About Wesley Bates
Wesley Bates studied painting and printmaking at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick. He works full time as a printmaker and letterpress printer under his own imprint at West Meadow Press in Clifford, Ontario.
His wood engraved prints have been exhibited widely and are held in public and private collections in Canada, the United States, England, Ireland, Australia, Spain, Japan and China.
Bates has illustrated for major publishers in Canada and the United States – such as McClelland & Stewart, Penguin, Random House, HarperCollins, Larkspur Press, Porcupine’s Quill, Bird & Bull Press, Gaspereau Press, and Running the Goat Press – and for private presses in England and North America, and in particular Larkspur Press.
He has illustrated books by such authors as W.O. Mitchell, Wendell Berry, Ed McClanahan, Richard Taylor, Stuart McLean, Timothy Findley, Russell Smith, Mary Dalton and Don McKay.
Bates’ work is represented in public collections including, The Art Gallery of Hamilton, Laurentian University, Glenbow Art Gallery, Grimsby Public Gallery, University of Kentucky, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library and San Francisco Public Library - Special Collections.
He is the author of two books: Point of the Graver and In Black & White.
Artist Statement
I describe my efforts as an artist to that of being a story teller. I am narrative. How I tell stories is a little more specific. The medium I choose to work in is one of the more unusual, or shall I say, lesser known mediums, wood engraving. You can find a technical description of Wood Engraving elsewhere on my site. Here I will try to tell you about my work and how wood engraving facilitates my passion for narrative.
Wood Engraving was developed as a medium for book illustration and I think it was the trick of the white line telling the story in the image that caught my eye. The sharpness and clarity of a wood engraved image, the mediums capacity for detail and texture, and the revelation of light on a subject are the qualities of the medium continue to fascinate me. For me the confines of the parameter of an engraving block are not a limitation. The possibilities within the space are practically endless. The scale of wood engraving fits so well in the form of a book and that is where I find my expressive outlet with narrative. I tell with symbols, gesture, context, colour and composition: the language of images.
Over the last 40 years I have participated in the magic of the white line and in the making of books as the illustrator and author of wordless narratives and editioned prints.
I have had opportunities to illustrate a wide range of subjects and from poetry, fiction, children’s literature, non-fiction, product advertising and packaging. When I have indulged in my own projects beyond the book, I gravitate to stories and images of figures in costume and without, rural life, landscapes, and riverscapes.
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