Department of Art & Art History
Amount Awarded: $2,500
Awarded for 2019-20
Title: Transposing Attitudes. 5th Rocky Mountain Printmaking Symposium
The proposal is for the “5th Rocky Mountain Printmaking Alliance Symposium” (RMPA) to be held 9th to 11th Oct 2019 in the Art & Art History Dept. The theme “Transposing Attitudes” draws attention to contemporary issues and the role Printmaking can play in responding to particular topics. Students will be exposed to varied artistic approaches, speakers, discussions, demonstrations and exhibitions. Students will work on a project with a visiting artist before/after the Symposium.
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Symposium Theme: Contemporary printmaking crosses many boundaries as it seeks to transform and realize a multitude of ideas. This symposium seeks to create a dialogue on the transformative nature of contemporary approaches to printmaking; through the exploration of new techniques, innovative directions and concepts, or the creation of new avenues of dissemination.
For complete details on all events and bios of presenters please go to the Symposium website: https://www.art.utah.edu/studio-art-areas/printmaking/transposing-attitudes-the-5th-rocky-mountain-printmaking-alliance-symposium/
Our Dee Grant proposal was for funding to bring in two keynote speakers for the symposium. These were Shaye Remba, Director of Mixografia Workshop (https://mixografia.com/) and Amy Irvine, author of Desert Cabal )https://www.amyirvine.com/).
We believe that funding from the Council of Dee Fellows for these two extraordinary speakers allowed us to succeed in the aims of this symposium: to bring students, artists and educators from the Greater Mountain West together and to facilitate the exchange of ideas, and in particular to give University of Utah students access to a broad range of artists and their approaches. Both of the speakers gave insights into their work, were accessible to attendees and students after their talks, and also came to many of the other symposium events. The Keynotes were free and open to the public.
Shaye Remba is the Director of the Mixografia Workshop in Los Angeles, CA. Mixografia is somewhat unique in that it has developed techniques for creating 3 dimensional prints out of cast paper processes. As the Mixografia® printing technique has developed and evolved, it has been able to produce increasingly complex works of art that have come to redefine the category of “print.” The versatility of the Mixografia® prints allows artists greater conceptual possibilities, greater creative freedom and possibility. Because of the quality and adaptability of the processes, the artist’s ideas are not constrained in the way they would be while working with a strictly two-dimensional medium. Artists have the potential to think in an entirely innovative way with the option to render materials on a print on paper. Mixografia has produced over 600 unique editions by 89 artists and has exhibited pieces at institutions around the world including Staadliche Kunsthalle, Berlin; Instituto de Arte Contemporáneo, Lima; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City; Georgia Museum of Art, Athens and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Amy Irvine. “Amy Irvine is a sixth-generation Utahan and long-time public lands activist. Her work has been published in Orion, Pacific Standard, High Desert Journal, Climbing, Triquarterly, and other publications. Her memoir, Trespass: Living at the Edge of the Promised Land, received the Orion Book Award, the Ellen Meloy Desert Writers Award, and Colorado Book Award. Her essay “Spectral Light,” was a finalist for the Pen Award in Journalism, and her recent essay, “Conflagrations: Motherhood, Madness and a Planet on Fire,” appeared among the 2017 Best American Essays list of Notables. Irvine teaches in the Mountainview Low-Residency MFA Program of Southern New Hampshire University, in the White Mountains of New England. She lives and writes off the grid in southwest Colorado, just spitting distance from her Utah homeland.”
The Dee Grant covered the honorariums of the speakers and some of the flight/hotel costs. The extra costs were covered from the registration fees of the symposium.
The symposium had 112 paying attendees. All University of Utah students and faculty could attend for free and there were indeed students from the Printmaking area as well as students from other areas, including Book Arts and Photography/Digital Imaging, who attended. The symposium was directed at artists who resided in 11 western states, which included Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, and ultimately the symposium attendees represented all of these states with one attendee from Maine. Attendees included faculty and students from other schools as well as independent professionals. Many students were attending a symposium or conference for the first time. We deliberately tried to keep the cost of the symposium low so that students, from other institutions could attend.
We (Justin Diggle and Alison Denyer) would like to acknowledge that this symposium was a joint project with many collaborators. Principally Ed Batmen (Department of Art and Art History), Stefanie Dykes (Saltgrass Printmakers) and Marnie Powers-Torrey (Book Arts Program, Marriott Library), Andrew Rice (Department of Art and Art History). Trishelle Jeffrey (Department of Art and Art History) also assisted with hanging shows etc.
The 5th Rocky Mountain Printmaking Alliance Symposium included panels, speakers, demonstrations and exhibitions.
Several of the Exhibitions were organized and shown in downtown galleries including:
- Art Access. Poiesis. Organized by Stefanie Dykes.
- Downtown Art Collective. Concerning Craft and the Power of Print. Organized by Anna Hansen.
- Gallery at the City Library. Utah Printmakers 2019. Organized. By Justin Diggle.
- Lower Galleries at the City Library. Transcontinental Railroad. organized by Andrew Rice
- Saltgrass Printmakers. Erik Waterkotte, organized by Stefanie Dykes.
- George S. & Dolores Doré Eccles Art Gallery at Salt Lake Community College. Rocky Mountain Student Printmaking Exhibition Juried. Organized by Lana Gruendell.
On Campus Events.
Panels:
Print as object, object as matrix, and the symbiotic collaborative relationship of the simultaneity of meaning and experience. Chair: Kristin Sarette
Living in the Shadow of Thomas, Georgia and Albert. Chairs: Cerese Vaden and Mark Ritchie.
Transposing Pedagogies. Chairs: Amy Nack and Jill AnnieMargaret.
Exploring Print. Abraham McCowan, Madeline Mackay, Yoshiko Shimino.
Demonstrations:
Screenprint Monoprints. Christa Carlton.
Color Viscosity Printing. Candace Garlock.
Reuse, Recycle, Reuse. Lindi Shi and Lilla Szekely.
Best on a Letterpress: Type, Texture, Trash, and Take-Aways. Crane Giamo, Marnie Powers-Torrey and Amy Thompson.
Takin it to the Next Dimension: Letterpress for Sculptural Forms. Crane Giamo and Marnie Powers-Torrey.
Portfolios:
Communities West 4. Andrew Rice and Sukha Worob.
Transposing Pathways. Summer Ventis.
From the Dance Hall to the Press: Contemporary Western Women. Kathryn Maxwell.
Processual Abstraction. Janet Marcavage.
Ooh, look what you made me do. Lisa Turner.
Placed, Displaced. Tai Huesgan and Erin DiGiovanni.
Recto Verso. Eileen Macdonald and Matt Hopson-Walker.
Print Synergy. Organized Kylie Millward and Katie Redd Hansen. U of U students.
The opening reception for the 2nd National PaperWest Juried Works on Paper Exhibition marked the start of the symposium. This was juried by Judith Brodsky. The application fees for this exhibition were used to pay the juror and award seven cash prizes. No profit was made. The application fee for this show was also kept as low as possible.
Details for this exhibition and the Juror can be found at: https://www.art.utah.edu/studio-art-areas/printmaking/paperwest-2nd-national-works-on-paper-exhibition-2019/
The registration fee for this symposium paid for other associated costs such as: receptions and refreshments, a University bus for transport between the downtown Salt Lake and Sugarhouse for the gallery stroll, morning refreshments, the final reception and printing the symposium guide. No profit was made.
We would like to thank the Council of Dee Fellows for their support through this grant, as well as all those who volunteered time and effort to make this project a success.