Biography

 

Rebecca Gilbert is a Philadelphia-based artist whose work exemplifies a dedication to traditional printmaking processes, while her innovation in executing these processes in combination with cut paper and assemblage push the boundaries of what a print can be.

 

Her works are representations of the act of searching for, and of our ability to recognize when one has found, something of ‘value’. She interprets these ideas in woodcut and wood engraving using natural imagery and pattern. These processes allow the integration of a high level of detail and the ability to work both very large (woodcut) and very small (wood engraving) simultaneously. The contrast in scale directly relates to the ways she explores ideas of perception, space, and seeing.

 

Rebecca Gilbert earned an MFA in Printmaking + Book Arts from The University of the Arts and a BFA in Printmaking from Marshall University. In 2018, she was awarded an Independence Foundation Art Fellowship and a Winterthur Maker/Creator Research Fellowship to support her newest body of work that will premier in her solo Wind Challenge exhibition this spring. Other recent awards and activities include an Artist-in-Residence at Sparkbox Studio in Picton, Ontario in 2016, a travel grant from The Center for Emerging Visual Artists in 2015 to attend OCHO Artist Residency in Questa, New Mexico, and a Surdna Foundation Enrichment Grant to support her exploration of wood engraving at the Augusta Heritage Center in 2013.

 

Her work is in numerous public collections, including: The Princeton University Graphic Arts Library, Zuckerman Museum of Art, and The Free Library of Philadelphia Print and Picture Collection. Her work is also in many private collections and has been exhibited extensively. A few exhibition highlights include: Multiple Ones: Contemporary Perspectives in Print Media, Hunterdon Museum of Art, 2018; Commedia: New Prints 2015/Autumn, IPCNY, New York, New York; Editions Artists’ Book Fair 2014, New York, New York; Landing Place, Villa Huerto Ruano, Lorca, Spain; Cutting Edge: Contemporary Paper, Boise State, Idaho; Printivale!, Sharon Arts Center, Peterborough, New Hampshire; Treasure: Dirt and Stars, Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia; and Wonder, The Print Center, Philadelphia.

 

Gilbert currently lives and works in South Philadelphia; serves on the board of The Wood Engravers’ Network; is represented by The Print Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and teaches at The University of the Arts, Maryland Institute College of Art, and Fleisher Art Memorial.