SGCI 2022 Conference: Call for Participation Round 2

Applicants wishing to participate will email the organizer directly. Please include a link to your portfolio and see below for additional requirements.

Title: Print Club- Inkubator and Community Development

Organizer: Haley Takahashi and Zoe Brester-Pennings

Abstract: Printmaking is inherently a community-based medium. Print clubs are centers for student engagement, learning opportunities, and team building in the university setting. They provide a space for creation, collaboration, and interaction outside the parameters of a typical class schedule. Amid COVID 19 and civil unrest, print clubs play an essential role in the strength and endurance of the printmaking community. How can print club leaders and members work together to promote positive change and maintain optimistic work environments in our shops? I propose an incubator event for print club leaders and members to share and develop ideas for the community’s future. As the president of UT Knoxville’s print club, I am interested in hearing the perspectives of students and faculty from other programs and their experiences. Talking points may include community events, workshops, team building and networking, print sales, and inclusivity.  This event could also serve as a workshop for programs interested in starting a print club at their universities or interested in improving their club programing.

Student success and comfort are vital to any university print shop. A well-run print club can significantly help maintain a culture of support, inclusivity, and opportunity. By working as a group, students gain valuable experience to take with them into their lives and future careers. As a foundation for burgeoning artists, we must set a good example. In speaking with print club members from various universities, we can create a network of support and greater printmaking community collaboration.

Applicants wishing to participate will email a brief statement of intent summarizing their interest in the panel, their CV, and a link to their portfolio to the organizer. Please see individual entries for additional requirements.

Title: Speculative Archiving: Folding Future Landscapes into the Present

Organizer: Nicholas Bauch

Abstract: This panel session is designed for artists to present their own work as it relates to archiving-as-art.  Given that archiving is a rather large field, the aim here is on speculation, or, building out what near and far futures of archives might be.  A second focus that artists bring to this panel is on landscape, broadly conceived.  The archive-ness of the work ought to point toward environmental, economic, and social justice narratives based in futurity thinking as they happen in landscapes, or locales.  New, radical ways of cataloging built and natural environments, as well as places and objects of political import, therefore, compose the intellectual and aesthetic realm of this panel.  In his 1999 book “Pandora’s Hope,” Bruno Latour theorizes the “circulating referent,” the minutiae of how entities move from their interwoven place in the world into the scientific gaze of order and classification.  What happens when artists—and specifically printmakers—critically take on the work of creating information about the world?  In the presentations—whether digital slideshows and/or the display of printed material—artists are requested to leverage their work samples to contribute to the larger conversation spurred by Latour.  Namely, what are the mechanics, tropes, and systems for creatively bringing extant worlds into organizational schemes that help us imagine equitable social and economic futures?

The concept of archiving, generally, pertains to the past (see Hal Foster’s article “An Archival Impulse” from the Fall 2004 issue of October for examples).  As such, evoking a speculative archive means that we must think of future states of being, and what those future people will need to know about their own past.  Preserving the past for the future is akin to taking a generative snapshot of the present.  In this panel artists are encouraged to manipulate this truism, to toy with the linearity of time and causality.  As past and present techniques of archiving merge, it will be fascinating to see how printmakers interject ideas of the printed ledger, indexical relationships, content, referencing, searching, and accessibility.

Logistically, this panel is meant to consist of two to four artist-presenters, and between one and three respondents.  The respondents will likely be academics, library-information scientists, historians, and/or artists.

Contact: nbbauch@protonmail.ch

—

Title: makeS.P.A.C.E

Organizer: Elaina Brown-Spence

Abstract: This panel discussion will share:

• The importance of visibility for marginalized and underrepresented artists
• How access impacts who is seen and supported
• How to support underrepresented artists
• P.A.C.E – A model for a curated show that supports underrepresented artists

The world of art remains elusive and inaccessible, especially for people from marginalized communities. This injustice is carried out from micro to macro levels and stems from both historical and current prejudices held deeply within our society, such as racism, sexism, classism, ableism, and which both artists and any member of society has the power to change. Think back to the last time you consumed art. Were you walking the halls of a museum; sipping wine at a gallery opening; reading an art history textbook; getting coffee; scrolling through social media? Could you see yourself there? Did you feel represented? Did you feel like you belonged? If so, why? How did that space come to be? Who don’t you see there?

