The Prints of Betty Goodwin

Organized by the National Gallery of Canada, this exhibition surveyed the printmaking work of prominent Canadian artist Betty Goodwin, from her early figurative etchings and wood block prints, through her well-known iconic vest series, to her latest printmaking experiments. Throughout her career Goodwin has mixed traditional printing techniques and materials with a variety of unconventional methods, often combining several processes in one print. The resultant works include traces of embossed objects, transparent "x-rayed" garments, or notes with stamped text, collage and scraps of tape. The discarded objects that Goodwin uses (pop cans, bits of twine, various articles of clothing such as unpaired work gloves, shirts and hats) are transformed into provocative images of displacement and loss. In the accompanying fully-illustrated exhibition publication, curator Rosemarie Tovell traces Goodwin's formative influences and provides a valuable catalogue raisonné of her printmaking oeuvre.