William Paterson University
Home Calendars Campus Directories Directions and Map Library Site Map Search  
The University Admissions Academics Enrolled Students Faculty and Staff News Cultural Events Community Outreach Athletics Alumni Relations Giving Opportunities
 
 
  wp perspectives
  News Releases
News Release Archive
 
 
 
 
   
   
   
   

News Release

 
CONTACT:
Mary Beth Zeman, 973-720-2444
zemanm@wpunj.edu


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.
# # # #

Note to editors and reporters: High-resolution, downloadable photographs are available at: http://ww2.wpunj.edu/publicityphotos/BenShahnGalleries/Artwork/