| John Balkwill |
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| John Balkwill is a book artist and printmaker residing in
Santa Barbara, California where he operates The Lumino Press, which is dedicated to
producing handprinted and bound limited edition books as well as prints. He received
a Bachelor of Arts degree from The University of Norte Dame and a Master of Fine Arts
degree from The Institute for the Book Arts at The University of Alabama, where he studied
under the internationally recognized private press printer Gabriel Rummonds. He also
studied at St. Mary's College in Rome. Balkwill learned the techniques of wood
engraving from John DePol, the dean of American wood engravers, and studied Japanese
woodblock printmaking with Akira Kurosaki, one of the most respected contemporary Japanese
printmakers.
Prior to establishing The Lumino Press in Santa Barbara, Balkwill taught book arts at The University of Nevada, Reno where he was also Assoc. Director of The Black Rock Press and produced limited edition projects in collaboration with numerous writers and artists including Pulitzer prize-winning authors, Gary Snyder and Daniel Boorstin. As a printmaker Balkwill works primarily with relief printing methods.
He has produced wood engravings and relief engravings on landscape subjects,
notably the series Ten Views from Lake Tahoe and the Finding the Space suite,
inspired by Gary Snyder's poetry. He has also done numerous photomontages and
collages, and a number of which have been handprinted from photomechanically produced
relief plates in small editions. Balkwill has also exhibited watercolor
paintings. He is currently experimenting with pointillist techniques for producing
polychromatic relief prints as well as relief engrav- Balkwill's graphic art and limited edition books have been exhibited widely
and acquired by numerous private and public collections. His work has recently been
exhibited at the Book Club of California in San Francisco, the University of Michigan
Museum of Art, |