The Manhattan Graphics Center (MGC) in New York announces its first juried competition and exhibition devoted to small prints (no larger than 9 square inches or 58 square centimeters). The exhibition will take place from 1 November–18 December 2015 at their printmaking studio in New York with an opening reception during Print Week in New York. All entries must be postmarked by 1 September 2015. For more information, please click here.

To encourage and enrich international partnerships and to deepen research and dialogue, for the next two years the Terra Foundation will offer grants for US curators working on historical American art topics to travel outside the United States. Grants may be used to seek curatorial and/or institutional partners and venues; conduct research in public and private art collections, archives, and libraries; and meet with specialists based outside the United States. The foundation will continue to offer Curatorial Travel Grants for travel to the United States, as well as Pre-Exhibition Convening Grants.

The first application deadline is September 15, 2015. More

REMINDER: Upcoming Exhibition Grant Deadline
The next Letter of Inquiry deadline for Exhibition Grants is August 1, 2015.

Contact:
Dr. Carrie Haslett, Program Director, Exhibitions and Academic Grants, haslett@terraamericanart.org

The Ephemera Society of America invites applications for the Philip Jones Fellowship for the Study of Ephemera.

This competition, now in its eighth year, is open to any interested individual or organization for the study of any aspect of ephemera, defined as minor (and sometimes major) everyday documents intended for one-time or short-term use. It is expected that this study will advance one or more aims of the Society:

To cultivate and encourage interest in ephemera and the history identified with it
To further the understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of ephemera by people of all ages, backgrounds, and levels of interest
To promote the personal and institutional collection, preservation, exhibition, and research of ephemeral materials
To serve as a link among collectors, dealers, institutions, and scholars
To contribute to the cultural life of those who have an interest in our heritage as a nation or a people, both nationally and internationally

International Print Center New York (IPCNY), founded in 2000, is the only non-profit membership institution devoted solely to the exhibition and understanding of fine art prints. After 15 years of leading the Center to its prominent position in the printmaking community, the founding director, Anne Coffin, is stepping down. The Board of Directors is seeking a dynamic and creative leader with strong connections and commitment to printmaking and significant experience managing a small not-for-profit arts organization.

IPCNY supports the work of both the prominent and the unknown. Several exhibitions a year are curated by distinguished members of the art community, often featuring printmaking in earlier periods or non-western or non traditional printmaking. Three juried exhibitions a year are devoted to new prints. IPCNY has strong educational programming for all ages and its Study Center teaches the craft and art of printmaking. The website is a valuable international resource.

IPCNY operates with a budget of $500,000, a full-time staff of four and a devoted 26 person Board of Directors.

The new Director will combine managerial savvy and artistic perception. Seven years of experience at a non-profit visual arts institution is desirable. An advanced degree in a relevant field is preferred. The full position description is at www.opportunityresources.net under “Active Clients.” More information about IPCNY is at www.ipcny.org.

Address all inquiries and recommendations
in confidence to executive search team (e-mail preferred)
Freda Mindlin or Nancy Kaufman
Opportunity Resources Inc.
New York, NY 10021
search@opportunityresources.net

The Association of Print Scholars (APS) is pleased to announce a symposium to support new critical ideas and research about printmaking. The event will occur on November 7, 2015 at Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY) during Print Week in New York, which includes major events such as the IFPDA Print Fair, the E/AB Fair and more. We invite two types of proposals:

- 20-minute papers for a scholarly panel that respond to the CFP (see below) entitled “Method, Material and Meaning: Technical Art History and the Study of Prints”
- 5-minute presentations for the Graduate Student Lightning Round. Proposed papers should come from current graduate students at the dissertation stage.

Interested participants are invited to submit an abstract of no more than 500 words along with a CV or brief biographical statement by August 15 to symposium@printscholars.org. Please indicate in the subject line which type of paper (scholarly session or lightning round) you are proposing and apply to only one session type. Non-members may submit abstracts, but presenters must be APS members by the time of the symposium.

Method, Material, and Meaning: Technical Art History and the Study of Prints

Technical art history, an interdisciplinary methodology with growing popularity among scholars, curators, and conservators, draws connections between an object’s making and its interpretation. The application of technical art history to the study of prints is particularly fruitful as printmakers often draw upon diverse and complex techniques in order to generate imagery. From the sixteenth-century engravings of Hendrik Goltzius, who skillfully imitated other media, to the prints of contemporary artist Kiki Smith, who produces fleshy bodies on thin, skin-like Gampi paper, printmakers throughout history have engaged a variety of processes and materials in order to elicit particular ideas, emotions, or interactions. The selection of technique, matrix, ink, varnish or support may have a profound effect on the final product and its meaning.

This conference seeks to investigate the relationship between specific technical choices made by printmakers, printers, or publishers in order to rethink more broadly the relationship between process, material and meaning in the graphic arts. We seek papers that focus on a wide range of chronological periods and geographic locations in order to highlight overarching methodological issues.

Questions to consider:
- How can technical analysis aid in understanding artists’ strategic decisions, including their use of printmaking within a larger multimedia practice?
- What can conservation science tell us about the life and contemporary importance of a print?
- How has print scholarship grown beyond connoisseurship, towards a more holistic account of engagement with the viewer?
- How does the transfer of information from the matrix to the receiving surface affect the resulting imagery and its significance?