Who gets to be in special collections, museums, libraries, universities, et cetera?

In one of our classes we were asked to theorize what putting on an exhibition would look like for us, and as a collective we were more interested in the reasons why we would do so. We discovered that if we were to curate a show we would want to provide an opportunity for “unseen” artists to have the space to express their ideas in a place that was welcoming and listening to them.

We in the S.P.A.C.E coalition come from marginalized populations and have seen a need for opportunities for people who aren’t allowed in exclusive spaces. We recognized that we are in a position of privileged access by being in a graduate arts program at a private university, and we can use that position to instigate positive change within the art world.

One of our goals with this exhibition was addressing accessibility–we ask, who is allowed access to opportunities to showcase their work? Who is encouraged through exposure to the arts and representation within the art world to be an artist in the first place? Who feels welcomed into spaces where art is shown?

In hopes of presenting on our exhibition, we aim to amplify the voices of underrepresented communities through accessibility. If you’re making art right now, you are a contemporary artist and your perspective, your voice, your art and you are valid.”

Contact: ebrownspence@uarts.edu

—

Title: Let’s Talk About: Global Majority Representation in Printmaking Higher Education (Part I & II)

Organizer: Isabel Diana

Abstract:  Proposal: Let’s Talk About: Global Majority Representation in Printmaking Higher Education Part I & II

3 hours total

1.5 hours for each Presentation

My proposal is a two-part conversation about the lack of Global Majority Representation in Upper Education. As this conference is themed around the idea of Our Shared Futures it is importance to address what is lacking in our current visual representation. The break into Part I & II will allow us to give space to two different conversations, one more centered around healing and community. The second based in understanding the perspective of the global majority and working towards changes and sharing ideas for growth and inclusion.

Let’s Talk About the Impact of Lack of Global Majority in Printmaking Higher Education Part I

This Panel will focus on showcasing student and faculty voices to create space for an open conversation about the lack of Representation of the Global Majorities in upper-level education and how that trickles out into the printmaking community. This Panel will be a space dedicated to those who identity as members of the global majority. This is a space to share and reflect on the experiences, to build community. We invite all Global Majority members to come and take up space together, share opportunities and mingle. In the preparation of this Panel, there will be an open call for 5 speakers to share. The remainder of the time will be open to questions (directly for speakers) and a conversation about the effects of lack of representation.

Working definition of Global Majority: “Global Majority is a collective term that first and foremost speaks to and encourages those so-called to think of themselves as belonging to the global majority. It refers to people who are Black, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and or have been racialised as ‘ethnic minorities’.”

Let’s Talk About How to Include More Global Majority Presence in Printmaking Higher Education Part II

Our futures are connected, and we all have a part to play. This Presentation will be facilitated by Isabel Diana who will lead all attendees through a series of community building and breakout conversations. The focus of this time is to listen and be ready to engage. SGCI is an amazing opportunity for many people from different spaces to come together and talk about printmaking in upper education. Let us take full advantage of this time and work towards building our shared future. This space is for the Global Majority and Allies.

