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MAPC Conference Brings Print Making Art to River Campus
(Fine Arts)
Southeast Missouri State University will host the Mid America Print Council conference, “Pressing Prints/Pressing Palms: The Entrepreneurial Printmaker,” Nov. 1-3 at the River Campus.
The public is invited to several events during the conference:
A Vendor’s Fair is planned for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 2-3 in the John and Betty Glenn Convocation Center. Art supply companies will be set up to sell items to the public, including papers, inks, rollers, carving tools, woodblocks, printmaking presses and many other items. Often, these vendors sell items at a special rate when purchased during the conference, according to Kristin Powers Nowlin, Southeast instructor of art and coordinator of the River Campus Art Gallery.
A Publisher’s Fair is planned for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 3 in the Cultural Arts Center Atrium at the River Campus. The fair will feature small businesses from around the country that create original prints showing and selling their work. These printmakers will display a variety of items including letterpress posters and books; screen printed posters and T-shirts; and woodblock prints.
Open Portfolio Sessions are planned for 2:15-5 p.m. Nov. 2 in the Cultural Arts Center Atrium. Nearly 150 professional and student artists attending the conference will display and sell their artwork in three, 45-minute sessions.
“This is an unprecedented opportunity to see what is happening around the country in contemporary printmaking without having to leave Cape Girardeau,” Powers Nowlin said.
First Friday gallery exhibitions and receptions are planned for 4-8 p.m. Nov. 2 at the River Campus and 5-9 p.m. Nov. 2 at other locations. Special printmaking exhibits will be on display at the following locations: River Campus Art Gallery; Rosemary Berkel and Harry L. Crisp II Museum; Robert F. and Gertrude L. Shuck lobby extension at the River Campus; Honors House on the main campus at 603 N. Henderson; Serena Building on the main campus; Black Door Gallery, Arts Council of Southeast Missouri; Cup n Cork; Hutson’s Fine Furniture; and the Cape Girardeau Public Library. For a current list of exhibitions and locations, please visit the conference website: https://sites.google.com/site/pressingprintspressingpalms/exhibitions-portfolios/exhibitions.
The Mid America Print Council is a non-profit, educational organization that promotes awareness and appreciation of the art of making original prints, books, hand-made paper and drawings. It serves as a resource for providing the exchange of technical and critical information on the art of printmaking through biennial conferences, workshops, exhibitions, newsletters and the publication of The Mid America Print Council Journal.
“Printmakers have an extensive and unique history of bringing innovation to the field of fine art through new technologies, inventive approaches, and original images,” Powers Nowlin said. “They also have been an entrepreneurial force in creating small businesses that involve printmaking, such as collaborative print studios, print workshops, print publishers, galleries, letterpress shops and mobile presses.”
“In the spaces that bridge the private act of making art and the public act of running a business, entrepreneurial printmakers can be found both pressing prints and pressing palms,” she said.
The conference also will feature the opening of an exhibit showcasing the work of James D. Butler at 4 p.m. Nov. 1 in the River Campus Art Gallery. A reception for the event is planned for 4-6 p.m. in the gallery with an artist talk from 6-7 p.m. in the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall. The exhibit will remain on display through Nov. 16.
Butler, distinguished professor emeritus at Illinois State University, was selected by MAPC as their 2012 Outstanding Printmaker. He has been an active practicing artist for more than 40 years and works thematically, focusing on subjects that are part of his environment, ranging from interior still life to landscape imagery, and finding beauty in the ordinary.
“James D. Butler was selected by the MAPC nominating committee. It is a fitting selection for our gallery as he has created several bodies of work about various parts of the Mississippi River,” Powers Nowlin said.
Jaune Quick-To-See Smith will be the keynote speaker at the conference at 9 a.m. Nov. 2 in the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall at the River Campus. Quick-To-See’s work along with that of her son and artist Neal Ambrose-Smith will be on display beginning at 4 p.m. Nov. 2 in the Rosemary Berkel and Harry L. Crisp II Museum located in the Cultural Arts Center at Southeast’s River Campus. The exhibit, titled “Tribal Diversity,” presents the works of the mother and son artists who are both deeply connected to their Native American heritage.
Jaune Quick-To-See Smith creates works that address the myths of her ancestors in the context of current issues facing Native Americans, and Neal Ambrose-Smith often mixes tribal imagery and humor with current events and political issues. Both are enrolled Salish, Cree, Shoshone and Métis members from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation in Montana.
In addition, the conference will highlight a printmaking and mixed-media installation, titled “Crystal Wagner: Transition Spaces 12.3,” in the Rosemary Berkel and Harry L. Crisp II Museum. The public is invited to attend an opening reception from 4-8 p.m. Nov. 2.
Through a combination of different processes, including but not limited to screen printing, intaglio etching, relief printmaking, drawing, intricately cut paper, collage, cable ties, paint, Mylar and tar paper, the exhibit takes advantage of the multiple in printmaking in constructing large, intricate, site-specific forms related to a concept.
Wagner is an assistant professor of art at Georgia College and State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Atlanta College of Art and a Master of Fine Arts at The University of Tennessee. Her work has been accepted into several national juried exhibits and has been showcased nationally and internationally.
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