Call for Proposals - Panels

"Is Printmaking Going Green?"

Chair: Friedhard Kiekeben

Panelists: Keith howard, Susan Groce, Henrik Boegh, Indrani Gall

This panel will present and discuss recent research into alternatives to traditional printmaking methods, by a number of key innovaters in the field.

The need for change in the field of printmaking is compelling: scientific studies confirm the toxicity of many of the solvents, acids and other materials that are found in the traditional print shop. New safer methodologies have emerged over the past 25 years which are now widely used, both in education and in independent print studios. These are documented in many recent books and on various web sites.

"Canadian/ American Printmaking: Cross Fertilization or Cultural Imperialism"

Chair: Edward Bernstein

Panelists: Walter Jule, William Pura, Mark Bovey, Guy Langevin

This panel will examine Canadian contemporary printmaking and the question of cross-fertilization or American cultural imperialism between our two cultures. How has each panelists' culture influenced their own work as practicing artists both visually and technically from the perspectives of working and teaching in region w:st="on"Canada. Have American ideas been a smothering burden on the development of a Canadian voice in printmaking or is region w:st="on">Canada beginning to show a unique role.

"Printmaking with Extreme Technology"

Chair: Erik Brunvand

Panelists: Stephen Hoskins, Edward Bateman

Printmaking is an art form that celebrates and embraces new technology in a way that other media do not. This panel gathers an international group of artists that are using extreme technology to make works that can only be called prints, but that are far removed from traditional printmaking techniques. These techniques include printing on silicon chips with image sizes measured in micrometers (millionths of meters), prints that include LEDs and other electrical components, 3d-printing where the result is a solid object, and the use of 3d computer modeling tools to create virtual worlds that are then printed digitally.

"Printmaking as a Grass-Roots Form of International Cooperation"

Chair: Boston Printmakers, C. David Thomas

Panelists: Renee Covalucci, Liza Folman, Wayne Miyamoto, Le Huy Tiep

Printmakers who have organized trips to and collaborations with China and Vietnam will offer tips on making contacts in the host countries, locating venues for exhibitions, contacting schools and other organizations interested in the exchange, setting up the key contacts, making the most of the opportunities the trips offered,and continuing the relationships after the trip.  We hope that one of the Vietnamese Printers, Le Huy Tiep, will also be able to join the panel, giving his perspective as a host.

"From Shower Stalls to Gallery Walls and Back: a Screenprinting"

Chair: Hester Stinnett

Panelists: Shelley Langdale, John Caperton, Virgil Marti, Caitlin Perkins

Curators Shelley Langdale and John Caperton will trace the media's development from its commercial mass production origins and its depression-era struggle for artistic legitimacy, through the peak of artistic production in '60s-'70s Pop Art and protest culture, to its use by today's networks of and artist collectives who use the streets for art and activism. We will hear from artists Virgil Marti and Caitlin Perkins, who use the ability to screenprint on almost any surface as an important part of their cross-disciplinary studio practice. They will discuss their own work and their involvement in collaborative projects at the Fabric Workshop and at Space 1026 respectively.

"International Cultural Exchanges: Going East; China, the New Frontier"

Chair: Waverly Weiqun Liu

Panelists: Brian Shure, Li Jianshen, Brian Linden, Cathan Brown

The panel will allow each participant to introduce their ongoing cultural exchange projects and provide much information for interested artists and printmakers. We will explore the obstacles for exchanges and collaborations between different cultures and languages. In particular, we will focus on the different ways of doing business, thoughts on art, and communication styles in the printmaking and art world beyond. Each panelist will share

their experiences, including the frustration, conflict, government policies and logistics they have to deal with in order to set up a cultural program, whether as an unknown outsider, or a native who familiar with the system. They will also share their stories of success, how they leap over the hurdles and negotiate and navigate their way through almost impossible or despairing circumstances. Last but not least, they will address how the medium of printmaking has enabled artists to engage in a conversation never possible before, since it helps them leap over cultural and language barriers, transcend different thinking systems and beliefs, and achieve the goal of mutual understanding and stimulation.