Contact: isabelbedard@gmail.com

—

Title: Semiautomated Duplication & Its Ideal Potential

Organizer: Zach Clark

Abstract: Following in the footsteps of others techniques that were initially used for utilitarian and industrial purposes, such as lithography, letterpress, and screenprinting, Risograph printers and publishers around the world have found the potential to create beautiful and meaningful work using equipment originally designed for the dissemination of informational ephemera. Risograph printing sits within a rich lineage of industrial printmaking methods, yet finds itself largely unembraced and misunderstood by the larger printmaking world. Popularized by zine and comics cultures, the majority of creatives working with Riso are coming from outside of traditional printmaking educations and practices, invigorated by the potential to distribute large editions of work with minimal resources. Because of this niche in between status, the Risograph community has created a culture that values and encourages inclusivity and generosity of knowledge through open source resources, community driven forums, and constant opportunities for education and connection. Within this panel, participants will share from their practices and research how we can look to semi automated duplication for possible lessons towards a more equitable and democratic printmaking world.

Contact: nationalmonumentpress@gmail.com

—

Title: IoT and Printmaking: Visualizing an Internet-Saturated Future

Organizer: Kathryn Combs

Abstract: IoT or, “The Internet of Things” surrounds us every day. Smart phones, smart watches, smart home devices, doorbells with facial recognition, even Wi-Fi enabled refrigerators and coffee machines have made their way into homes around the world. Each of these communicate with one another and gather data about our habits and preferences. With every interaction, IoT devices and their algorithms become more efficient in predicting these human behaviors and such technology has presented rapid development over the last decade.

In contrast, many of the processes and techniques of printmaking have remained largely the same over many generations of artists, adding more techniques into the mix rather than phasing old ones out. A medium steeped in technique and tradition, printmaking often adapts other technology to antique processes. In the 1960’s printmakers began incorporating more photographs into their practice, and in the early 2000’s when digital inkjet prints improved in quality and accessibility, they too were folded in. Despite these adaptations, the basic processes of intaglio, lithography, relief, and screen printing remain relatively constant.

Does this steadiness give printmakers a unique perspective? What potential does printmaking offer to intersect with these IoT devices? How might an artist visualize the contemporary experience of living in a world surrounded by internet-connected gadgets? What ethical issues do these technologies pose or solve? And how would a printmaker uniquely envision a future shaped by such devices?

Artists whose work speaks to or incorporates IoT devices, the internet, or algorithms is strongly encouraged to apply.

Contact: combske@iu.edu

—

Title: Drawn with Device: Machine Collaborations and Other Non-haptic Investigations

Organizer: Myles Dunigan

Abstract: Print has always had an alliance with technology, both as a celebration of antiquity and as a hungry appropriator of the latest gadgets. From perspective tools in the Renaissance, camera obscuras, to computer-assisted plotter drawings and contemporary digital tablets, devices have a long, fascinating relationship to the graphic arts, be it explicitly or secretively. Printmaking itself is roughly defined by the tools we implement in pursuit of the multiple, and, as such, is uniquely positioned in relation to how we use and define media. While the physical boundaries that define a print as, say, relief or intaglio are clear, how do other technologically-driven output methods fit into that graphic lineage?

This panel invites artists to share their own practice as it pertains to the concept of ‘drawn with device’, and how the use of machines, tools, or software shapes their work. Drawing has strong connotations of the handmade, but what does it mean when the hand is replaced or co-opted? How do you collaborate with a tool like a machine loom, or pen plotter? How does your own printmaking practice operate like a machine? This panel is an invitation for artists to share their own respective research as well as the deeper connotations of ‘drawing devices’ in their own practice. Technology, and especially printmaking, is a shared experience; through sharing the idiosyncrasies of how we use contemporary devices we gain an appreciation for the presence of the hand, and its absence.

Contact: mdunigan@arts.ufl.edu

—

Title: Print and NFTs: Ownership, Authenticity, and Circulation in an Age of Digital Singularity

Organizer: Katie Garth

Abstract: “Print and NFTs: Ownership, Authenticity, and Circulation in an Age of Digital Singularity” invites panelists to dissect the emergence of NFTs in a post-digital print landscape from a variety of perspectives. This new medium raises questions of authenticity that in many ways seem to resemble print’s decades-long discussion of Walter Benjamin’s aura. NFTs may be seen as both a rejection of the multiple and a celebration of ubiquity; unique metadata as art object both undermines and reinforces traditional art market hierarchies.

