Meet the Printmakers: Helmut Becker

Helmut Becker is an artist papermaker with an extensive career history of exhibitions, research and publications for which he has acquired an international reputation.  

He was born in Canada and educated there (B.A. with distinction, U. of Sask., 1954), as well as in the United States (U. of Wisconsin, M.S., Art Ed., 1955), in the Netherlands (Academy of Fine Arts, The Hague, Holland, 1956) and travel in Europe. He is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Western Ontario, in London, Canada. His research involves the cultivation and harvesting methods of hemp and fibre flax at Environmental Sciences Western. He has a particular interest in the development of alternatives to trees as a source for papermaking. Currently, he is experimenting with ancient processing techniques on hemp for papermaking and sculptural applications.

"In 1963 Clement Greenberg viewed a number of my woodcut prints and woodcut blocks consisting of some quite deeply carved planks, boards and plywood done on different hard and soft woods.
He suggested to me that I should never mar or destroy the woodcut blocks after hand printing editions of woodcut prints from them, but save the carved blocks intact in order to one day do an exhibition of the woodcut blocks as sculpture."

A couple of Helmut's woodcut blocks are included in the new group exhibition at Westland Gallery running from June 19th - July 7th.