Michigan Printmakers Exhibit Artwork at 27th Annual Show
The 27th annual Statewide Print Competition show at Alma College
features 34 prints by 28 Michigan printmakers, including six works
selected for special recognition.
The show, juried by Carmen Colangelo, dean of the Sam Fox School of
Design and Visual Arts and the E. Desmond Lee Professor for Community
Collaboration at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., continues
through Dec. 13 in the Flora Kirsch Beck Gallery.
Admission is free and open to faculty, staff, students and the general
the public. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 10
a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.
Kent Kirby Memorial Award for Best in Show: "Buoy"
Colangelo viewed 80 prints submitted by 32 artists who
used a wide range of printmaking processes, including woodcuts,
collagraph, lithography, intaglio, monotype, silkscreen and mixed
media. He observed a wide range of subjects and content.
“Some used observational renderings on what the artists see in the real
world, while other works represent abstract depictions of their ‘dream’
world,” said Colangelo, who acknowledged the quality, range and depth
of the prints.
Colangelo, a prolific artist who has juried more than 20 print shows
and who has exhibited widely his own works, selected five prints for
purchase awards and one honorable mention.
The $1,000 Kent Kirby Memorial Award for Best in Show went to Anne
McCauley of Marshall for her color woodcut, “Buoy.” Cut out of wood
with several layers of color, the relief print was described by
Colangelo as “beautifully executed, an exquisite gem.” He noted that
the print’s images of what appear to be long, narrow vertical buoys
feel quiet, simple and sublime but “with a real resonance.”
Luis Norberto Lopez Isnardi Memorial Award: "The Campaign Promise"
The
$500 Luis Norberto Lopez Isnardi Memorial Award went to Bruce Thayer of
Mason for his collagraph, “The Campaign Promise.” In contrast to the
quiet sublime feeling of “Buoy,” Thayer’s print is loud, satirical and
expressive with multiple graphic overlays representing the hard-hitting
topic of politics. It features a monstrous, blustery image of an
exaggerated character seemingly making promises to the worker, teacher,
soldier and scientist depicted as human figures among various icons in
the background. At the bottom of the print reads, “The Campaign Promise
— Proof read the fine print” as words on a chalkboard.
The $500 Award from the President and Friends of Alma College went to
John Bergmeier of Pontiac for his intaglio and collaged lino print on
veneer, “The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (arms akimbo).” The
artist started with a wood veneer with a cutout card pressed on the
wood, and then added multiple layers of different papers using varied
processes. Representations on the print include text and the words
“Christ” and “into dust shall thou return” plus dated human images
possibly representing worship among circular and geometric lines.
The $500 Senator Leo J. Rozier Purchase Award went to Kyle Butler of
Mount Pleasant for an untitled acid-etched intaglio with two plates.
The large horizontal piece features a line etched plate on the left
depicting what appears to be bits and pieces of the aftermath of a
crisis or natural event, possibly floating or strewn in a vacant
background. The plate on the right illustrates crumbling houses that
resulted from the flood, hurricane or earthquake. The composition is
congested with realistic imagery, with human figures stranded on the
roofs of the houses.
The $400 Alumni Purchase Award went to Benjamin Bigelow of Ypsilanti
for “Lowe’s Mercer Craft & Bauer,” a silkscreen print with metallic
overlay. Colangelo noted the “whimsical” feeling of the piece, which he
described as minimal with silhouetted human figures dancing from left
to right across a quiet, muted landscape.
Colangelo also awarded an honorable mention to Steven Barber and
Michael Volker of Mount Pleasant for “Vertical Empires and Cerebral
Chasm,” a monotype mixed media print. The work depicts a colorful
painting-like landscape with blue sky and clouds, trees, brush and
dragonfly, with a somewhat transparent skeletal and muscle human figure
with arrows pointing to the top of a faceless head.
After leaving Alma College, the exhibit will travel to the Art Center
of Battle Creek, Jan. 4 through 26, 2008; and Henry Ford Community
College, MacKenzie Fine Arts Building, in Dearborn Aug. 21 through
Sept. 30, 2008. It is anticipated that new exhibition venues will be
added to the traveling schedule.
-mjs-
Posted: Fri, November 30th, 2007 at 3:41PM
