Nothing by Chance: Richard Black

Richard Black enjoys the process of making a print. He views the process as a journey into the unseen, never the unknown. He believes the object of the image gives physical form to ideas and thoughts that have no physical form. He finds abstraction a more expressive means for approaching the incorporeal character of ideas where the meaning is revealed though purely abstract relations develop amongst the visual elements. 

Richard is a highly regarded printmaker who has made a significant contribution over the years to the arts in Iowa. For thirty-four years, he was a professor of art at Drake University where he founded the Drake University Biennial Print Symposium.

He has been the subject of a one-person exhibition at the Des Moines Art Center, and has been honored with the DRAKE AWARD for excellence in teaching and artistic achievement. His works are included in many museum collections and have been shown in invitational and competitive exhibitions all over the country. 

Richard is a member of The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE) which was founded in 1880. All members are elected on merit in a tradition reaching back over a hundred years. New members are elected by the Council of the Society based on the quality of their work alone. Richard won the Printmaking Today prize in the RE Annual Exhibition in 2011 at Bankside Gallery, London for his intaglio print Small Worlds: Twitter See.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website