New England artist Barbara Putnam shows her woodcuts in the continuing exhibition “Printmakers in Conversation” at PhoPa Gallery, 132 Washington Ave., Portland. The exhibition is on view through Aug. 10; Putnam will discuss her work at 5:30 p.m. July 11.

Putnam has been making woodcut prints since the third grade. After printing her first carving, she was hooked by the magic of “drawing with knives,” and began a life-long exploration of linoleum and woodcut printing, as well as quilting.

Working from sketches made in the field, she draws onto a block of wood, then carves it from memory back in her studio. Putnam’s primary focus is on wetlands and fragile, transitional ecosystems.

She teaches in Massachusetts and summers at Deer Isle. This year, she is a Bowdoin College Coastal Studies Artist in Residence.

Her works are in the permanent collections of the Cleveland, Detroit, New Orleans, Denver, Farnsworth, and Jyvasklya, Finland museums of art; the Chicago and Minneapolis art institutes; Harvard, Yale and Dennison university galleries; Bowdoin and Dartmouth colleges; and the New York and Boston public libraries, among others.

Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday.

 

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