ABOUT
"Zerbetz's eye-grabbing illustrations raise the energy level with their dynamic lines and vibrant compositions."
—Publishers Weekly
Relief printmaking has been my passion for over 20 years. I prefer carving tools over pencils, and relish the physicality of mark making as I carve into linoleum and other matrices to make my printing plates.
Ultimately, it’s all about the line. I am passionate about the lines that can only be created in carving relief plates. The characteristic thick and thin lines, chop and hatch marks —created with my knife, that give my work its distinctive look. My reductive medium requires me to think backwards, and to think about positive and negative space, both physically and energetically.
My projects have ranged from a 65-foot wall of architectural art glass for the Alaska State Library/Archives, suspended sculptures in busy public buildings, to linocuts for health posters that might be push-pinned to the school nurse’s office wall.
My linocuts have illustrated an armload of children’s books, rolled down the road on a mobile science exhibit on wheels, informed 12 public art commissions, and formed the basis for a multimedia traveling exhibit about ravens.
A constant at the center of my large body of work, is that I am ever processing the world around me through art—my work is infused with a deep curiosity about the natural world.