Panels

From the Ashes, the 2024 MAPC Biennial Conference will feature the following Conference Panels.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Death and the Printed Object

Chair: Neil Daigle Orians

Panelists: Caitlin La Dolce, Jialun Wang, John O’Donnell, Anthony Corraro, Neil Daigle Orians

The title of this conference, “From The Ashes”, evokes the myth of the immortal phoenix who burns to a crisp before being reborn into a new life. In order for one to be reborn, one must die. This panel concerns itself with the very nature of death as it pertains to our practice as artists. Panelists will be encouraged to consider death from multiple angles, including but not limited to: recycling/repurposing old work to create new; Roland Barthes’ “Death of the Author” and how that relates to visual arts; the unfortunate trend of not celebrating an artist until after their death; how in the creation of our materials, environmental destruction is often commonplace; printmaking’s status as a “dead” medium; environmental impact of wastes and residues of print techniques; how we are haunted by the perception of print being a capitalist means to an end rather than an artform itself; and so on. If we are to discuss innovation and rebirth, we must also take time to address and discuss the implied death that must occur as a result. What are we letting go of in order to pursue the future? What have we left behind that we should rediscover? What can we learn from interrogating our ghosts? Current and recent grads are highly encouraged to apply, both bachelors and masters students.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Prints R Us: from the ashes

Chair: Gail Panske

Panelists: Rosemarie Bernardi, Faculty Emeritus at Keene State College, Sarah Dittmann, Lecturer, Art Department at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Matt Hopson-Walker, Assistant Professor of Art at Fresno State University.

Prints R Us: from the ashes, brings together a multigenerational group of printmakers in a discussion about honoring legacy. There is a long tradition of printmakers sharing our creative work and techniques through exchange portfolios and demonstrations. Transitions are implicit in our lives. As we age, we become more aware of the constantly shifting ground around and within us, and how it influences the conceptual and physical nature of our artwork.

Margaret Atwood, from Blue Dwarf:

“It’s a problem, what to do

with yourself after you’re dead.

Then there’s before.”

We ask, what do we do with ourselves when we’re gone? How do we deal with the inevitable, before? What happens to our accumulated artwork, equipment, tools, etc.? What happens to our physical bodies? Is there a way, to continue to collaborate, to be part of the print community after we are gone? The discussion will focus on how the traditions within the practice of printmaking may offer some insight into these questions and explore ways to preserve our own and others legacy as artists.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Things Not Lost to the Fire

Chair: Patrick Vincent

Much of the last few years in print communities and academia have been in reaction to the events of 2020 and the ongoing pandemic. How we have shifted our teaching has been an effort to maintain our values and rituals in teaching and art making; in the aftermath, as we shift towards a more familiar rhythm, we may be eager to abandon the adjustments we made during those hectic times. Not all adjustments were negative—the events revealed racial inequality, meetings the needs of diverse learners and artists, and thinking about is printmaking in the 21st century with political and social dynamics still determining what and how both teach and make art. This panel will reveal different strategies we want to maintain from that time. For instance, recorded lecture and demonstrations allow for diverse learners and a greater sharing of teaching methods across different institutions. How we shift our emphasis away from established "canons" of art movements and print artists that were maybe exclusionary or negated issues of colonization, racism, and an assumed homogeneity of print makers and learners. As we emerge from the ashes, we must take stock of what the fire revealed and what we want to keep as we rebuild.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Connecting with Place through Naturally Derived Local Dyes, Pigments, and Inks

Chair: Sherry Haar, Kansas State University

Panelists: Kelsie Doty and Nadeeshani Ratnayaka, Kansas State University, and Ezra Heller, State University of New York

Our local environments are a diverse and, if foraged correctly, sustainable source of natural color for dyes, pigments, and inks for printmaking. Panelists will share their design research practice of connecting to place through the gathering, extraction, formulation, and application of regional and found plants and minerals for contact prints and ink-making.

