Printmaking Shows at Boston University

I attended two printmaking shows at Boston University today: “BU and Beyond”, a solo exhibition of prints by Andrew Raftery at BU’s Sherman Gallery and the 2009 “Boston Printmakers North American Print Biennial” at BU’s 808 Gallery. Although I’m familiar with most of Andrew’s work, it was really great to see selections of his work from the last 25 years. You can view a slideshow of Andrew’s prints and read an article about the exhibition here.

Andrew Raftery, “Scene I (living room)” , engraving, 2007-2008

The Biennial is always a great event to catch up with colleagues from various schools as well as an opportunity to see student work represented in the Arches Student show alongside the professional prints in the Biennial.

2009 Boston Printmakers North American Print Biennial at Boston University

Cornell University Press: Book Cover

I was contacted a few weeks ago by English professor Robert Chodat at Boston University who was interested in some of my images for the cover of his upcoming book. He explained to me that initially he was considering some works by Giacometti for the book cover, but was referred to my work by a friend who had seen my work at the New York Academy of Art. He said that the relationship of the figures with the extended shadows in my works evoked many of the themes in the book. So after a few contacts between him and his publisher they elected to go with “Range XIII”, an ink drawing from the Waiting Series for the book cover. The book is titled “Wordly Acts and Sentient Things“, will be published by Cornell University Press in the spring of 2008.

Boston Printmakers North American Print Biennial

I gave my whole afternoon to the Boston Printmakers Biennial Exhibition which is held at the 808 Gallery at Boston University. I always look forward to this event every other year. As a member, I know and work with many of the people involved in the exhibition so it’s as much of a social event as a professional one. This being the 60th anniversary exhibition they were able to publish a catalog which features every print in the exhibition. With the exhibition being as large as it is, it always draws a huge crowd every year to the opening which is always fun and exciting. This year they asked me to volunteer at one of the various information tables handing out name badges and catalogs. The table I was at happened to be situated right in front of the entrance, so I liked the opportunity to see literally every person who walked into the gallery.

I first attended a lecture by Judith Hecker, a print curator at MOMA who was the juror for this year’s exhibition. The selection process must have been a daunting one; 1900 pieces were submitted, with her making a final selection of only 160 prints. In reviewing so many images it must be overwhelming to stay objective and develop a clear perspective on how the exhibition will result. Given these numbers, I consider myself very lucky to have been selected for the exhibition.

The opening reception.

“Paths X”, my intaglio print which was selected for the Biennial

The 808 gallery is a terrific space, it used to be a car dealership which probably explains why the space is so enormous and spacious. I also particularly like that the gallery is all open windows so that light is able to flood into the gallery space.