January 6, 7pm
This is a dynamic program about printmaking exchange portfolios and an opportunity to learn about five contemporary approaches to this unique form. This symposium-style event seeks to draw out and amplify the practice of the printmaking portfolio, underscoring its function as a means for creating cultural exchange, artistic support networks, and innovation in printmaking. There will be five short illustrated presentations, each discussing a portfolio or portfolio project, its concept and structure, and its contribution to the printmaking community. Speakers include:
Karen Kunc, Constellation Studios
Rajesh Pullarwar, International Print Exchange Programme, India
Gregory Santos, Mixed Grit
Mizin Shin, Mirabo Press
Tanekeya Word, Black Women of Print (BWoP)
Make One, Take One is presented along with the exhibition A Voice to a Voice. It is sponsored by The Print Club of Rochester, Mirabo Press, and 'A Voice to a Voice' artist Nick Ruth.
About the Artists
Karen Kunc was born in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. She received her BFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1975, and her MFA from Ohio State University in 1977. She is Professor Emeritus of Art at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln where she has taught from 1983-2020. Her works have been shown in exhibitions nationally and internationally: The National Academy Museum, NY; Sheldon Museum of Art; Davidson Galleries, Seattle; Krakow Print Triennial, Poland; Excellence, Chamalieries, France; Invisible Cities, Ca’ Zenobio, Venice, Italy; Galerija Art 55, Nis, Serbia; Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minneapolis; ARTag Gallery, Helsinki, Finland. Her prints and artists books are in numerous public collections: Museum of Modern Art, NY; the Library of Congress; New York Public Library; Stanford University; Milwaukee Art Museum; Haas Arts Library Yale University; Jyväskylä Art Museum, Finland; Huntington Museum, WV; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC; Zimmerlie Art Museum Rutgers University; Cleveland Museum of Art; Honolulu Museum of Art; Joslyn Art Museum. She has taught workshops around the world, in Egypt, Italy, Finland, Poland, Japan, France, Mexico, Iceland, Bangladesh, Spain; and she has lectured as a visiting artist to over 200 institutions, including: University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, University of Tennessee, University of Georgia, Cornell University, American University Cairo, Academy of Art Helsinki Finland, University of Virginia, Kyoto Seika University Japan. She has served as juror of selection for national competitions, and has organized and curated exhibitions of prints that have traveled to France, Egypt, Czech Republic, Finland, Italy and Bangladesh. She is the director/owner of Constellation Studios, Lincoln, Nebraska, a creative work-site for print, paper, and book, inviting artists for residencies, workshops, exhibitions, print publishing and project collaborations.
Rajesh Pullarwar (b. 1974 in Nagpur, India) is an artist-printmaker and curator, and equally at ease with paint and mixed-media. He completed BFA (Drawing & Painting) and MFA (Printmaking) in first class from Sir J. J. School of Art, Mumbai in 2000 and 2002 respectively and was awarded the ‘Most Promising Artist of the Year’ in 2005 by National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai. As founder and director of International Print Exchange Programme (IPEP), India, he attempts to bring together artists, curators and writers at various stages of their careers on an equal aesthetic footing, irrespective of their works’ commercial value.
Gregory Santos (b. 1979, New York) is an abstract artist and professional printer specializing in lithography and screen printing. His art is an exploration of elemental, emotional, societal, intimate, and physical relationships. Gregory is currently the Printmaking Director at Art Gym Denver and served as the Chair of Mo'Print from 2016-2020. He created the Mixed Grit print trade in 2019 and through this unique project he is printing stone lithographs for artists across the country. He completed the Printer Training Program at the Tamarind Institute and holds an MA from New York University as well as a BFA in printmaking from Syracuse University.
Mizin Shin was born and raised in South Korea. She graduated from Hong-ik University with a B.F.A in Printmaking and received her M.F.A from SUNY at Buffalo. She is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Art & Art History at the University of Rochester. Shin's work has been shown regionally and nationally at institutions across the United States. She was awarded the 2017 Graduate Student Fellowship from Southern Graphics Council International, as well as the juror's award at Brand 45 Works on Paper. Leading numerous printmaking workshops with a number of art organizations, Shin focuses on both traditional and contemporary printmaking practices to promote a multidisciplinary approach to the medium. Mizin Shin is a co-founder of Mirabo Press in Buffalo, NY and vice president of the Print Club of Rochester.
Tanekeya Word was born in the Mississippi Delta and those memories are rooted within her praxis. She earned a BA in English and Afro-American Studies, 2006, from Howard University and studied Painting under James Phillips of AfriCOBRA. Word has a MA in Arts Management, 2011, with a concentration in Visual Arts and Development from American University. Tanekeya completed her doctoral program courses in May 2019 and is currently an Urban Education PhD dissertator with a specialization in Critical Race Theory in Art Education. A womanist, her work heavily focuses on Black geographies/Black Women Geographies. Word’s practice samples the past, remixes the present, and re-imagines the future of Blackness through the lens of Black girlhood and womanhood. Tanekeya Word is based in Milwaukee, WI and is the founder of Black Women of Print and the owner and sole operator of Womanist Press Studio.