Prints on cloth will include methods of transferring plant chlorophyll to fiber through thermal and mechanical means, use of local bio-mordants, and dye carriers. Ink and pigment making will include foraging for minerals as naturally occurring pigments, the conversion of natural dyes into lake pigments, and the mixing and mulling of these pigments into oil to make ink.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. Nature Collab: Exploring Intersections, Confluences, and Cross-Fertilizations of Art and Science

Co-Chairs: Nancy Morrow and Kevin Bernstein, Department of Art, Kansas State University

Panelists: Michael Garrity, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife; Nancy Morrow, Department of Art, Kansas State University, and Elise Richman, Department of Art and Art History, University of Puget Sound.

Nature Collab is a new initiative of the Departments of Art and Entomology at Kansas State University, developed as a resource and platform to stimulate novel approaches to interdisciplinary research, creative inquiry, dialogue, and learning. This session, presented by Nature Collab and K-State’s Department of Art, explores the intrinsic, interconnectedness between the fields of art, design, and science, and looks at ways in which artists and scientists can influence and inspire one another, encouraging the cross-fertilization of creative and scientific inquiry independent of conventional discipline boundaries.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. Matrici: the panorama of contemporary Italian printmaking

Chairs: Devin Kovach

Panelists: Devin Kovach, Roberta Feoli De Lucia, Alessandro Fornaci , Umberto Giovannini

A virtual meet and greet; an international exchange; an opportunity to learn about the field of Italian contemporary printmaking.

Italian printmaking, like many other Italian crafts, is often celebrated for its connection to tradition, for the accomplishments of its historic practitioners. While this connection is certainly valuable, it can also carry the negative imprint of rigidity and backward thinking. This panel introduces new voices who are redefining the means and meaning of prints in Italy.

The panelists - all of whom are artists, educators, and studio technicians - will discuss their respective print studios, studio research, and/or educational initiatives. They will share the new directions they are pursuing to innovate upon traditional practices of printmaking. From less-toxic approaches, to the revival and hybridisation of antique equipment, this panel aims to refresh the idea of printmaking in Italy.

7. Considering the Environment of Print and Paper

Chair(s): Lari Gibbons, Professor, University of North Texas, Laura Post, Affiliate Assistant Professor of Printmaking, University of Dallas

Panelists: Sanaz Haghani, Multidisciplinary Artist and Educator, Melissa Harshman, Professor, Lamar Dodd School of Art, Hannah O'Hare Bennett, Artist, Papermaker, and Educator, Taro Takizawa, Visiting Lecturer in Studio Art, University of North Carolina.

Printmaking methods rely on substrates and matrices produced from the natural environment, including planks of wood, quarried limestone, and precious metals like copper. Similarly, papermaking and book arts incorporate raw materials such as plant fibers of cotton, mulberry, and flax. Yet artists have an array of synthetic and manufactured options from which to choose. Therefore, an artist's decision to use materials rooted in the natural environment provides a rational underpinning and conceptual backdrop for their work. The material transformation that takes place in the physical process of making a print, artist's book, or handmade paper provides a fundamental connection to the content and meaning of the artwork.

This panel discussion brings together book artists, papermakers, and printmakers who explore substrates, matrices, and materials as conceptual components of their work. For example, how does the use of natural dyes, pigments, or fibers in papermaking allow artists to reference specific moments in our cultural and historic landscape? In what ways do materials and processes enable print, paper, and book artists to observe, create, and share ideas about the environment?

10. Tender Sight: Recycled Image Making and Collage

Chair: Dustin Brinkman

Panelists: Gloria Shows, Exhibition Director and Community Manager I Like Your Work, Belle-Pilar Fleming, Director of Galleries University of Northern Colorado Galleries, Heather Steckler, MFA Printmaking Candidate University of Iowa, Andrew Rice, Lecturer of Printmaking and Printmaking Studio Manager Weber State University

The panel Tender Sight: Recycled Image Making and Collage will bring together artists whose work comes to fruition through the active practice of looking tenderly at the collected materials and subjects made with print media. Through conversations and art practices centered around preservation, repair, recycling, repurposing, or revisiting, this panel will address the ways in which we can look more intimately at the mundane and scattered details that accumulate in our material and conceptual landscapes. When we parse through the wreckage, the hoarded or the hidden, what is unearthed?

