Woodgraph ~ Sculptured Prints are a rare and beautiful art form that grew out of our love of New Orleans. The vision for each carving is the artist's. The realization of the artist's carving as a Woodgraph ~ Sculptured Print is the Street Scene tradition. Woodgraph ~ Sculptured Prints are a mixed media print of the carved wood original, each one is hand painted by artists specially trained in the techniques developed for this medium.

Street Scene's, Woodgraph ~ Sculptured Print is a relief sculpture that translates the grace and subtlety of a New Orleans painting into the rich elegance of carved wood. Each print captures Doré Skidmore’s unique view of the French Quarter as seen through it's architecture and the lore of yesteryear.

Where most carvers would use wood that is 2-3 inches thick, Doré Skidmore, in her own unparalleled style, starts with a piece of bass wood 3/8’s of an inch thick, that’s about the thickness of a slice of bread. Using her tiny chisels, Doré carves an incredible amount of depth in this extremely thin medium. This requires her to maintain a high degree of precision throughout the carving process. Using the same rules of perspective that an artist might use in oil painting, her carvings take on the added dimension of the chisel cut, so that a beautiful piece of art emerges.

The process for the Woodgraph-Sculptured Print begins with Bob and John Yike, the father and son team, who developed the print making process. They threw out all the rules, in the way they combined time-honored methods in new ways, to capture the intricate details of the original carving. The print is then hand stained, with a furniture-grade oil stain, bringing it back to the warm richness of Doré’s original wood carving.

Next, our painting artists, using the New Orleans color palette and brush strokes developed by Sylvia K Yike, will bring out the details captured in Doré’s original vision. Each scene, depending on the complexity of the carving, can take from 20 to over 60 different paint colors. The painting combines with depth of the chisel cuts, to bring each Woodgraph ~ Sculptured Print to life.

Woodgraph ~ Sculptured Prints bears the added distinction of being ‘signed in plate’ by the carving artist and often signed on the back by the artist who hand painted it. Each print is custom framed with a profile specially chosen to display your limited edition ‘Work of Art.’

We invite you to browse our website to learn more about us and our art. You can also purchase your New Orleans Woodgraph ~ Sculptured Print online!