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WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY ART EXHIBIT CELEBRATES PRINTMAKING
“American Impressions,” a juried exhibit of works by 41
professional printmakers from across the United States, will be on
view at William Paterson University’s Ben Shahn Galleries from
February 2 through March 5. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday,
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.
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 Judith Brodsky,
founding director of the Center for Innovative Print and Paper at
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J. In addition to New York metropolitan
area artists, the show includes works by artists from California,
Arizona, Texas, Washington, and Colorado.
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 this year to include artists nationwide.
Among the artists featured in the exhibit is Katharine Philip of Glen
Ridge, whose monotype, “Business as Usual,” is from her
Cycle of Life series. The work alludes to “the aging of my parents,
their decline in health and my contemplation of mortality,”
Philip explains. She uses images of fish, which although they are
out of water, are still living. “In the Orient the fish is the
symbol of life, and in Catholicism the fish is the symbol of miracles,”
she adds.
The influence of Catherine Le Cleire’s children is seen in works
such as “Boy to Man #1,” a silkscreen print. Le Cleire,
a resident of Upper Montclair, incorporates fragmented images of life
and death that are woven in a landscape that evokes child-like fantasy.
Scott Wittman of Philadelphia explores notions of exploration and
romance in “Manhattan, 2002,” a digital print. Inspired
by portraits of anonymous cherubs from Renaissance sculpture, Wittman
recreates the face of romance, Cupid, using base maps of New York
City. A photograph of the arch at Washington Square Parka adds context
and content. “The work provides the individual viewer a place
to reminisce, ponder and relate,” he says.
Highland Park resident Erena Rae uses her art to explore the power
of language, including “Trees,” an inkjet pigment print
or an original drawing. According to Rae, “The art that moves
me most is art that points out unfair or unethical practices –
especially those which have become so routine that either they go
unnoticed or they are assumed to be normal.”
The human and animal forms that appear in the work of Montclair artist
Miriam Beerman, such as her edition of dry point prints titled “Faces,”
are “the angels and demons of an inner perception,” she
says. Beerman, who says she works instinctively, relying on a strong
visceral response to the medium, adds that her works have an underlying
theme: “the victory of survival despite the affliction of pain,
whether personally or politically motivated.”
Sandra Frech of North Haledon uses mixed media for her monoprints
such as “Mind/Body Series I,” which combines profiles
of a woman’s face and hands with text. Previously a painter
whose works were expressionist, Frech says “my art has become
more realistic and recently more conceptual…this media seems
to motivate me to experiment more.”
Miriam Stern of Teaneck often uses photographs as the base of her
monoprints. In “Yahel IV,” a piece from a series titled
“Collaboration,” the work comes from art her father created
as a school boy in Germany from 1924 to 1926. “By using his
pictures as a starting point I was able to produce new work,”
she says. “In this artistic journey, I traveled a road with
my father that we had never traveled before.”
The exhibit is one of three shows on view concurrently in the Ben
Shahn Galleries. On view in the East Gallery is “Shakespeare
Speaks,” a one-person show of prints by Debra Pearlman of Brooklyn.
The Court Gallery features “The Piet Project,” a site-specific
installation by sculptor Jim Toia that draws on William Paterson’s
campus as a resource. All exhibits are free and open to the public
and are wheelchair accessible.
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.
For additional information, please call the Ben Shahn Galleries at
William Paterson University at 973-720-2654.
# # # #
- For
Further Information, contact:
- Mary
Beth Zeman, Director, Public Relations 973-720-2966
1/29/04
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