American artist Suzanne Caporael takes the natural world as an inspiration for her paintings and related prints. Suzanne Caporael: The Nature of Things features nearly seventy artworks spanning three decades drawn from the Chazen Museum’s permanent collection, presented thematically rather than chronologically. Divided into five main sections, this exhibition highlights the inspirations for the artist’s visual explorations: color and chemical structure, flora and fauna, water and ice, the night sky, and perception and memory. While Caporael’s compositions may at first appear abstract, they are in fact steeped in close observation of the artist’s surroundings and motivated by an immense inquisitiveness. “Curiosity,” she has said, “has driven me to become my own teacher and my own student.” At the same time, however, Caporael’s compositions are not literal depictions of her research, but rather traces of her discovery process: she explains that “painting or making a print is something I do with my hands while I’m thinking.”

Caporael often works in series, creating groups of paintings clustered around one topic before moving on to another. She considers her painting and printmaking practices to have something of a sibling relationship. She typically makes prints in the middle of what she calls a “learning project” or painting campaign, when she is not yet finished resolving an image. All the prints included in this exhibition were published by the University of Wisconsin—Madison’s Tandem Press, where Caporael has initiated a transformation, working closely with master printers to translate her compositions from one medium to another. The Chazen Museum of Art serves as the official repository of the Tandem Press archive, from which these prints are drawn.

Please join us for the annual Gillett G. Griffin Memorial Lecture with Raina Lampkins-Fielder, curator of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, as well as a program officer of the Foundation’s parent organization, the Souls Grown Deep Community Partnership, which supports the communities that gave rise to the 160 artists represented in its collection.

For more information and to register for this event, please visit the external link below.

The Kimono in Print: 300 Years of Japanese Design is the first show devoted to examining the kimono as a major source of inspiration and experimentation in Japanese print culture, from the Edo period (1603–1868) to the Meiji period (1868–1912). This dialogue between print and kimono design is illustrated by approximately 70 Japanese prints, as well as a selection of illustrated woodblock printed books and paintings, primarily drawn from the Museum’s 3,000 Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints from John Chandler Bancroft (1835–1901) gifted in 1901. Central to The Kimono in Print is a one-of-a-kind contemporary wedding kimono by Chiso, the important 465-year-old, Kyoto-based kimono house. The Worcester Wedding Kimono is the first ever kimono commissioned as an artwork for an art museum. Celebrating the 120th-anniversary of WAM’s transformative acquisition of the Bancroft collection, the contemporary wedding kimono reflects the Museum’s vision for Japanese art in the 21st century.

Print artists from 17th to 20th -century Japan documented ever-evolving trends in fashion, popularized certain styles of dress, and even designed kimonos. The works begin with early prints from the late 17th century, when a more complex and sophisticated attitude towards clothing first appeared, as seen in the lavish prints of the floating world’s celebrity kabuki actors and courtesans. Modern design books and prints from the early 20th century, inspired by or made for kimono, demonstrate how the boundaries between print and textile fashion and design became more fluid.

The commission of a kimono as an artwork, rather than for a specific client or occasion, gave Chiso and its designer significant creative space to give form to their outlook regarding the present and future art of the kimono. Inspired by the New England foliage and Worcester’s famed seven hills, Chiso’s Senior Designer Mr. Imai Atsuhiro incorporated the iconic maple leaf throughout the kimono design, as well as seven textile techniques, ranging from newly developed to endangered ones. Documentary photographs of the process, as well as a video demonstrating many of Chiso’s signature techniques, are included in the exhibition. The Worcester Wedding Kimono reveals in stunning detail Chiso’s continuing commitment and aspiration to Japanese beauty and steadfast dedication to innovation, design, and creativity—in the present and for the future.

Since 1910, Grafiska Sällskapet (the Swedish Printmakers Association) in Stockholm has provided opportunities, information, resources, and mutual support to its members. The association now boasts a membership of more than 400 active printmakers in Sweden and abroad. This exhibition, compiled by association chairperson Anne-Lie Larsson Ljung, board member Bo Ganarp, and association member Maria Eriksson will feature 40+ exciting examples of contemporary Swedish prints that utilize printmaking techniques in traditional and inventive ways. The exhibition wonderfully represents the visual diversity of the printmakers of Grafiska Sällskapet and is positively a must-see.

Please join Highpoint for a discussion (via Zoom) with the curators of Grafiska Sällskapet; Contemporary Swedish Printmaking on Thursday, February 25 from 12-1pm CST.

For more information please visit the external link below.

From Creation to Collection: Making and Marketing Drawings in Nineteenth-Century France
The Cleveland Museum of Art, virtual event
Thursday, March 11, 2:00-5:00 PM and Friday, March 12, 2:00-4:00 PM
Free; registration required
https://www.clevelandart.org/events/virtual-events/creation-collection-making-and-marketing-drawings-nineteenth-century-france

In anticipation of a major exhibition and publication focused on the Cleveland Museum of Art’s holdings of 19th-century French drawings in 2023, scholars present new research related to the materials, function, and collecting of drawings during this period. This is a two day event.

