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March 21, 2005
WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY ART EXHIBIT CELEBRATES
PRINTMAKING
“American Impressions,” a juried exhibit of works by
33 professional printmakers from across the United States, will
be on view at William Paterson University’s Ben Shahn Galleries
from March 21 through April 22, 2005. Gallery hours are Monday through
Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. A reception for the
exhibit will be held on Sunday, April 3 from 2 to 4 p.m.
The show, in Ben Shahn’s South Gallery, includes a variety
of printmaking media, including woodcut, etching, monotype/monoprint,
lithography, intaglio, silkscreen, and processes involving photography-derived
imagery and digital collage. The exhibit was curated by John W.
Ittmann, curator of prints at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In
addition to New York metropolitan area artists, the show includes
works by artists from California, New Mexico, Illinois, Indiana,
and South Carolina.
Nancy Einreinhofer, director of the Ben Shahn Galleries, says the
exhibit contains a “variety of ideas and expressions representative
of contemporary art, which are explored through both the traditional
print mediums, such as etching and woodcut, and the latest digital
technology.” The annual exhibit, which previously focused
on Northeast artists, was expanded in 2004 to include artists nationwide.
The influence of the world around us, injustices, and family and
heritage are focal points in the works of Catherine Le Cleire such
as her silkscreen, “The Women Who Clean Our Houses,”
“My work is an intricate weave of past and present,”
says Le Cleire, a resident of Upper Montclair. Words, language,
images, science, technology, thoughts and memories intertwine in
overlapping layers.
“Snowscape V” by Anne Dushanko-Dobek of New Providence
features silkscreened images of monarch butterflies placed outdoors
during a snowstorm, which are then photographed digitally and turned
into a digital print. Her work references the migration of monarch
butterflies to examine the plight of migrant workers as they venture
back and forth across borders: perilous journeys, fraught with dangers
and unknown outcomes.
Paul Bonelli of Manasquan explores the past in his colored woodcut,
“Tenpins the Old Fashioned Way.” Based partly on old
photographs that belonged to his grandfather, who regularly bowled
in a league of local merchants in Manasquan, the work shows a typical
small-town bowling establishment, circa 1940, rendered in a simple
style that crosses between pop and expressionism.
Highland Park resident Erena Rae combines her passions for printmaking
and printing, lettering and typography in “Not One of the
Boys,” a pigment print on paper. Boys names, and a heading,
“Be All That You Can Be,” are layered over images of
women. “With a strong interest in language and social issues,
plus an indefatigable feminist muse, most of my works deal with
the dichotomy inherent in words vs. deeds,” she explains.
Layers of juicy, saturated color, calligraphic lines and layers
of texture are featured in “Precarious Balance,” a clay
monoprint by Priscilla Snow Algava of Princeton. “Color plays
a crucial role in my art,” she says. “Color harmonies
that are usually not seen in nature, or have been deliberately altered,
sometimes impart the idea of a dreamlike consciousness.”
Ittmann has served as curator of prints at the Philadelphia Museum
of Art since 1992, where he curated a major retrospective of Dox
Thrash, an African American master printmaker, as well the exhibits
“Hot Off the Press: American Publishers’ Posters of
the 1890s” and “Paris in the 1890s: Painters’
Prints in the Age of Bonnard, Vuillard and Lautrec.” He previously
served as curator of prints and drawings at the Minneapolis Institute
of Arts and as assistant for prints and drawings at the University
of Kansas Museum of Art. He has received numerous grants and fellowships,
including an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant and 10 grant to catalogue
European Old Master prints. He is a graduate of the University of
Kansas.
The exhibit is one of three shows on view concurrently in the Ben
Shahn Galleries. On view in the East Gallery is “Miriam
Beerman: Wall Installations – Works on Paper,” a
one-person exhibit. The Court Gallery features “Chronologies
and Connections 1855-2005: The Evolution of the University in a
Global Context,” an exhibit focusing on the 150th anniversary
of William Paterson University.
This exhibit is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey
State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency
of the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Ben Shahn Galleries are wheelchair-accessible. Large-print handouts
are available. For additional information, please call the Ben Shahn
Galleries at William Paterson University at 973-720-2654.
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Note to editors and reporters: High-resolution, downloadable photographs
are available at: http://ww2.wpunj.edu/publicityphotos/BenShahnGalleries/Artwork/
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