The symposium is supported with a grant from the IFPDA Foundation.

International Conference on Urban History, 'Reinterpreting Cities' - European Association for Urban History, Helsinki, Finland, August 24 - 27, 2016

Satire and the City: Representations of Cities and Urban Life in the Comical Press (18th – 20th centuries)

The recent attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo tragically brought the satirical press and its agency to the forefront of the political debate. Comical newspapers have long played an important role in commenting and testing cultural and socio-political practices. While caricature and satirical print culture date back to the Enlightenment, it was in the nineteenth century when it became an urban phenomenon and an object of mass consumption due to the advances in reproduction techniques. Across European and Western cities the comical press became a dominant form of popular culture and was, ultimately, an antecedent to twentieth-century forms of entertainment and socio-political critique like comics and cartoons.

While scholarship has focused on print culture’s relation to social satire and class, or the stylistics of caricature, the relation between comical journals and the city have received less attention. As examined in the volume “Rire en Ville, Rire de la ville” (Histoire Urbaine, n° 28, 2011) humor sheds light on how urban identities and modernization were negotiated in everyday life. Thus, we propose a more nuanced look at the subject of satire and the city through its most far-reaching, popular, and metropolitan vehicle: the comical press. Not only were comical periodicals an essentially urban phenomenon on account of their methods of distribution and places of production, but also in what relates to its central subject matter, the vicissitudes of urban life.

This session will explore how the caricatures reproduced in the comical press articulated ideas of urbanity, place and lived experience, and changing socio-spatial relations in modern cities throughout the eighteen to the twentieth centuries. The purpose of this session is to examine the satirical press and its ability to comment, shape and test cultural boundaries, social conventions and power relations. We welcome interdisciplinary approaches that explore images of street scenes and city dwellers; the presence of women in public space; issues of class, urban leisure and consumption; the critique of urban projects; everyday practices like strolling and window-shopping or other significant themes of urban reality. Papers may also look at representations of place and the articulation of cultural memory through humor, such as the reworking of urban archetypes and customs or the treatment of places of memory that were bound to urban identity. We welcome both specific and comparative studies that establish connections between cities and the visual tropes used to express concerns regarding urban life.

Session organizers: Paulo Jorge Fernandes, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal; Vanesa Rodríguez-Galindo, UNED, Madrid

Deadline paper proposals: October 31, 2015.
Notification of paper acceptance: December 15, 2015

Abstracts of paper proposals should not exceed 300 words. To submit a paper proposal, registration in the conference management system is required: https://www.conftool.pro/eauh2016/. The authors of the accepted paper proposals will be invited to submit the full text (max. 5000 words) to the conference management system by August 15, 2016. Paper proposals and full texts can only by submitted online, via the EAUH2016 website: https://eauh2016.net/programme/call-for-papers/.

The Grolier Club of New York, America’s oldest and largest society for bibliophiles and enthusiasts in the graphic arts, is seeking an employee to assist on a part-time basis in the administration of its program of exhibitions and installation of exhibition materials.

Responsibilities include: maintaining and updating contact lists for exhibition visitors, data entry of loan information into electronic collections management system, generating exhibition loan paperwork, performing weekly checks of environmental monitoring equipment and generating reports, organizing loan and supply storage areas, and assisting with installation and dismantling of exhibitions.

The ideal candidate has completed at least two semesters of coursework toward an MLS from an ALA-accredited library school, an MA in Museum Studies, or the equivalent. Familiarity with basic preservation and conservation standards for library and museum collections is required, as is proficiency in basic Microsoft Office applications. Candidates must be able to: work in conditions where dust is frequently encountered; climb ladders; lift boxes weighing up to 30 lbs; push and pull loaded carts and other equipment and materials; and work for prolonged periods in standing, bending, and stooping positions. The successful candidate will possess some level of demonstrable hand skills, as well as experience working with rare and valuable materials in a museum or library setting. Attention to detail and excellent organizational and communication skills are also a must. Familiarity with EmbARK or other electronic collections management systems preferred.

Compensation: $20/hour

PLEASE NOTE: Schedule is approximately 15-20 hours/week, but the weekly hours available for this position are variable and will be determined by the evolving needs of the Club in conjunction with the employee’s schedule. More hours may be required during periods of exhibition installation. Candidates willing to work within these restrictions are encouraged to email a cover letter, resume and two references to the attention of Jennifer K. Sheehan, Exhibitions Manager, at jsheehan@grolierclub.org.

4 weeks: Critics, artists and theoreticians can reside at the centre to write a critical text on a print related topic. The essay can relate to one or several resident artists, to an exhibition on graphic media, or to research about the graphic medium.

8 weeks: This residency is aimed at the research of the graphic medium. The wide range of printing techniques available at the centre provides the opportunity to study technical aspects, innovative processes and graphic visual elements. The result of the research will be published in the PRINT LAB on the centre's website.

4 to 6 weeks
During the general residency programma, the artist or graphic designer realizes a print project that matches his or her personal oeuvre. No prior knowledge of the graphic medium is required, but residents are expected to work on their own. Two staff members are available for techical advice or help.

In 2016 general/research/essay residencies can only take place in January, February, September, October, November en December!