Printmaking as a Democratic Medium

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Printmaking as a Democratic Medium

February 2009

Instigated by a proposal from Professor Rosalyn Richards to lecture to our class on printmaking, I used the opportunity to extol the uniqueness of prints on paper as a democratic medium. Delving into the Samek Art Gallery’s extensive print collection and broadening my interest in the Works Progress Administration’s Graphic Division to include works from the eighteenth to twenty- first centuries, I collaborated with the gallery staff, Professor Richards, and our students to select several pieces.

I asked the class to think upon which medium they would choose in order to reach a large audience. Many selected contemporary digital processes, television, and the Internet, while others still considered traditional methods.

Beginning as a mainly reproductive process (only later accepted as fine art) printmaking has the ability to combine the power of mass-produced imagery with artists’ unique views on society. Still constrained by the same need to accommodate a market as other works of fine art, multiples remain available in numbers to a broader public.

In this exhibition, works by Goya, Rouault, and Kollwitz created during the perils of war exemplify an era of communication through paper publications produced through a hand-operated press. More contemporary works by Luis Jimenez, Ben Sakoguchi, and Kara Walker show how a traditional process can still have a powerful impact on issues of race and violence.

In conjunction with the Samek Art Gallery’s powerful theme of Peace and Resistance for 2008-2009, I hope to show another facet of risks taken to preserve and promote the freedom of expression, drawing attention to many controversial issues. I would like to extend many thanks to the staff, especially Director Dan Mills, Operations Manager Cynthia Peltier, Assistant Registrar Tracy Graham, and Graduate Assistant Sarah McFalls for their extensive assistance and creative input on the exhibition. Also many thanks to Rosalyn Richards for initiating the project and to our students for their ideas and research on writing text panels.

Rachel Heberling,
Printmaking Graduate Assistant