“MEMORABLE CUTS” at Davis Community Gallery

The Davis Community Gallery will host an exhibit of contemporary linocut prints by artist Jesús Cruz, Jr. opening with an Artists’ Reception from 5:30pm to 7pm on Friday, August 19, 2011 at Davis Community Gallery. 

The prints will be on exhibit at the gallery located inside Davis Community Clinic through November 4, 2011. T-shirts and linocut print cards will also be available for purchase at the Artist Reception.

Jesús Cruz, Jr. was born and raised in Fontana, California.  After a short stint in the California National Guard, he was hired as an elementary school teacher in August of 1972. With a master’s degree in Educational Administration, his career as an educator spanned 34 years, the last 18 years as a kindergarten teacher in the Riverside Unified School District. Teaching kindergarten kept Jesus involved in art on a daily basis.  He integrated art with poetry and reading instruction.

The prints are created with the traditional technique of using knives to carve blocks of linoleum which are inked and run through a press. Cruz’s style is immediately identifiable by his use of thick and solid fields of ink, often combining figurative and abstract elements with a woodblock-cut appearance. Much of the imagery is reminiscent of motifs associated with the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) traditions celebrated in Mexican communities at the start of November. Jesús currently works out of Division 9 Gallery, Riverside, California.  He has exhibited his prints at the Riverside Art Museum, RCAA Gallery, and Riverside Metropolitan Museum in Riverside, California; Ontario Museum of History and Art in Ontario, California; Cal Poly Pomona University, Pomona, California; Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon; Phinney Ridge Community Center, Seattle, Washington; and at Division 9 Gallery. Jesús most recently was featured in a printmaking demonstration and exhibition of his works at the 2011 California State Fair in Sacramento.