Figure II, 1967 is a color viscosity intaglio created in 1967 by American artist Kathryn Metz (1932-2018). It is pencil signed, titled, dated, and editioned ap 3/4. Figure II was printed by the artist on a sheet of ivory wove Rives paper and the platemark measures 27-3/4 x 21-5/8 inches.
Figure II is a swirling, smoky-hued abstraction that reads as much as the curvature of a torso as it does a figure eight or the vortex of a storm. This image glows with colors that are charged by their opposition but read with as much mystery as embers and icebergs. The vivid colors and dimensionality are a result of Metz’s use of the simultaneous color printing techniques developed at Atelier 17. This technique allowed for the plate to be rolled in inks of various colors and viscosities based upon the premise that inks of different viscosities will not mix. This process allows for the layering of colors of different viscosities on the plate.
Kathryn (Kay) Metz, painter, printmaker and educator, was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1932. She received her BFA from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and her MA from the University of California, Los Angeles. Between 1966 and 1967, she studied at Atelier 17 in Paris under the auspices of the College Art Study Abroad at the American Center for Students and Artists. She continued independent studies with Philip Guston and Robert Blackburn in New York.
Metz's teaching experience began at Phoenix College in Arizona in 1964. She was part-time faculty at the New York University School of Education, New York City between 1967 and 1969, moving then to the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota. After briefly teaching at the University of California Extension in Los Angeles, Metz was hired in 1971 to teach printmaking at the University of California, Santa Cruz, retiring in 1992. Highly influential as a teacher, she trained and inspired generations of artists.
Metz exhibited extensively and was awarded residence grants at the Huntington Hartford Foundation, Pacific Palisades in 1965, and the MacDowell Colony residence fellowship in 1966-1967. Her works are held in the collections of the Fresno Art Museum; the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, University of California, Los Angeles; the Library of Congress; Special Collections, McHenry Library, University of California, Santa Cruz; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chamalières, France; the New York Public Library; the Phoenix Art Museum; and the Janet Turner Print Museum, University of California Chico.