As economic inequality grows and climate change accelerates, the introduction of NFTs—the specific challenges they may cause, or solutions they may provide—require critical assessment and innovative responses to ensure an equitable and sustainable shared future.

Do previous post-digital comparisons of matrices and servers hold true on the blockchain? How does the environmental impact of the NFT ecosystem compare to similar corollaries in the production and sale of tangible creative output? What is the value in owning something that is simultaneously shared for mass-consumption? Why do art tokens in this space inspire such intense criticism relative to other forms of digital information?

Individual papers will be preceded by an introduction establishing basic knowledge of blockchain transactions and offering examples of commercially successful NFT artists for audience consideration. The session will conclude with an audience Q&A.

Contact: katie.garth@gmail.com

—

Title: Our Shared Future: Print as Transformation

Organizer: Amanda Lilleson

Abstract: Carve, ink, print, cut, fold, paste, repeat. Printed multiples allow for combination, deconstruction and transformation of imagery and ideas. A technically-developed matrix can start as a single module and when it is printed, multiplied, and recombined, it can tell a story about growth, layers, repetition and change. In a time of political, social, environmental, and also inner-conflict, transformation is our way forward. Envisioning a shifting and adaptive future is urgently needed.

This panel explores the ways in which printmaking can be used to showcase transformation of ideas through repetition and evolution of printed imagery. I invite printmakers to share their versions of print and concept transformation– whether it’s print collage, books, sculpture, installation, digital manipulation or more.

Contact: amandalilleston@gmail.com

—

Title: Publicly Engaged Print Education

Organizer: Beauvais Lyons

Abstract: Throughout their history prints have functioned as a public form of art, using the multiple to propagate ideas to reach broad audiences and potentially shape public opinion and our shared future. This session invites presentations about lesson plans for projects that engage students to use the printed multiple in individual and group projects beyond the gallery and studio to impact their campus and local communities. Examples might include poster projects, prints that function as part of exchange or gift economies, public printing sessions, public-facing visiting artist projects, community “prinstallations,” and other efforts to connect the print studio to the larger culture. Issues to consider include how we consider such forms of practice related to theories of Socially Engaged Art, how such projects inform our concepts of collaboration, what value they contribute to the creative and professional development of students, effective methods of documenting these forms of cultural production, how to assess their impact, and how to ensure their sustainability. The session will be structured so there is ample time for discussion, as well as to share prints from publicly engaged student projects.

This session proposal relates directly to the theme of the 2022 SGC International Conference which seeks to address concepts of socially engaged graphic arts. The proposal grows out of recent facets of my own creative practice, a 2020 CAA session I co-chaired with Steve A. Prince on “Prints and Community Practice,” several projects I have completed with students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville that have involved socially engaged print productions, as well as a special topics course I taught in 2019 titled “Prints and Social Practice.”

Contact: blyons@utk.edu

—

Title: Building from the Found: Exploring Collage as a Print Media Process.

Organizer: Sarah Marshall

Abstract: This panel invites presentations from artists who work with collage as a research, development, or construction technique. As a medium, collage embraces the connections between printmaking studio disciplines; common principles bring together artists who realize their work using a variety of methods and materials. From digitally composited photographs to hand-quilting; from video editing to print-based installation, collage has long been a staple tool of creative practice and production. In 2019, a major exhibit at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art showcased examples of collage that spanned over four hundred years of art-making.

Dis-assembling and reconstruction are common modes of social critique. Traditional and new technologies allow artists to pull from a variety of sources to create work. The use of the quotational voice in contemporary popular culture, the prevalence of sampling and references to a hip-hop aesthetic, and the convergence of fine art and craft sensibilities have all contributed to the vitality of collage. Collage techniques are especially relevant to artists who embed multiple voices, viewpoints, and cultural narratives in their work, and artists who seek to expose or reconcile competing realities. From Hi-Fi to DIY, collage practice includes many members of our printmaking community. By presenting a range of approaches to the topic, we hope to explore the history of graphic techniques, offer insight into using collage as a studio methodology, and share a diversified pool of artists to use as teaching examples.