Through the regenerative practice of image collecting, collage, recycling matrices, and preserving or archiving narratives and landscapes a conscious action of preservation occurs. The collage allows the cut and cropped to be carried, planted and sown into new configurations, new species of printed matter. This panel will highlight these artists working in this capacity, sharing examples of how we break down the preconceived notions of printed matter, breathing new life into the meaning of image making.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. (from) The Ground Up

Chair: Jessica Meuninck-Ganger

Panelists: Jessica Meuninck-Ganger (panel chair), Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Peck School of the Arts, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Julie Tourtillotte, Department Chair, Professor of Art, Saint Mary’s College; Jay Fox, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design; & Celeste Contreras, Lecturer, Peck School of the Arts, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

The panel will highlight artists who are committed to the preservation of traditional printmaking and paper craft practices. Inspired by travel, ancestry, learning from master practitioners, and the natural environment, each artist integrates unique applications of ancient practices to serve as ambassadors, teachers, archivists, activists, and innovators. They will explain how they evolve, expand, nurture, and open their studios, gardens, community printshops, and university programs to gather, grow, and share research.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12. Navigating Academia Today - A Panel and Skill Swap by Educators for Educators

Chair: : Brett Taylor (he/they), Assistant Professor of Design, New Mexico Institute of
Mining and Technology, Brittany Gorelick (she/they), Assistant Professor of Printmaking,
Fort Hays State University.

Panelists: Emerging Educator: Alanna Austin (she/her), Mid-Career Educator: Juana Estrada Hernandez (she/her), Established Educator: Joseph Lupo (he/him), Print Historian: Laura Golobish (they/them

We are looking for educators of all levels, emerging to established, to share their experiences, expertise, and advice in navigating printmaking and arts in higher education. Panelists will present their experiences and then engage in an open dialogue and skill swap with other educators and artists.

From the preservation of our printmaking programs to reestablishing print spaces as inclusive and accessible for all students, academic institutions can prove to be challenging and often precarious spaces to navigate for emerging and established
professors. Sometimes it would prove easier to burn academia down and from the ashes start again. Thus, this panel and open forum will serve as a space for educators and individuals in higher education to skill swap. The panel will consist of three
individuals at different periods of their academic careers who share their stories and then open up to a larger group dialogue. We invite educators from all academic institutions and career levels to share innovations, adaptations, and experiences that
have assisted them in navigating academia today. Our goal is that through lateral education we can move forward together, support our creative community, and continue to positively inspire the next generation of printmakers and educators.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

13. Building Printmaking Programs in K-12 Art Classrooms: From Basics to Mastery

Chair: : Freyja Geankoplis, Manhattan High School Artist Educator

Panelists: Courtney Cahoj, Marlatt Elementary School Art Educator, Jay Jacoby Wichita Middle School Art Educator, Chi-Un Dougherty Amanda- Arnold Elementary School Art Educator

Join us for an insightful panel featuring four seasoned K-12 art educators as they share their expertise on starting and growing printmaking programs in K-12 classrooms. This panel is designed for educators at all levels, whether you're just beginning to explore printmaking or looking to advance your existing program.

Our panelists will cover essential topics, including:

**Getting Started:** Learn the basics of printmaking and how to introduce this versatile art form to your students. Discover practical strategies for integrating printmaking into your existing curriculum with minimal resources.

**Building Supplies Gradually:** Understand how to start small and incrementally build up your printmaking supplies. Our educators will provide tips on budget-friendly materials and equipment, ensuring you can grow your program sustainably.

**Advancing Techniques:** Explore advanced printmaking techniques and projects that can challenge and inspire your students. From relief printing to screen printing, our panelists will share their favorite projects and teaching methods.

**Program Expansion:** Gain insights into how to expand your printmaking program, including tips on securing funding, engaging the community, and collaborating with other educators and organizations.

