I love it when you guys write to me to tell me about an artist’s work!  Even more than that, I love gallery owners who are passionate about promoting their artists’ work.  So when Art & Light Gallery owner Teresa Roche emailed me about this artist, I was intrigued.  Then I went to his website and fell in love! These woodcut pieces of Greenville, SC artist Kent Ambler are full of texture and pattern and I can’t get enough of them.

Kent draws inspiration from the life and simple objects around him– his dogs, the woods surrounding his home, birds, etc.  His woodcuts feel like quick little sketches of every day life and familiar adventures.

While I love his single woodcuts, for me, it’s when they are put together in these Block Contstructs, that they really shine.  The colors and patterns harmonize so well together, there is a wonderful energy about them.  They remind me in the most glorious way of those old plastic sliding puzzles I used to get as a prize at school carnivals.  You know the ones in which you slide the little blocks around until the picture is completed?

I hope you are as delighted by Kent Ambler’s work as I am!  You can catch a few glimpses into his process in this video.

If you’d like to see more, please visit his website.  If you happen to be near Greenville, he just opened a show at the Caine Gallery— go by and check it out!  And Greenville folks, be sure to mark your calendar for the 2nd Annual Block Party October 1st-15th at Art & Light, featuring 100 hand selected retired woodblock prints by Kent Ambler available for a limited time.

PS–I know Fridays are usually for Design Foraging, but since I took the day off to unpack on Monday, I wanted to squeeze in another artist post!

All images are via the artist’s website.