Carol Todaro, who teaches the book arts classes at NWSA and shares the printshop area with me proposed a book, print and drawing show some many months ago. She invited me to help organize it, along with two other instructors, Aramis O’Reilly and Carlos Gallostra. For months now we’ve been setting student work aside (mentally, if not physically) for the show, and I’m very happy to say that the show, Bey(on)d Paper, will open tomorrow night, April 14, from 6 – 9 PM at the New World Gallery, 25 NE 2nd ST, Downtown Miami.
The works are diverse in technique, and a good number of students are in the show (I’ll update with a list later today). There are drawings made with a drill, color viscosity intaglio prints, screenprinting, monotypes, aquatints, prints which were made using fake hair, projected drawings, sculptural drawings on wood made using paint swatches, drawings made in the style of ink-blots, but with blood, sewn multi-part print structures and many, many artists books.
It has been very interesting to see the relationships between works made in the printshop (books and prints) and the drawings/experimental drawings (made in the 4th floor studios and/or the off-campus Wynwood studios at ArtSeen). Sometimes the printshop feels like a perfect bubble. Okay, less perfect when some of the equipment grows legs and takes a (hopefully) temporary walk out of the shop. The printshop is a nice working space, with lots of table space, its own darkroom, and various pieces of equipment; if one is so inclined, it can be easy to spend an entire day there, with work spread out, alternately working and thinking. It also has windows, which: huzzah! What it means for me as an instructor is that I rarely get to see the non-print or book work produced by students in my classes. Their other work is either not in the building, or happening on another floor, one I infrequently visit given the numerous tasks which are always present in the printshop for me to attend to.
This show reveals connections between the media, some ephemeral link between works which involve the hand, the mark, physical process. It feels in many cases, like students own thoughts are more obvious in these works, perhaps refined because of the direct involvement drawing and bookmaking brings, or perhaps because of the simultaneous remove and dedication necessary in most print processes. In any case, the works in the show are strong and lyrical, and hold well together.
I’m excited for this show, and will update with photos in a day or so.
