The Land of Romance Series > Prints

My current body of work responds to images used in popular ephemera of the 1920s-1950s, including, among others, Norfolk and Western Railroad travel brochures promoting Virginia as “the land of romance, hospitality, and beauty”; Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix ads; and Maxwell House Coffee ads. The original, idealized images that these advertisements featured are challenged and expanded in the black and white woodblock prints. By changing facial expressions, inserting new characters, or modifying hand gestures, I question our assumptions about race and the sentimental tendencies of the print media I am appropriating. In some cases, new figures serve as a literal disruptive presence on top of the nostalgic original. In addition, this body of work includes collages which are a fusion of the original woodblock prints. New narrative possibilities are explored and questions raised, often with no clear answer or story. While this work is open to interpretation, my underlying criticism of the nostalgia for that era of our nation’s history is expressed in subtle, yet derisive, ways, often in the sarcasm of the titles that are partly or entirely borrowed from the original commercial sources.

Black and white woodblock print by Kristin Powers Nowlin based on an advertisement for Nunnally's Candy of the South from 1920.
Woodblock print on paper
11" x 15"
2017
$325
Black and white woodblock print by Kristin Powers Nowlin of figures in an interior scene based on an advertisement from a Linit starch ad from the 1920s.
Woodblock print on paper
11" x 15"
2017
$325
Black and white woodblock print by Kristin Powers Nowlin appropriating a Budweiser advertisement from the 1930s.
Woodblock print on paper
14" x 20"
2016
$425
Black and white woodblock print by Kristin Powers Nowlin based on a cover of a recipe book for the Evaporated Milk Association from 1932.
Woodblock print on paper
15" x 11"
2017
$325
Black and white woodblock print by Kristin Powers Nowlin based on an Old South Toiletries advertisement from the 1930s.
Woodblock print on paper
20" x 15"
2015
$425
Black and White woodblock print by Kristin Powers Nowlin based on a Norman Rockwell Coca-Cola ad from the 1930s.
Woodblock print on paper
42" x 66"
2014
$1525
Black and white woodblock print by Kristin Powers Nowlin of figures in an interior scene based on an advertisement from an Aunt Jemima Pancake ad from the 1950s.
Woodblock print on paper
22" x 30"
2017
$625
Black and white woodblock print by Kristin Powers Nowlin of figures in a scene outside a plantation home based on an Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix ad from the 1950s.
Woodblock print on paper
22" x 30"
2015
$625
Black and white woodblock print by Kristin Powers Nowlin of figures in an interior space based on a Maxwell House Coffee ad from the 1920s.
Woodblock print on paper
22" x 30"
2015
$625
Black and white woodblock print by Kristin Powers Nowlin of figures in a interior space based on a Maxwell House Coffee ad from the 1930s.
Woodblock print on paper
22" x 30"
2014
$625
Black and white woodblock print by Kristin Powers Nowlin of figures in an interior space based on a Norfolk & Western Railroad tourism brochure for Virginia from the 1930s.
Woodblock print
22" x 30"
2012
$625
Black and white woodblock print by Kristin Powers Nowlin of figures in a landscape based on a Norfolk & Western Railroad tourism brochure for Virginia from the 1930s.
Woodblock print on paper
22" x 30"
2011
$625
Black and white woodblock print by Kristin Powers Nowlin of figures in a landscape based on a tourism brochure for Virginia from the 1960s.
Woodblock print on paper
22" x 30"
2013
$625
Black and white woodblock print by Kristin Powers Nowlin of figures in a landscape based on a tourism brochure for Virginia from the 1950s.
Woodblock print on paper
22" x 30"
2014
$625
Black and white woodblock print by Kristin Powers Nowlin of figures in an interior space based on a movie poster from 1915.
Woodblock print
20" x 15"
2016
$425
Black and white woodblock print by Kristin Powers Nowlin of figures in an interior space based on a book cover from 1925.
Woodblock print on paper
20" x 16"
2014
$425
Black and white woodblock print by Kristin Powers Nowlin of figures in a landscape based on a movie poster from 1915.
Woodblock print on paper
20" x 16"
2014
$425
Black and white woodblock print by Kristin Powers Nowlin based on a DeSoto car ad from the 1930s.
Woodblock print on paper
19" x 13"
2014
$425
Black and white lithography print by Kristin Powers Nowlin of figures in a landscape based on a Ford ad from the 1930s.
Lithograph
18" x 14"
2016
$375