Artist Statement

This body of work, titled The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker, was inspired by my European travels and memories I have of Belgium and France in particular. I began noticing the signs that would hang over the doorways of merchant houses depicting the type of business that took place inside. I learned that they dated back to the 15th century and were created for the many people who could not read. The ornate cut metal created a picture:  here a fish shop, here a leather tanning shop, here a tailor. My intent was to reduce the images to the most basic of shapes while accurately describing their message ... what lies inside.

I love the process of cutting into paper with a knife and a brand new X-acto blade. Beginning with an idea, I lightly draw on the backside of a sheet of paper, bearing in mind that the final image will be reversed. My idea is thought out but not worked out. Decisions are made as I cut. It is through this process that I realize the knife has a mind of its own. Scraps of paper fly through the air.  It occurs to me that what I am doing is perhaps not that dissimilar to photography and the printing process in a darkroom. There is alchemy in cutting paper. When the last scrap of paper has been removed the picture is revealed, as negative and positive shapes combine to create an image.

One of the challenges is keeping the entire image intact within the border of the paper ... too many cuts and the piece becomes fragile and falls apart.

The Laser Artists

The paper cuts in this show were laser cut by Joe Freedman and Ilisha Huffman at Leaf Display in Portland. Learn more about Leaf Display here.

About the Edition

The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker was created as a series of 19 images. Each is a limited edition laser-cut created from the original paper cut. Created in an edition of six, signed and numbered by the artist. 11x14 inches. Presented unframed with a filigree paper bracket at the top. $250 each. Framed image only $350.

The original paper cuts are also available unframed for $375 each.

Please contact Laura for more information.

The Deluxe Edition

The entire series of 19 laser cuts featured in The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker is also available as a deluxe set. Price is $2,500. Please contact Laura for more information.

Artist Biography

I was born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island. My parents had envisioned a future in business for me but my heart envisioned a future in art. My earliest memory of falling in love with the stark beauty of black and white originated with the attire of my early education teachers: nuns. Their voluminous black and white habit was a stunning visual, especially as they moved down the aisle, veil and skirts swishing as they passed my desk. The sheer beauty of black and white was imprinted on my artistic soul.

Over the years I have studied art in different forms and mediums at various institutions across the country.  Always I would come back to printmaking and linocuts.  Again, black and white seduced me and I eventually turned to cutting into black paper to produce the graphic images that speak so clearly to me.

The scope of my work includes illustrations for Oregon Home Magazine; Willamette Week; literary magazines, CD cover art, and brochures and corporate identity signage. My work has been shown at Maryhill Museum, L&B Gallery, Oswego Lake Gallery, the American Institute of Architects Gallery and, most recently, 23Sandy Gallery. In addition, Public art commissions include artwork for four large metal panels that were fabricated and installed in the Pearl district of northwest Portland for the Downtown Storage Building in 2009. In 2005, Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., listed me as “a woman to watch in the Pacific Northwest Arts.”

This is Flynn’s second solo show here at 23 Sandy Gallery. You can view her 2009 show here.