Reformation Broadsheet

This is a large (36" x 16") etching I did to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The artist's statement reads:

"This is a copperplate etching commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. It is inspired by a Reformation Centenary broadsheet produced in Leipzig, Germany in 1617. As a printmaker, I've always been cognizant of the role printmaking played in the modernization of society when it was still a new technology in the 16th and 17th centuries. Most scholars credit the success of the Reformation in part to the use of this new technology to disseminate information. 

Reformation era broadsheets were complex, crowded, compositions filled with historical, political, and sacred figures, and my broadsheet follows this tradition. It is based on the Biblical passage Matthew 25: 31-46 (Christ's separation of the sheep and the goats) and the social justice issues implied by this passage. The 'do -it-yourself'' sheep and goat masks at the bottom of the composition invite viewers to contemplate their own place in the scene."

Below is the 1617 print that inspired my work.

The etching is currently at the Battle Creek Center for the Arts, in the exhibit The Reformation Remembered- Artistic Expressions of Faith. I was honored to receive an award, "Best Interpretation of Theme." Here's a  link to the Art Center: http://www.artcenterofbattlecreek.org/exhibitions.html