Carroll Thayer Berry - Artistic Life

Artistic Life

The Berrys sold their house in Wiscasset following World War II. They bought a home in Rockport, Maine, as well as an old three-story brick building on Main Street (just a short walk from their home), which served as Berry's studio for the rest of his life. It was there, equipped with a 19th-Century printing press, that Berry perfected his printmaking skills, in the process of which he made use of wood engraving, woodcut and linoleum block.

Woodcut is a relief printing process in which carved raised shapes of wood are inked and then printed on paper. Berry would sometimes carve multiple wood blocks for a single print, each block being inked with a different color, such as a beige, blue, orange and so on. Realizing the great demand for some of his prints, he sometimes produced large editions, or returned to reprint the editions. Other works, in less demand, were never reprinted after the first run.

Berry's work is sometimes said to fall within three distinct periods: His early linocuts and oil paintings are experimental, and reflect the changing artistic trends of the early 1900s. In the era of the Depression, he turned to the more affordable medium of the woodblock, which eventually evolved into the iconic style of his wood engravings. Finally, around 1973, his interests shifted to Jay Hambidge's theory of dynamic symmetry, a system of proportion and natural design that promoted the use of geometry in artistic compositions.

In 1978, at age 90, Berry died in a Rockport hospital. He had led an active, fruitful life, and thereby left the people of Maine with a body of work “created with consummate skill and fidelity to their subjects” (Hammond).