Raymond Gloeckler
American, born 1928Self-Portrait, 1984
Not on view
Woodcut on paper
Dimensions14 3/4 × 10 3/4 in. (37.5 × 27.3 cm)
Image: 8 1/4 × 6 in. (21 × 15.2 cm)
Gift of Mr. Jack B. Pierson, 1985.47.5
Raymond Gloeckler once stated, "In a buzzing halo of light, the engraver pursues his obsession. With all of life's energy, skill, and experience balanced on a single burin point, he cuts ten thousand lines into a tiny dark block. There is no pretense. There is no place to hide. The laser point of light guides his hand and gives form to his dream. It has been said that all you need to make a print is a knife and a block of wood. It's almost true. The engraver particularly needs little else. His wood block makes a direct, powerful statement. Its luminosity and strength provide a refreshing clarity too often abandoned for more seductive media. So let us salute them, engravers, for the courage to be simple.”
Gloeckler was born on December 13, 1928 in Portage, Wisconsin and attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison from 1946 to 1950, receiving his B.S., and then transferring to Oshkosh, Wisconsin for his M.S. Gloeckler became a professor of art at the University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh and held the position there from 1953 to 1957. He then moved to Flint, Michigan where he worked as a professor for the Flint Michigan Community College for a year, and then transferred to Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan until 1961 (moving back to Wisconsin that same year). Gloeckler’s work has been shown at many institutions and galleries, such as the Milwaukee Museum of Art.