Opening Remarks [2:00 - 2:10 PM]
William Griswold, Director, Cleveland Museum of Art

Britany Salsbury, Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings, Cleveland Museum of Art

The Materials and Techniques of 19th-Century French Drawings I [2:30 – 3:30 PM]
“Drawing without a Master”: Visual Memory Training and the Politics of Skilled Labor in Nineteenth-Century France
Shana Cooperstein, Visiting Lecturer, Department of Art and Design, Community College of Philadelphia

Learning to Draw Landscape
Patricia Mainardi, Professor Emeritus, Doctoral Program in Art History, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York

Delacroix’s Drawings for Prints on Tracing Paper and Wood
Ashley Dunn, Assistant Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Degas’s Alchemy
Michelle Foa, Associate Professor of European Art, Tulane University

The Materials and Techniques of 19th-Century French Drawings II [3:30 - 5:00 PM]
Unintended Outcomes: Recognizing Change in Late 19th Century Drawings
Harriet Stratis, Independent Research Conservator

Material as Meaning: Time and Technique in Cézanne’s Drawings
Samantha Friedman, Associate Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art and Laura Neufeld, Associate Paper Conservator, The David Booth Conservation Department, The Museum of Modern Art

Negotiating Privacy and the Art Market: Thinking about the Public Exposure of Toulouse-Lautrec's Private Drawings
Alexandra Courtois de Vicose, Visiting Professor of Art History, Kenyon College

Symbolist Drawing: The Lure of the Particulate
Jay A. Clarke, Rothman Family Curator of Prints and Drawings, Art Institute of Chicago

Friday, March 12, 2021

Opening Remarks [2:00 - 2:10 PM]
Heather Lemonedes Brown, Virginia N. and Randall J. Barbato Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Cleveland Museum of Art

Britany Salsbury, Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings, Cleveland Museum of Art

Collecting 19th-Century French Drawings: Exhibitions, Institutions, and the Market [2:10 - 3:30 PM]
The First Retrospective Exhibition of the Drawings of J.-A.-D. Ingres (1861)
Andrew Carrington Shelton, Professor of History of Art, The Ohio State University

Private Lines: Collecting and Displaying Studio Drawings in the École des Beaux-Arts in the 19th Century
Anne-Cécile Moheng, Curatorial Fellow, Drawings Collection, Beaux-Arts de Paris

Private Collecting for Public Institutions: 19th-Century French Drawings in Early 20th-Century Cleveland
Britany Salsbury, Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings, Cleveland Museum of Art

The Elusive Mr. Richard Owen: A Dealers Rise and Fall from Grace in the American Art Market
Danielle Hampton Cullen, Research Assistant, European Paintings Department, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Discussion [3:30 - 4:00 PM]

Join the Smithsonian American Art Museum for a five-part online conversation series that examines Chicanx graphics and how artists have used printmaking as a vehicle to debate larger social causes, reflect on issues of their time, and build community. Hear from artists, scholars, and activists about the Chicanx graphics movement, from civil rights–era prints to today’s digital landscape. This series emphasizes cross-generational mentorships and an expanded view of American art and the history of graphic arts, featuring women, Afro Latinx, LGBTQ+, and other previously marginalized voices.

This conversation series features live Q&A sessions and is presented in conjunction with the landmark exhibition ¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now.

Since its founding, the Brandywine Workshop has served as an epicenter for multiethnic artists to exchange a wide variety of thought and concepts through the collaborative process of printmaking. Working together with master printers, artists have pushed the boundaries of the creative process and embraced the possibilities of printmaking. Allan L. Edmunds, Brandywine’s founder and recently retired director, emphasizes the importance of collaboration and the “multiple forces and circumstances that allow art-making to thrive at a particular time and in a particular place.”

Roll, Press, Pull: Contemporary Prints from the Brandywine Workshop & Archives will present the forces of time and place as a unifying component within the artwork of this collection. This important gift provides PAFA the unique opportunity to examine the impact of Philadelphia and Brandywine Workshop on a range of diverse forms, images, and stylistic approaches that artists examined within the span of four decades into the present.

Selected by Black Women of Print (LaToya Hobbs, Jennifer Mack-Watkins, Angela Pilgrim, Stephanie Santana, and Tanekeya Word), this in-person and online exhibition features new works by 40 artists representing 15 states and 9 countries. This exhibition explores “the varied ways printmakers and book artists exist in space and how they associate meaning, via their lived experiences, to inform place,” said Tanekeya Word, founder of Black Women of Print. In conjunction with the exhibition, IPCNY will host online public programs including two artist talks and a conversation with Black Women of Print. Free and open to the public on Zoom. More information coming soon.

ABOUT NEW PRINTS
Mapping Narratives: New Prints 2021/Winter is the 63rd presentation of IPCNY's New Prints Program, and will be on view January 28–April 3, 2021. Established in 2000, the New Prints Program is a biannual, juried open call for prints and print-based work created in the preceding twelve months. Artists selected for the exhibition will also be invited to apply for IPCNY's New Prints Artist Development Program consisting of three opportunities: artist residencies, mentorships, and sponsored coursework. Learn more about New Prints and the Artist Development Program here.