Contact:  smarsh@ua.edu

—

Title: Storytellers

Organizer: Ryan O’Malley

Abstract: Stories link us to our past and help shape our futures. This panel will feature artists in their capacity as storytellers – using images and artwork to narrate personal or historical accounts, folklore, or fiction among other themes – presented through shared images via powerpoint and short film.

In addition to showcasing unique perspectives, this panel hopes to inform how presentations can merge the academic and poetic for broader educational and emotional impact.

(Seeking 1-2 additional panelists)

Contact: wryanomaly@gmail.com

—

Title: Contextualizing Technology and Environmental Sustainability in Contemporary Print Media

Organizer: Johnny Plastini

Abstract: The word ‘technology’ too often is associated only with digital electronic devices that separate us, illusions of economic progress, and hierarchical exploitation tools that often exclude underprivileged communities. This panel aims to re-contextualize the term ‘technology’ to become more inclusive of organic physical systems that are frequently overlooked in conversations surrounding technology. How do we as 21st-century printmakers consider the term ‘technology’ as applied to the physical and analog processes associated with print media, especially concerning innovations in sustainability and environmentally responsible print practice?  Innovations in new biodegradable ink, environmentally sustainable print processes and inclusive forms of cultural communication should be considered of great empathetic value. This panel at its core will focus on new innovations in physical and analog technologies associated with print media beyond just electronic or digital technologies. Each panelist will offer an insight to a specific technological process or technological innovation that will carry print media forward into the future from a standpoint of both environmental and cultural sustainability. How do we work together to form new cultural ecologies? Environmental and cultural sustainability in print media should be considered a “green” technology that is ever-evolving and symbiotic.

For SGCI 2022, “Our Shared Future”, this 90-minute discussion-based panel will occur between four juried specialists in the field of technology, printmaking, and sustainability. Each panelist will be given 15 minutes for presentations about their topic and expertise, with 30 minutes of Q and A with the audience surrounding the concepts discussed above.

Contact: johnny.plastini@colostate.edu

—

Title: Just an Organism in an Ecosystem

Organizer: Dana Potter

Abstract: An ecosystem is a circulation of energy between organisms in an environment. Most often, in arts organizations and academic environments, the circulation of energy is jeopardized by departmental silos, approval processes, applications, and branding requirements. We are interested in organisations that circulate control among their organisms, that make a conscious effort to dissolve boundaries. This panel will interview printshops that are one part of a built environment where an ecosystem of people, gardens, and projects exchange energy.

If you look-up the Iowa City Press Co-op (ICPC), Iowa’s only community-access printmaking studio, on Instagram, you’d see images of the gardens at Public Space One and members of the Media Arts Co-Op (MAC) celebrating their new space. It isn’t clear at first but between ICPC, MAC, the Center for Afrofuturist Studies (CAS), gallery spaces, Lowercase Zine Library, pop-up performances, and a robust outdoor garden, Public Space One is a fluid ecosystem of projects and events. Participants in any aspect of this ecosystem organically engage with one another. For example, Bleue Liverpool is visiting as a CAS resident. Bleue’s project takes the physical and historic site of the PS1 houses as both content and context for her gallery installation, an exhibition that will blend the known facts of the home’s builders and early dwellers with speculative fiction about possible inhabitants who may have lived/worked there during the Great Migration. While Bleue’s installations are formed primarily from digital media, the proximity and availability of the ICPC next door piqued her interest. Taking a cue from former CAS resident Tiona McClodden, Bleue will work with an ICPC member and make a print. Both artists, not trained or with experience in printmaking, were able to step into that shop (with the voluntary help of the ICPC community) and produce something new in the spirit of cross-pollination.

