Power of the Press : Linda Lyke’s graphic, colorful exhibit of works will be on display at Glendale gallery.

Printmaking has been the heart of Linda Lyke’s art since she was a college student at Kent State University in Ohio in the late 1960s. “It’s always a surprise when you run something through the press. You get a differ ent look from the plate,” she said.

But Lyke, an art professor at Occidental College since 1977, is not satisfied by just producing multiples of her images on machine-made paper in customary printmaking techniques such as etchings or lithographs. She prefers the more free-form process of making monotypes--of drawing or painting something on a plate, then transferring that image to paper and enhancing it with layers of color from collage pieces, paint and other media. The monotype combines “the freshness of drawing and painting with the surprises and unique effects of printmaking,” she said.

She often begins by making her own paper, adding colorful recycled paper fragments to the pulp to recycle them again, and to make an interesting surface texture that you can see throughout the paper. “I like building things and putting different things together. It looks like a painting, but it has a graphic quality,” Lyke said.

A group of 35 of her lively, intricate works is in the retrospective exhibit, “Linda Lyke: Highlights from 1986-1993--Monotypes and Mixed Media Paintings” at the Brand Library Art Galleries in Glendale. “People respond to her (Lyke’s) media,” said gallery director Cindy Cleary. “Her use of color is distinct, and her process is of interest to the public.”

This shows represents “my best work over the years, and a number of periods and styles,” Lyke said. “I wanted to explore certain themes in my work: lost alphabets--I’m trying to solve those mysteries of life; temple images that pay homage to goddesses or great women in history and mythology; baskets, which are a celebration of nature and life, of being one with nature; and landscape, especially one where you’re looking at it romantically.”

Her “Arroyo” series presents her visions of the Arroyo Seco canyon area in Pasadena. With their warm, attractive colors, monotypes such as “View of Old Bridge,” “Quiet Hills” and “Dream Time” convey a healthy respect for the beauty of this area, a relatively peaceful oasis from the urban congestion of the surrounding megalopolis.

Many of Lyke’s works relate to journeys she has made. “Duomo,” a mixed-media collage, is full of vigor, roused by the magnificence of the domed cathedral in Florence, Italy. She began her “Baskets” series in 1990, when she spent a month in Yosemite National Park on a U.S. Department of the Interior artist-in-residence grant. Inspired by utilitarian but beautiful American Indian baskets that she saw in Yosemite’s museum, she chose to honor the women who made them with her vibrant images of baskets, which she joins with other elements of nature.

From the basket of “Bat Woman’s Avian Genesis” comes birds in flight. The intensely colorful piece, made with oil stick, recalls an Indian myth of how birds came to be on this earth.

Also in the gallery is an exhibit of photographs by Rene Deloffre. In his manipulated silver gelatin images, a somewhat androgynous female figure is posed in quizzical situations, and industrial structures seem to be exploding. The volatile images of “Powerhouses” and “Powerstacks” suggest the turmoil of our time and place.

Where and When What: “Linda Lyke: Highlights from 1986-1993” and “Rene Deloffre: Photographs.” Location: Brand Library Art Galleries, 1601 W. Mountain St., Glendale. Hours: 1 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays, 1 to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Ends Dec. 7. Call: (818) 548-2050.