Artists
Adrianna Adams, Chloe Alexander, Kendyl Boyd, Tyanna Buie, Rachel Burgess, Alicia Calbet, Scout Cartagena, Babette Cooijmans, Caoimhe Dalton, Dexter Davis, Nancy Diessner, Deja Echols, Kyle Goen, Donté K. Hayes, Sara Hess, Justine Highsmith & Kalaija Mallery, Mu-Tien Tammy Ho, Lisa Hunt, Musa Kunene, Geneviève L'Heureux, Julie Lapping Rivera, Logan Larsen, Scott Magin, Louise Mandumbwa, Spriha Maurya, Michelle Melo, Diego Morales-Portillo, Diyah Najah, Rod Nelson, Karen Revis, Yelaine Rodriguez, Kristina Rogers, Birgitte Rubæk, Kaitlin Santoro, Jueun Shin, Robbie Sugg, Rhiannon Skye Tafoya, Alex Thompson, and Linda Whitney.

About the Jury
Black Women of Print (BWoP) was founded in October 2018 by Tanekeya Word, a Black woman, visual artist, art educator, scholar and fine art printmaker who resides in Milwaukee, WI. Word was interested in creating an equitable safe place for Black women printmakers who were underrepresented in the discipline of printmaking, a space that is eulogized as democratic. Black Women of Print is an African diaspora centered platform, a digital homeplace for independent, mid-career and established skill level Black women printmakers. The organization serves as a place to support and promote the visibility of Black women printmakers and as a professional directory of Black women printmakers who practice within the field.

The Technologies of Print Symposium: Geographies of Meaning explores the migration of imagination to word to object and the influence of place in historical and contemporary letterpress and bookmaking traditions. Hosted by the San José State University Departments of Art & Art History and English, this symposium provides undergraduates, graduates, and professionals at SJSU and beyond the opportunity to attend a day-long event featuring a series of panels lead by nationally renowned artists, printmakers, book arts librarians, scholars and interdisciplinary designers. Presentations and discussion will focus on the significant impact letterpress and bookmaking technologies have had on the distribution and communication of ideas about culture, place and politics since the time of their invention.

Additionally, two small run books, one poetry collection for SJSU literary periodical Reed Magazine and an artist book made by SJSU printmaking students with Professor Irene Carvajal are being printed and designed in collaboration with The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts printmaking department at Washington University in St. Louis and St. Louis based interdisciplinary design studio WORK/PLAY. These books and the details of their production will be presented as part of the symposium.

Participating speakers include master printer and co-founder of The CODEX Foundation Peter Koch in conversation with H. Rafael Chacón Ph.D. Professor of Art History and Criticism at the University of Montana and Director of the Montana Museum of Art and Culture, Professor Irene Carvajal from San José State University, Assistant Professor of English Kirstyn Leuner from Santa Clara University, UC Berkeley Bancroft Librarian Amelia Grounds, master printer Tom Reed of Washington University in St. Louis, Danielle and Kevin McCoy from the design studio WORK/PLAY, Chelsea Thompto Assistant Professor of Digital Media Arts at San José State University and Artist Carla Torres.

This symposium was organized by Coordinator and Assistant Professor of Pictorial Arts, Shaun O’Dell, with assistance from Lucia Znamirowski and Dr. Katherine D. Harris Professor of English and Comparative Literature at San José State University and with the support of an Artistic Excellence Programming Grant.

Please visit the external link below for more information and to register.

“We regarded ourselves as engineers, we maintained that we were building things…we put our works together like fitters.” So declared the artist Hannah Höch, describing a radically new approach to artmaking in the 1920s and ’30s. Such wholesale reinvention of the role of the artist and the functions of art took place in lockstep with that era’s shifts in industry, technology, and labor, and amid the profound impact of momentous events: World War I, the Russian Revolution, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the rise of fascism. Highlighting figures such as Aleksandr Rodchenko, Lyubov Popova, John Heartfield, and Fré Cohen, Engineer, Agitator, Constructor: The Artist Reinvented demonstrates the ways in which artists reimagined their roles to create a dynamic art for a new world.

These “engineers,” “agitators,” “constructors,” “photomonteurs,” “workers”—all designations adopted by the artists themselves—turned away from traditional forms of painting and sculpture and invented new visual languages. Central among them was photomontage, in which photographs and images from newspapers and magazines were cut, remixed, and pasted together. Working as propagandists, advertisers, publishers, editors, theater designers, and curators, these artists engaged with expanded audiences in novel ways, establishing distinctive infrastructures for presenting and distributing their work.

Engineer, Agitator, Constructor marks a recent transformative addition to MoMA from the Merrill C. Berman Collection, one of the great private collections of political art. Illuminating the essential role of women in avant-garde activities while mapping vital networks across Europe, the exhibition presents the social engagement, fearless experimentation, and utopian aspirations that defined the early 20th century, and how these strategies still reverberate today.