The Museum of Infinite Outcomes in Knoxville, TN, was established in 2018. Located in Knoxville, Tennessee, the Museum features a Lithographic Publishing House, the Library of Infinite Outcomes, and a collection of seasonal and rotating exhibitions. Their programming in terms of printmaking, papermaking, or fabric dyeing comes first from what the land has given them, such as Kudzu for paper making or amaranth for natural dye. They describe themselves poetically, “We belong to an ecosystem where everyone and everything is essential. As an open-air museum, our collection meanders through sun-filled gardens, collaborating with the outside world to demonstrate that the things in our reality can only exist in terms of relationships.” Their programming has welcomed other artists and community members to nurture food or create art that comes from within this ecosystem.

While both Public Space One and the Museum of Infinite Outcomes partake in application processes, have a board of directors, and brand their organization, they do not silo projects to maintain control. The flow of marketing, volunteers, programming, motivation, and opportunity is passed between all, and this circulation gives life to the ecosystem.

This panel is open to one or two more participants through the open call.

Contact: danarenepotter@gmail.com

—

Title: Pressed Time: Non-linear thinking for future survival

Organizer: Jenny Schmid

Abstract: This panel will discuss ways in which artist printmakers use radical concepts of time in their work, specifically compressing categories of past, present, and future. We will investigate how time is stretched, overlayed, iterative, sampled and remixed as an antidote to the disposable immediacy of short-sighted colonialist/capitalist conceptualization of time. Possible topics will include Afrofuturism, deep ecological time, indigenous concepts of time, honoring and communing with ancestors through present practices, and the remixing of history across graphic traditions. Both traditional and expanded print media will be included and participants will be asked to talk about their own projects in the context of their communities and influences. We will seek a diverse panel that explores non-linear time in print media, social practice or curatorial projects.

By exploring time paradigm shifts across traditions and practices, we connect to the concept of Our Shared Future by exploring strategies of survival to create deeper connections to the environment, humans, and animals in contrast to the dominant materialistic instant-gratification culture that is destroying the planet.

Contact: jrschmid@umn.edu

—

Title: Crafting Inclusive Spaces

Organizer: Becci Spruill

Abstract: This panel will discuss methods of re-structuring existing spaces and crafting new inclusive and accessible spaces for printmakers at all levels. Panelists will share first-hand experience and advice with attendees hoping to craft or improve regional, national or internationally inclusive spaces in academia, professional practice, and professional organizations. Topics will focus on creating opportunities, advocacy, transparency, communication and more.

If you would like to be part of this panel, please apply by sending your CV, a brief (150 word) artists statement, and a statement on inclusionary practices in the field of your choice (academia, professional practice, larger organizations) to beccispruill@gmail.com.

Contact: beccispruill@gmail.com

—

Title: Graphics as a democratic medium. The role of artistic printmaking in times of crisis.

Organizer: Maciej Zdanowicz

Abstract: As a democratic medium, understood in terms of artistic and civic activity accompanying bursts of social energy and dissent against violations of various laws. It is also a medium which in the age of universal technology and digital communication allows almost everyone to express themselves, regardless of their competence. A number of negative contemporary phenomena resulting from the crisis of values, disintegration of interpersonal relations, climate crisis manifesting itself in international tensions and growing social inequalities lead to pose a question about the role and future of art, including graphic art. The discourse and reflection conducted so far in the field of graphic art was closed in relation to man and his environment. Immersion in questions about the specificity of the medium and relations between classical workshop techniques and digital media led to the social withdrawal of graphic art. To discuss the condition of the medium and its socio-cultural impact, I intend to invite artists, art critics, and academic theoreticians wishing to confront the problem posed, to analyze existing artistic practices in this field, and to define perspectives for the development of critical discourse in the field of printmaking. Recruitment for the conference panel will be announced through social media, scientific, arts conference information sites, and through direct email invitations to educational, scientific, arts institutions. The panel will include 4-6 speakers with 20 minute presentations. The panel will close with a discussion with the participation of the audience. Referees will also be asked to prepare written papers that meet academic rules. The papers, along with a transcription of the discussion, will be used to prepare a peer-reviewed, open-access electronic publication, published under the auspices of the partner organizations and institutions with which I intend to cooperate.

