# Wood Engraving and the Art of Nature

How can wood engraving capture the essence of a place? Curator Ashley Rose Young explores the work of Richard Wagener and Gaylord Shanilec, whose prints transform American landscapes through precision, texture, and, in Shanilec’s case, layered color. Wagener’s stark black-and-white wood engravings of the Sierra Nevada reveal dramatic detail through line and contrast, while Shanilec builds luminous color scenes of the Mississippi River and Everglades. Together, they show how relief printmaking shapes how we see the natural world.

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2026
- Runtime: 3 min
- By: Young, Ashley Rose
- Genres: Nature
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/video-12113/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/video-12113?play=1)