Marsha Sweet

Born in Cleveland, Sweet obtained her BFA from Miami University and then went on to obtain her MFA from Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Institute of Art. Like many Cleveland artists, she too, took Saturday art classes at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

“Marsha Sweet’s woodcuts and wood engravings focus mainly on the human image and she captures the essence of her subjects with the immediacy found in watercolors or drawings. Her portraits of famous women have the panache and glamour of their public persona. In her hands the wood cutting tools discern the age-etched features of Georgia O ‘Keeffe, the gloss of a tulip and the artist’s own skepticism in self-portraits. Her technique, cutting into the block with both realistic and expressive marks, gives her prints their distinctive texture. Sweet began making woodcuts in 1965 and by 1967 was participating in exhibitions with the top professionals in the field. Her wood engraving dates to 1985; her work in both processes have received acclaim in the United States, Great Britain, China, and Spain. Five of Sweet’s wood engravings are reproduced in An Engraver’s Globe, the beautiful book by Simon Brett, one England’s foremost artists in wood.” – Elizabeth McClelland