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SGC 07 @ Chameleon
The Southern Graphics Council (SGC) is the largest non-profit printmaking organization in North America. It supports the art of printmaking in all of its traditional and varied contemporary forms. The council was organized by a dedicated group of artists/educators and was chartered in 1978 at the University of South Carolina. SGC has grown from a small regional organization in the late 1970’s to become a national printmaking and graphics arts professional organization. The conference provides an annual venue for artists/printmakers to gather and share experiences, critical, technical, and educational strategies. The council facilitates the exhibiting and exchanging of new projects, hosts panels for critical discussion of the role of printmaking in contemporary society and the arts. SGC has a membership of over 2000 individuals with a sizable international membership. Recent conferences have been held at Rutgers University, New Jersey/New York, Washington DC. University of Wisconsin, Madison and in 2007 Kansas City. Artists Chuck Close, William Willey, Robert Blackburn, Nancy Spero and Xu Bing have recently received awards for their life-time achievement in printmaking. The council encourages artists of all interests and disciplines to join in a dialogue on printmaking, contemporary art, culture and share experiences, critical, art, safety and technical, information concerning the expanded field of printmaking.
Chameleon Arts and Youth Development and the Block Community Print Studio co-hosted the 2007 SGC conference March 21-24 with the Kansas City Art Institute, the University of Missouri Kansas City, the University of Kansas, and other arts organizations in the greater Kansas City area. On Friday evening Chameleon and Tracy Arts Park was the primary conference site hosting openings and performances. Chameleon was joined by Lawrence Lithography Workshop, Morgan Gallery and the nearby Vine Street Gallery with print exhibitions and openings.
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Workshops & Exhibitions
Footprints: International Women in Printmaking
Curator: Kavita Shah of Baroda, India
This exhibition was comprised of the work of 28 women artists from India, Pakistan, UK, USA and Hong Kong. The prints exhibited are an exchange portfolio between these artists. The pieces reflect universal issues of self-expression, inclusion, and marginalization. The role of art making in their everyday lives as well as the future of printmaking in all of its varied forms are at the forefront of the artistic visions these women possess.
Kavita Shah works with CHAAP a community printmaking studio in Vadodara, India where she encourages young art students and children to participate and learn various printmaking techniques. Kavita’s exhibition highlights the joy and mysticism of print, as well the arduous nature of the medium. Many of the artists in the exhibition speak of a symbiotic relationship between feminine nature and printmaking, revealing love, care, and resilience.
Contemporary Cuban Prints from the Taller Experimental Grafica; Havana Cuba
This collection of prints was established by Dr. Anthony and Luz Racela under the auspices of the Racela Educational and Charitable Foundation. In June of 2004 Doctor Racela lead a team of exceptional medical personal and American Artist to Havana for a cultural and medical exchange. Dr Racela collected the works for this exhibition from Cuban artist associated with the Taller Experimental Grafica.
Medical Mock
Linoleum Prints by esteemed artist Richard Mock created for the KC Med magazine. Richard Mock is a well-known artist internationally who has work in major museums including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Mr. Mock for over a decade created linoleum block print illustrations for the former KU Med magazine of the University of Kansas Medical Center.
Plotting Paradise
Fifteen resident artists of Hawai‘i from varying backgrounds have created an exchange portfolio, editioning twenty 10”x15”, double-sided, oversized, postcard format prints on an archival substrate (to be displayed so both sides are visually accessible). The 2:3 heights to width ratio are congruent to both postcard dimensions (appropriate correlation for a portfolio originating in a locality where tourism remains the number one industry) and the vertical to horizontal expanse of the Hawaiian island chain when translated onto maps. Imagery will address a variety of issues surrounding land use and misuse in the Aloha State.
Destination Print Blitz
Demonstration of interdisciplinary print processes and community arts print project with Kansas City high school students will be facilitated by internationally regarded artist/educator Nancy Palmeri, University of Texas Arlington.
Storytelling and Listening
A
fiber and performance project by So Yeon Park University of Kansas. Ms. Park will be working with a community of homeless children through the Office of Homeless Liaison in Kansas City, Kansas and Chameleon Arts and Youth Development in Kansas City Missouri. The goal of the project is to provide creative and expressive opportunities for underserved populations of young people. These young people will create drawings and record their life stories. Their drawings will be turned into quilt sections using digital embroidery to produce a large collaborative quilt. The in progress quilt project will be shown in the Chameleon black box theater space for the Southern Graphics Council Conference.
Pools of Belief
Hugh Merrill was invited to create a community artwork for the Impact Conference on art and contemporary printmaking held in Berlin Germany and Poznan Poland in September 2005. The artist was asked to consider the relation between Germany, Poland and the Holocaust and its aftermath.The project invites people to consider the dual characteristics of belief. Pools of Belief was funded through a grant by the Mutual Friendship Foundation of New York and the Flo Harris Foundation of Kansas City.
Block Community Print Studio Distinguished Visiting Artist
Eleanor Erskine of Portland State University has been invited to produce a series of printed images in the studio in conjunction with the Southern Graphics Council Conference. Erskine is a well known nationally and an alumni and former instructor at the Kansas City Art Institute.
Print Selections from Members of Light in the Other Room
Light in the Other Room is Kansas City’s African-American visual arts organization and members will be working with master printer and artist Ed Hogan to produce prints in conjunction with the Southern Graphics council conference.
Prints by Students at Paseo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts
Professor Ed Hogan and Hugh Merrill will work with students from Paseo Academy to produce a series fof prints to be exhibited in conjunction with the southern Graphics Council conference.
Unpublished Poems of Maya Angelou
A Portfolio Project by Dean Mitchell and Ed Hogan
Passages
Prints by senior print artists from the Kansas City Art Institute Print Department working in the Block Community Print Studio.
Hugh Merrill Open Studio
Drawings and recent prints by Professor Hugh Merrill Kansas City Art Institute