Exhibition: Women’s Work: Contemporary Women Printmakers
From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his family foundation
October 6 – November 12, 2009, I.D.E.A. Space
Wednesday, October 7, 4:30 pm:
Opening Reception and Salon Conversation with Tomi-Ann Roberts, Professor of Psychology and Director of Feminist & Gender Studies at Colorado College, and Elissa Auther, Associate Professor of Art History at UCCS
Featuring a broad range of prints by some of the foremost contemporary women printmakers at work in the United States, Africa, Europe, and Asia, this comprehensive exhibition calls attention to the innovative breadth of themes and variety of printmaking approaches taken by women artists since the early 1970’s.
Artists featured include Anni Albers, Louise Bourgeois, Squeak Carnwaith, Helen Frankenthaler, Fay Jones, Barbara Krueger, Wangechi Mutu, Kiki Smith, and Kara Walker. A number of themes are explored in the exhibition, including the overlapping issues of gender, the body, and personal fantasies, as well as recent themes of identity, politics, and the environment. Often laced with humor and a sense of playfulness, the works in the exhibition share a personal vision deeply integrated with references to larger historical themes and conceptual motifs. At the same time, the works demonstrate a wide variety of traditional as well as contemporary printmaking techniques, from woodcut to etching to offset lithography and digital prints.
This exhibition was organized by John Olbrantz, the Maribeth Collins Director of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University, and Terri Hopkins, Director and Curator at the Art Gym at Marylhurst University. Support for the exhibition and related outreach programs is made possible by a grant from the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. The exhibition at Colorado College is supported by the Robert & Ruby Priddy Charitable Trust and the Colorado College Art Department.
“Women’s Work” is a deliberate double-entendre title for the exhibit of prints by women now on view at the I.D.E.A. Space at the Cornerstone Arts Center. In the unenlightened days before feminism, the phrase conjured up visions of aprons and pearls. This exhibit adjusts that view so that it instead evokes women using their artistic talents and tools to communicate their concerns and joys.
Limiting the exhibit to female artists does not sacrifice the quality of the work, but it does serve to distill and clarify the thoughts women have about the world and their place in it.