Critical Mass: Printmaking Beyond the Edge is published

Joscelyn Gardner's lithographs have been included in this exciting new book by Richard Noyce which showcases the work of a very diverse selection of 52 artists from 28 countries, against a spectrum of the concerns that inform the role and function of art in the increasingly technological global society. The mediums used by these artists range from new variations on traditional intaglio and relief techniques, to extreme forms of digital techniques, including time-based forms such as film and multi-media presentation. This book provides a broad-ranging and challenging source of information on the most exciting cutting edge developments in international printmaking, which will be of value to students, professional artists and all those with an interest in the contemporary visual arts.

Richard Noyce is well known in the contemporary art world. He writes and speaks regularly on the visual arts and, in addition to many reviews and articles published in British and European magazines, he has written books on contemporary painting, graphic arts, and printmaking - in the form of the highly successful Printmaking at the Edge (A&C Black, 2006). He was awarded the 1996 AAASS/Orbis Polish Book Prize and is an experienced international competition juror, serving as President of the Awards Jury at the Krakow International Print Triennial, 2003-2009.

Text adapted from http://berkelouw.com.au/catalogue/books/9781408109397/critical-mass-printmaking-beyond-the-edge

Canadian Experimental Printmakers show in Poland

Jill Ho-You - Rapture, 2008; etching, mixed media

"BEYOND PRINTMAKING: Images in Objects Experimental Printmaking in Western Canada"
was presented recently in association with the International Print Triennale Kraków-Poznań 2009. The exhibition offered a snapshot view of various artistic trends in studio and experimental printmaking in both Alberta and Western Canada through the work of 8 experimental print artists: Karen Dugas, Marjan Eggermont, Alexandra Haeseker, Liz Ingram, Davida Kidd, William Laing, Ewa Tarsia, and Jill Ho-You. This group of contemporary Canadian artists relies less on the technical guidelines of the printmaking process. They instead focus more on the message in their work, or on art as an object. "Beyond Printmaking" offers a wide panorama of philosophical, stylistic, conceptual, and formalistic directions of printmaking, with various approaches to the materials and techniques used, including new digital technologies. Technically, all of the works in this exhibition are "prints", although not in the traditional sense. Instead, each artist has implemented some aspect of traditional printmaking process but has moved beyond these boundaries to create elaborate, labour-intensive, stratified images which engage the viewer's interest and emotions. Most importantly, the eight Western artists in this exhibition dared to challenge the traditional understanding and function of print art, thus elevating contemporary printmaking of this region to national and international prominence.

See the website below for the full press release and images.

http://mtg.triennial.cracow.pl/en/accompanying_exhibitions/showNewsItem/100/

Open Studio in Toronto has announced its call for papers for Printopolis.

Information on this symposium can be found at: www.openstudio.on.ca/printopolis.html

Rockstone and Bootheel at Real Art Ways

Rockstone and Bootheel: Contemporary West Indian Art has opened at Real Art Ways in Hartford, Conneticut, and will be showing until March 14, 2010. The exhibition's website states: "Curators Kristina Newman-Scott and Yona Backer have selected some of the most challenging work by new artists from the Anglophone Caribbean and diaspora for this unconventional exhibition. Discarding more formal, traditional ways of presenting group exhibitions, Rockstone and Bootheel is evocative of a high-energy “mash-up".” Lithographs from Joscelyn Gardner's "bringing down the flowers..." suite are on display there. A series of emags are being published and can be accessed on the website www.realartways.org/visualarts.htm

Lithographs on display in Washington

Joscelyn Gardner's suite of stone lithographs, Creole Portraits II (2007), is currently on display at the IDB Cultural Center in Washington DC as part of an exhibition entitled Being Elsewhere (Canada). The exhibition features the work of seven artists born in Latin America and the Caribbean who have emigrated to Canada. A catalogue can be found at the following link:

Cultural Center Exhibition: Being Elsewhere (Canada) - IDB

Michelle McGeean pursues MFA

Congratulations to Fanshawe College 2007 grad, Michelle McGeean, who has recently entered the MFA program at the University of Western Ontario. Michelle's three-dimensional silkscreen and relief print installations, which range in scale from the minute to life-size environments, continue to explore ideas around architecture and often relate to the space in which they are sited. She completed her BFA at the University of Lethbridge in 2008.

Belkis Ayon's Prints Exhibited in Havana

An extensive show of the works of Cuban printmaker, Belkis Ayon, is currently being exhibited in Havana. Ten years ago this artist took her own life at the age of 32. Her work explored afrocuban religious beliefs and led to her research into the mysterious all-male secret society of Abacua. Using materials readily to hand around her, she prepared collagraphs that powerfully played on this religion from a feminist perspective. An article with images from the work of this contemporary Cuban artists is viewable at:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113846410&sc=emaf