Artist Talk: Friday, May 3 at 5:30pm
Opening Reception: Friday, May 3, 6 – 8pm
Exhibitions Run: May 3 – 30, 2019
Four Printmakers features four artists living in New Mexico whose work is connected by their love of making hand-pulled prints. Each artist utilizes a different approach to printmaking and a unique muse inspires each. Aaron Bass creates intaglio prints that are based on an urban interpretation of animism, a universal human response to our surroundings. Helen Cozza uses structured low relief collagraphs informed by the grid and nature represented within the confines of abstraction. Laurel Lampela responds to glimpses of life in the quiet presence of animals, people and space through the polymer gravure printmaking method. Janet Shagam works from alternative print making modalities such as mokulito (lithography on wood) to explore local, national, and foreign environments. Together, their work illustrates an appreciation of the multiple processes for making marks on paper to express our individual ways of communicating.
About The Printmakers
Aaron Bass, Helen Cozza, Laurel Lampel and Janet Shagam are four printmakers living in New Mexico whose work is connected by their love of making hand-pulled prints. Combined, each artist has exhibited prints in galleries throughout the United States and in other countries including Germany, the United Kingdom, Korea, China and the Middle East.
Aaron Bass creates intaglio prints that are based on an urban interpretation of animism, a universal human response to our surroundings. He uses subtle and less obvious archetypal imagery to transmit an idea or feeling. Bass developed his visual language by collecting objects that intuitively resonated with him and through his passion for reading folklore from a variety of cultures. Aaron Bass has taught printmaking at Southwest University of the Visual Arts and the University of New Mexico. www.crowsfootpress.com
Helen Cozza considers her work to be a soft form of geometric abstraction. Cozza’s structured low relief collagraphs are informed by the grid and nature represented within the confines of abstraction. The grid offers a method to contain and control the natural forms by enclosing them in predetermined borders. Helen Cozza was one of the national recipients of a 2011 Visual Artist’s Grant from the Astraea Foundation located in New York. www.helencozza.com
Laurel Lampela’s polymer gravure prints from original photographs reflect her interest in responding to nature, and glimpses of life in the present moment. Each glimpse is a quiet presence of animals, people, and the space they occupy. This space provides the opportunity to linger in the process of being. Laurel Lampela taught Printmaking in the Art Education Program at the University of New Mexico.
Janet Shagam works from alternative print making modalities such as mokulito (lithography on wood), cardboard etching, pigment transfer and silk mezzotint to explore local, national and foreign environments. In all cases, part or all of the process takes place outdoors. Her goal is to condense her impressions into local color, shape, and rhythmic gestures. Janet Shagam was included in a juried show at the Smithsonian Institute Ripley Gallery.
Helen Cozza, the other side III, collagraphic collage
Janet Shagam, Three
Aaron Bass, long ears 3, intaglio, 2017, 15 x 23 in
Laurel Lampela, Abo Ruins, photopolymer print on panel box, 5 x 21 x 2 in