KRIS IDEN (b. Washington, D.C., 1964)

Die Waldgedanken (“Forest Thoughts”), 2003
intaglio

Collection of the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts
The Jack Blanton Collection
Gift of Jack Blanton
2007.23.27

Virginia-based printmaker Kris Iden moved to Dresden, Germany, in 2006. In her Web site she comments about the genesis of this print.

In 2003, I spent an unexpected amount of time walking around in German forests. The pure form of the thin horizontal broken bare branches that crossed through the spaces between the repeating verticals of tree trunks was visually thrilling.

If one looks at trees through a window from a seated position then stands to look again, first one sees only half a tree, then more of the tree or possibly all of it. The tree has been whole all the time, but one’s own position has made the difference.