At first look, Sherrie York’s linocut Tern of the Tide is reminiscent of Katsushika Hokusai’s iconic woodcut print The Great Wave (c. 1830). But unlike Hokusai’s piece, York includes the viewer intimately in her ocean scene. We are not standing on the shore looking at a dramatic event but rather – along with the hunting tern – are part of the continuous swing of the sea and the push and pull of current and wind. The bird itself is part of the pattern and helps bring us into the oscillating energy of the ocean. There is no horizon line or indication of sky here. Rather, York skillfully forms the sense of depth through gentle shifts in color and value, along with the unpredictable placement of soft circles and sharp racing lines.
“I am especially interested in strong rhythms and patterns between subject and environment,” York notes on her website. “I find it’s the shapes around an object, rather than the object itself, that are often the most compelling.” This attention to and appreciation of negative space beautifully mirrors York’s chosen method of artmaking: reductive method linocuts. In a process she describes as “labor intensive and repetitive,” York carves away areas of the linocut she does not want to print, repeating that removal process several times to create a print. (Click here to see a video of the process.)
Sherrie York lives and works in the Midcoast region of Maine. She is a self-described “compulsive wanderer” and moves through her environment with sketchbook and camera always at hand. Her involvement in arts, conservation, and education is far reaching, and she is a trained Maine Master Naturalist. Her show at Walden Pond Visitors Center in Concord, Massachusetts, will run from July to October 2026. Her work is also on display in several Maine locations, including Wendell Gilley Museum in Southwest Harbor, Pemaquid Art Gallery in Bristol, and Small Wonders Gallery in Camden. She may be reached through her website.