As an artist, printmaker, and educator I believe in the printmaking workshop model as a vital force in artist communities and education. Printmaking collectives and workshops provide artists with access to space and equipment not readily available or affordable for many professionals. Even more importantly printmaking workshops are dynamic creative communities that connect artists and foster a collaborative , supportive environment. I have the privilege of belonging to such a community of artists at Peregrine Press in Portland. There is a reason why these kinds of organizations not only persist, but thrive.
In the current economic and social cultural landscape, where the model of the isolated artist is challenged, artists continue to seek out collective spaces and networks to support, inspire and sustain their practice.
In the current economic and social cultural landscape, where the model of the isolated artist is challenged, artists continue to seek out collective spaces and networks to support, inspire and sustain their practice.
Ravishing colors. Breathtaking images. And above all, utterly astonishing results.
These are the hallmarks of “Dunia Moja” (or “One World” in Swahili), a new exhibition of collaborative prints created jointly by the artists of Peregrine Press in Portland, Maine, and the artists of Women Networking in Zanzibar, Tanzania.
This unique print exchange was conceived by Alice Spencer, a founding member of Peregrine, after visiting Zanzibar in early 2010 and teaching the fundamentals of stenciling and block printing to 12 professional Muslim henna artists, all women.
The two groups of artists then agreed to create individual editions of 10" x 10" base prints apiece and exchange them for distribution to a second artist in the other group. Responding intuitively and imaginatively to the base print as a background — there were no rules! — the second artist then added another layer of gestures, imagery, or manipulations to finish the prints.
Print/Counter-Print is an exhibition of prints that highlight works selected from the flat files of the Peregrine Press (Portland, ME) and Zea Mays Printmaking studios. Curated by Virginia Rose and exhibited in March 2012 at Rose Contemporary Gallery (Portland), the exhibition is a wonderful dialogue between two printmaking studios.
Image on the right: A Quiet Habitation in the Garden, Yellow #1, paper plate lithography, screen print on masa paper with wax, 30 x 22 inches