Imprint • A Contemporary Printmaking Exhibition
Exhibition Dates: January 21-February 21, 2010 • Reception: February 11, 6-8pm
Gallery Talk: 7pm with juror Jane Haslem • Printmaking Demonstration: 7:30-8pm

Juror's Statement by Jane Haslem
"Let’s imagine Rembrandt, Picasso or Whistler decided to come to this “print” show. What a shock they would have, they might not believe that they were in the right place. Now move up to the years before and after World War II and look at what happened to printmaking in those last 60 years. Major innovators like Miro, Hayter, Lasansky, Peterdi and others created prints to compete with paintings for wall space. They shocked the print world by combining etching, woodcut, lithograph, engraving in a single image or made prints that were over 6 feet tall using multiple plates and bold colors. Should they visit this exhibition even these innovators would be shocked at what is happening now. Imprint is an excellent example of the widespread diversification and combination of printmaking techniques with almost every other art medium known."

"Meredith Setser has two works in the show, one a magnificent combination of mixed media and etching, Angry Dragon II, and Crewel Wasting Disease, etching, resin polymer clay. Both colorful images seem to spring from an organic source. They appear to be something wonderful viewed through a microscope. Dora Lisa Rosenbaum juxtaposes the first two pieces mentioned above with a sculptural piece, Prospect (Fuchsia). She has printed 15 soft ground-etchings of panties on delicate cut out red paper and hung them on stainless steel rods. They wave softly as one walks by. Lauren Miko’s print, Nigiri, a fine linocut of an aerial view of a tray of sushi, has been beautifully hand colored. Her use of combined media here is not so unusual but the overall composition and handling of the work is outstanding. There are others such as Zach Stensen’s beautifully drawn lithograph, Kite; Erin L McMahon’s complex drypoint, The Perry Building; David Skibiak’s totally resolved etching/aquatint, Wolftrap; Karen Hubacher’s collagraph, Shelter III; and Crystal Wagner’s, The Capacity of Line, a combination etching, relief, mylar, cut paper, grommets and paint markers. She also has a large hanging silkscreen triptych that measures 48” high. The quality of works submitted to Imprint is extraordinary and proves that there is a LOT of good art being made in the USA today."