OPENING June 26: What’s Your Mantra

Our first exhibition of the summer, What’s Your Mantra, features the work of Alke Groppel-Wegener, a visiting scholar to MCLA from Staffordshire University in the UK. Using the tradition of mantra cards established at PRESS, Alke collected mantras from PRESS visitors, students, and faculty and set a collection of these in letterpress. Through this project, Alke explored how much the mantras we find for ourselves build the identities of students, faculty, and artists.

OPENING July 31: Nature as Medicine, Nature as Companion

Nature as Medicine, Nature as Companion, features the work of Jae Ok Lee and Erika Radich. Through their work, these two artists examine the symbiotic relationship between humans and nature. Over the course of one year, while fighting illness, Jae Ok created thousands of small clay objects inspired by her garden. Jae Ok states, “The simple act of pinching the forms has been a healing experience that gave me enormous hope for my recovery.” Erika’s monotypes mounted on wood explore color interactions, layers, and variations in depth and space. Erika explains, “The natural world in relationship with humans, and their coevolution as a moving, breathing entity inspires these prints. There is strength in quiet and infinite endurance.”

OPENING August 28: Double Bubble Print Portfolio

This exhibition will feature prints by 18 artists within a 40-mile radius of Troy, NY and a 40-mile radius of Bennington, VT that reflect the theme: Double Bubble. The portfolio and exhibition are the culmination of a six-month print exchange between the artists. Through the exchange of their work, the printers had a conversation about how they are both connected through their practice and separated geographically.The curators Denise Saint-Onge and Sarah Pike explain, “As printmakers living in the upper portion of the northeast, social media offer opportunities to connect with people around the world but can, paradoxically, intensify our awareness of physical remoteness. One of the goals of this portfolio is to use the physical nature of printmaking and the connectivity of technology to bridge relationships between printmakers.”

OPENING September 25: Paper Dresses

The final show of the summer season, is called Paper Dresses, and will examine the tension between freedom and confinement. Twelve artists are prompted to create dresses, some to be worn, some to admire, all made with paper and typography. The dresses will inspire and star in a performance piece. Throughout the summer the artists have been experimenting and creating work at PRESS. Each artist made an edition of origami paper dresses that reflect elements of a larger wearable paper dress made specifically for this exhibit and/or a two dimensional work.