If you’ve been to PRESS in the past month or so, you’ve seen a selection of work by student’s from PRESS Chief’s Introduction to Printmaking class from from the Fall 2014 semester. The assignment? Create a larger work of art that utilizes the repetition of the print as a main component of the piece–keeping in mind how the work will be installed within the PRESS Gallery space.
If you haven’t seen it yet, please stop by. It will be on view through the end of February. We will be operating with limited hours through January. Best to shoot us an email at letterpress105@gmail.com to make sure we are there if you plan to visit!
Here’s a little more information about each piece:
Angela Digennaro: Object heads appeal to me because of the anonymity of their lack of faces. I can’t stand being looked at or stared at in public places so it’s very appealing, the lack of eyes. The prints are made using a reduction cut with black and gray ink. I wanted to make something people can physically interact with and be able to touch and move the parts around. Maybe inspire them to make their own little characters, just draw things and put bodies on them, give them names and little personalities.
Jonas McCaffery: Inspired by a National Geographic article that examines the reputation of the infamous Roman emperor Nero, A Secret History is a journey into the creation of the past. Using letterpress techniques, I’ve layered Russian inspired graphics on top of a recreation of a bust of the notorious fiddler, which are printed on historical text pages. The representation of Roman antiquity and modern Russian aesthetics are used to showcase changes in art history and highlight tyranny, resistance and social justice. The prints are displayed in a maze like structure to convey a journey. Each page is connected to the next, but the connection are fragile. There are moments when the graphics may combine to form strong relations, but then then the form disappoints the viewer, emphasizing changing views and manipulation of past narratives.
Ryan Walters: The History of Facial Hair or The Forgotten Symbol of White Supremacy was largely inspired by this article published January 20, 2014 in the Atlantic Monthly.
Ashley Welch: Faith is imperfect, much like us. Composed of choices, each individually, unified into a comprehension of the bigger picture. Each part, like that of a mustard seed, singularly enough. Together, seen by all who look.
Isaac Wood: Stay a While was inspired by the hectic and looks to counter act the idea that we as humans always need to be doing something. It asks you the viewer to slow down, recall old memories and enjoy where you are in the moment. Using a printmaking technique called pressure printing and the Vandercook Press, I created a final total of 876 snowflake inspired prints for this installation.
As a whole the installation focuses on viewers favorite memories of winter and asks them interact with the prints by writing their memory on the back of a print then add it to the display. This is done to get people thinking about some of their best winters, and to return to the main point of slowing down, I hope that the viewers add their memory and then explore the memories in the window.
The most important thing taken from this exhibit is that, no one thinks about what has to be done in a week, in the next day, or even hour. The most important thing to focus on is that you are here now.
Zhongying “Joey” Zhu: These masks come from the same person’s face but show different emotions of her. Nowadays, people have to act more roles than before since the society become more and more complex. And when people act different roles, they may have different feelings in their heart. Like people feel excited when join a party, feel peaceful when have a vocation, become a robot when they have a lot work… These masks reflect people’s emotions when they are in different environments and enlarge these emotions. And putting on a mask is also a kind of camouflage when people do not want to show their true feeling to others. While these masks show people’s true feelings but not hid them in their heart.
The purpose I made these multiple printings is to show people we all have many different masks in our life and we still have a mask on our face now. Although we have many masks, they still come from the same person, yourself. So don’t forget what truly you are though you have to show different sides to others in such a modern society.
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