"Prints in the Present Tense: Collaboration Across Cultures"

Chair: Vanessa Vobis

Panelists: Craig Dietrich, Anita Jung, Melanie Yazzie

As new mediums emerge, printmaking often contends with its identity: what does "printmaking" mean when video cameras, audio devices, and printers continually take recordings and create duplicates? This panel suggests that printmaking's meaning includes new notions of cross-cultural collaboration, communication, new ideas around tools, and demonstrative ideas. Discussion will include current collaborative projects of the panel participants, research in new and alternative technologies that promote collaboration and more points of entry for diverse communities. In this context, printmaking engages in conversations surrounding globalization, the languages of print and digital distribution, and the ways artists work.

"Migratory Adaptations, Mingling Cultures, Nostalgic Hearts"

Chair: Shaurya Kumar

Panelists: Koichi Yamamoto, Justin Diggle, May Hariri Aboutaam

The panel "Migratory Adaptations: Mingling Cultures, Nostalgic Hearts", would address the impact of globalization and dissolving boundaries, the perceived opportunities and threats in front of contemporary generation of artists. It would bring together individuals who have in the past few years migrated to the west and are now working as artists and educators in the region w:st="on">US. While each panelist, coming from different countries bring with them their history and culture. They voluntarily or involuntarily adapt and get influenced by the foreign land & philosophy. The panelists would share their own experiences, discuss the artistic and personal adaptations made by each of them, and how migration has influenced their work as an artist, educator and a person.

"Performance Prints: Taking it to the Street and Stage"

Chair: Le Green-Schubert

Panelists: TBA

Panelists who have been instrumental in creating and presenting printmaking performances such as steamroller prints, performances combining print and dance and public street printing will share their experiences.  Each participant will present their project for public performance art events that incorporate the actions of hand printmaking into the event. Panelists will describe the motivation for creating each performance event, logistics, and audience response.

"Printmaking and Papermaking in India"

Chair: Professor Catherine Bebout

Panelists: Kavita Shah, Hanuman Kambli

"Disturbed Places, International Project"

Chair: Alicia Candiani

Panelists: (not definite) Bodo Korsig, Celia Sredni de Birbragher, Andrezej Bednarczyk, Lourdes Ramos, Malcolm Christian

This panel will ask panelists to deliver papers that may be spesifuc or may provide a comparitive perspective on three interrelated themes that appear to be particulary valuable for analyses: 

1. Printmaking and the Crisis of Categories:  Many cultural artifacts now compete to eb included in the category of "contemporary art" and old categories (like traditional prints) are beginning to take a part of it.  How has printmaking been transformed in order to get over this crisis of category?

2. Printmakin and the International Art Biennials:  The Art Biennial and the emergence of international criteria for the arts; impact of the print biennials on local culture and host cities, the rold of Biennial curators and Art/Print Biennial as a space for legitimization.  Art Biennnial and Print Biennials in the international circuit.

3. Printmaking and Networks: What are some of the consequences of the circulation of people and ideas on established and new (trans-)national relations, artists' lives, and the development of arts?  how are artists/printmakers networks established and how do they relate to other networks?  Prints travelling as printed matter and the facility to raise places and people.  

"The Green Print Shop - a model for the 21st century"

Panel Chair: Liz Chalfin

Panelists: Ray Meseman, Curtis Wright, Morgan Calderini

This panel will present four different 'green' print studios as models for environmentally friendly, health conscious printmaking environments outside of the academic setting. Each studio will do a brief overview of their facilities, philosophies, community and offerings followed by a discussion of how to set up a 'green' studio, why we should, the obstacles we face and the amazing pay-offs. The studios represented are models of both profit and not-for-profit entities, community based anbd private. They are: Zea Mays Printmaking, Florence, MA, Neew Grounds Print Shop, Albuquerque, NM, Anniversary Year Press, San Pedro, CA, and A220, Providence, RI.