Old Sycamore

Living in rural Kansas, Norma Bassett Hall was so committed to putting art into people’s hands that she allowed her original color woodcuts, in frames, to be checked out of her local library to hang in patrons’ homes for a while. This populism may be what prompted her to carve her prints from inexpensive kitchen cutting boards, but it’s unlikely she found one big enough for Old Sycamore. After printing the brown outline block, Hall printed blue over the whole sheet except the riverbank, sycamore bark, and areas of fall color (and their corresponding reflections in the water). Next came the orange foliage and the lime green on the water. Then she added the block carrying the yellow foliage. This was followed by the green color in the background, and perhaps the tan colors. Finally came the dark blue-green that makes the venerated sycamore’s flaky bark pop.