The Land of Romance Series > Woodblocks

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 ink on carved woodblock by Kristin Powers Nowlin of figures in an interior space based on a Nunnally's Candy of the South ad from the 1920s.
Woodblock and ink
15" x 11"
2017
Black ink on carved woodblock by Kristin Powers Nowlin of figures in an interior space based on a cover of a recipe book for the Evaporated Milk Association from 1932.
Woodblock and ink
15" x 11"
2017
Black ink on carved Shina woodblock by Kristin Powers Nowlin based on an Old South Toiletries advertisement from the 1930s.
Woodblock and ink
15" x 11"
2015
Black ink on carved woodblock 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 and ink
16" x 24"
2015
Black ink on carved woodblock by Kristin Powers Nowlin of figures in an interior space based on a Maxwell House Coffee ad from the 1920s.
Woodblock and ink
16" x 24"
2015
Black ink on carved woodblock by Kristin Powers Nowlin of figures in an interior space based on a Maxwell  House Coffee ad from the 1930s.
Woodblock and ink
16" x 24"
2014
Black ink on carved woodblock by Kristin Powers Nowlin of figures in a landscape based on a tourism brochure for Virginia from the 1960s.
Woodblock and ink
16" x 24"
2013