This panel is a must-attend for any K-12 art teacher interested in fostering creativity and technical skill through printmaking. Join us to gain practical advice, innovative ideas, and the inspiration to take your printmaking program to new heights.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

14. Using Every Part of the Print: Creative Reuse as Studio Ethos

Chair: Marika Christofides

Panelists: Laura Berman, Acadia Kandora, Amanda Lilleston, Hilary Lorenz

In its most traditional forms, printmaking requires the artist to harness and control a process in pursuit of an end goal - the print edition. The trial and error involved has the potential to create waste in the form of failed and faded prints, old transparencies and matrices, paper trimmings, and nixed ink colors. Participants in this panel will look at upcycling, recycling, and creative reuse as practical and conceptual frameworks for approaching a studio practice. How can printmaking be reimagined as a cyclical process? How can embracing mistakes lead to unexpected results? And how can foregrounding process open the door to new forms and possibilities that are unique to printmaking?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

15. Wayfindings: Journeys in Print

Chair: Chelsea Herman

Panelists: Michael Baum, Associate Professor Studio Art, Black Hills State University, Nat Raisbeck Brown, Amy Thompson & Marnie Powers-Torrey, University of Utah’s Red Butte Press, Sarah Matthews, Printmaker & Book Artist, Manager of Recruitment & Success at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, and Adjunct Professor in Printmaking & Artists Books at MICA, Chelsea Herman, Flight Path Press

Wayfindings: Journeys in Print presents printmakers whose practices chart movement through terrain, space, place, and process using pattern, rhythm, the time-based medium of the book, or objects found along the way. Each’s engagement with the world through print traces paths, trails, layered connections and relationships for the viewer to explore.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

16. The Artist as Ecological Advocate
Chair: Elizabeth Claire Rose

Panelists: Steven Daiber, Nature as a Matrix, Erin Wiersma, Drawing and Ecology, Elizabeth Rose, Scheduled For Removal

How do artists work in-situ to create work exploring elements of ecology? The panelists will share the ways they work to incorporate their artistic practice into ecological restoration efforts through printmaking, how they make work from specific aspects found within the landscape, and how they convey details of a place so that future generations might experience these through their work. Are artists only making work responding to a place? Do they have a role to play to restore and facilitate ecological health? This panel discussion will explore the ways we work as artists in the field, how these practices then are reflected in our home studios and how we partner with practitioners beyond the arts to work towards environmental health.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

17. Past/Forward:Mining the Archive

Chair: Denise Bookwalter

Panelists: Richard Kegler, Amelia J Hugill-Fontanel, and Denise Bookwalter

Innovation is an integral element of printmaking, and one of the locations that artists mine for old/new ideas are historical archives and objects. The three panelists have resurfaced ideas from historical archives to inspire new works, push printing limitations, and inform contemporary printmaking practices. The panel presents the history of nature printing and its influences on contemporary print artists, new ways of making and using letterpress tools, and special collections as sites of inspiration and access. Together, the panelists explore how historical collections influence contemporary print practices as we look backward and simultaneously propel us to new ideas and innovations.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

18. Paper vs. PDF - Opportunities and Tensions Between the Analog and Digital for Contemporary ‘Zine Makers.

Chair: Alex Lukas

Panelists: Katie Garth, Sarah Lawrence College, Anthony Warnick, Kansas State University, Zoe Minikes, Flower Press, Laura Glazer, Portland State University, Andrew Kozlowski, University of North Florida.

Why print ‘zines anymore? In an age marked by easy digital file transmission, social media platforms designed to disseminate image/text pairings, and increasing resource scarcity, ‘zine makers are faced with an urgent question: why continue to laboriously copy, staple, and trim and mail our publications? Why dutifully wait in line at the post office to send copies to hyper-niche audiences when posting a PDF would be exponentially easier? And have a wider reach? And save a lot of paper?

Simultaneously, the art book fair circuit continues to expand, with even mid-size cities boasting well-attended, well-branded events centering low-run printed artbooks and ‘zinemakers. Where do publishers embracing digital publishing platforms fit within events that can feel devoted to the fetishization of ink-on-paper? What opportunities are digitally-native ‘zines excluded from?

This panel discussion explores the decoupling and recoupling of “print” from ‘zine-making over the past twenty years, through the rise of webcomics and LiveJournal, to the near ubiquity of Risography as a tool for self-publishing.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------