Jim Mateer

Jim Mateer's studio work moves between two disciplines: densely-layered colored pencil drawings of the objects and landscapes he lives among, and woodblock prints that trace the wind spirits, creation stories, and trickster cycles of Iroquois and Northwest Coast oral tradition.

The colored pencil work — rocks and gourds, chairs cluttered with a lifetime, an old railroad station, a hooked-up buggy — begins from long observation. Each print is offered as a signed edition, printed from the original drawing.

The woodblock series draws on stories from Myths and Legends of the New York State Iroquoisand other primary sources. The Four Winds (Ya-o-gah, Ne-o-ga, O-yan-do-ne, Da-jo-ji), the four elements, the Raven cycle, and the Coyote tales are each cut and pulled by hand.

Every print sold on this site ships directly from the studio.