold-splashed rice paper by eighty-three-year-old local printmaker and painter Bill Colby. This description of additive art making sheds light on Colby’s process: “He does just what Johns is talking about,” says MacDonald.


Pines at Dusk, 2009, intaglio-woodcut on Thai gold-splashed rice paper, 16 x 9 inches, courtesy of the artist

“Oh yes! I’m a great fusser,” the artist agrees with a laugh. “There are a couple of acrylics that I’ve had for a couple of years now – and who knows when they’ll be done!” Colby relates that Pines at Dusk is part of a series of four prints, each made on a different type of paper. He likes the way the colors and textures of each paper create unique environments for his intaglio of trees. The printmaking tradition holds that prints in a series should be similar, but the artist disagrees.

The diverse series represents an evolution of his inspiration, slight variations on a particular theme – mountains. Rain. The cosmos. The forest. “I spent two and a half years working on rain,” he recalls. The artist adds that he likes to ponder works in progress, letting ideas percolate while he’s gardening, bowling or listening to jazz.

Having taught art at the University of Puget Sound for thirty-three years, Colby retired in 1989. His current show at Brick House Gallery is predominantly artwork from the last few years, with select pieces from past decades. “Bill Colby is a Tacoma treasure,” says MacDonald. “But it’s too early for a retrospective. He’s busy making new work!” MacDonald pauses to put on some music, selecting Coltrane’s Fearless Leader. Free-spirited tenor sax is the perfect accompaniment to the art. Like a jazz master whose music sounds effortless, Colby creates works of art that appear simple but are inherently complex. •

THE ARTIST

Age: 83
Hometown: Beloit, Kansas
Decided to be an artist: In 3rd grade
Education: BA, University of Denver; MA, University of Illinois
Breakthrough exhibition moment: An international exhibition of graduate-student work at SAM in 1954
Also enjoys: Sumi painting. “A wonderful complement and alternative to printmaking, which is very technical.”
Listed: “Who’s Who in American Art” since 1982, “Who’s Who in the West” since 1998
Web site: BillColbyArt.com