Roy Nydorf, Drawing and Printmaking
Roy Nydorf is an award-winning carver, printmaker, painter and draftsman. He has exhibited nationally and internationally, and is represented in numerous public collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The son of artist parents, he was born and raised in Port Washington, New York. He attended the Art Students League of New York, and State University of New York at Albany;
received his Bachelor of Arts from State University of New York at Brockport; and earned a Master of Fine Arts with honors from Yale University. Roy is a drummer who loves blues and jazz, a year-round organic gardener, and he is painstakingly restoring a mid-19th century farmhouse. He has taught art at Guilford College since 1978.
Portrait photo credit: Thaddeus Rombauer ‘99
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“This series of butterfly and moth drawings pictorializes my lifelong interest in this subject. As a child, I avidly collected them until I could no longer bring myself to kill them. I see these insects as living, flying paintings: delicate, startlingly patterned, and vibrant with color. |
Tiger Swallowtail, pastel on paper, 2006 |
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Pastel and charcoal seem to be the medium most suitable for capturing the dusty, velvety color of their wings—pigments that appear to be breathed on the surface. The vivid patterning and larger-than-life scale, as well as the singular presentation of each specimen, lends a surreal and abstract quality to each picture. I draw each subject from observation, striving to capture my unique sense of wonder at the encounter.” |
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Zebra Butterfly, pastel on paper, 2006 |