Contact: maciej.zdanowicz@ujk.edu.pl

Applicants wishing to participate will email the organizer directly. Please include a link to your portfolio and see below for additional requirements.

Title: Fulfilling Predictions: Images of the End Times. International Exhibition of Committed Graphic-Art

Organizer: Maciej Zdanowicz

Abstract: The concept of the pop art exhibition – art project is related to current symptoms of crisis in the contemporary world, taking place on different dimensions. The recent facts from the Middle East, Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine, the hybrid wars waged with the use of fake news, the aggressive policy of autocratic state authorities, indifference to human harm, growing social inequality, natural disasters, the coronavirus pandemic are irrevocably changing the world, they are the apocalypse coming true. The project is an attempt to show the sensitivity of contemporary artists, the condition of artistic graphic art in the face of the growing threat to democracy, resurgent nationalism, racism, the migration of peoples caused by conflicts, poverty, climate crisis, and finally the ineptitude and indifference of politics in the face of humanitarian and climate disasters. This is an invitation which I send to the contemporary artists coming mainly from Eastern Europe, Central, and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, the United States, South America, South Korea, Taiwan, who witnessed in different ways the mentioned events (The project involves the participation of 12-15 artists). The graphic images created by the artists will be transposed into print on textiles, various kinds of scraps of materials, including recycled ones, which will then be sewn together in one form. The resulting monumental fabric, like a shroud or carpet, will on the one hand-carry the printed messages, but will also become an art installation in its own right. The created artistic fabric will wrap the interior and the objects in it, creating the impression of a wavy, colourful, diverse matter. On the one hand, it will evoke the feeling of warmth and safety, perhaps the need to wrap oneself in it, on the other, it will bother with printed images, messages accumulated as horror vacui, contemporary ornamentation dans macabre. Fabric as an element close to man, affecting his physical and psychological comfort, also brings to mind tragic images from history, such as piles of clothes taken from Jews in death camps during World War II, and contemporary associations with nomadic camps, clothes abandoned by immigrants. The project will be complemented by sound recordings, statements of the artists participating in the project. The recordings will be presented from speakers placed around or under the fabric, creating an impression of full spaciousness.

Contact: maciej.zdanowicz@ujk.edu.pl

—

Title: Queer Printmaking and Futurity

Organized by: Ash Armenta

Abstract: “Queer Printmaking and Futurity” will be a pop-up exhibition of a selection of works by queer printmakers. Artists will be selected through an open call. A printed catalogue will accompany the exhibition, which will feature information about the included artists. The show will include an opening event that will bring together queer artists attending SGC. By bringing together works by queer printmakers, the exhibition will surface themes with which contemporary queer makers engage. “Queer Printmaking and Futurity” will create community among queer printmakers, not only exploring themes of futurity in the work but also fostering networks that support creative futures for queer makers.

The open call for participants will be a Google Form circulated via direct invitation, social media, and listservs. A selection of submissions will be invited to exhibit their prints at the pop-up exhibition in Madison. Artists will ship their prints prior to the show, to be installed by the organizers. All printmakers who submit their work, including those not selected for exhibition, will be included in the printed catalogue, with the goal of indexing contemporary queer printmakers. Funding for the printing costs and other potential expenses will be acquired through the UW-Madison Artivism Student Action Program (ASAP) Fund.
Contact: asharmentaprints@gmail.com
If you would like to participate please use this form!
https://forms.gle/F5YnPdbUEWoxzodw5

—

Title: Refugees

Organizer: Edward Bernstein

Abstract: The world-wide refugee problem has existed for some time but has been recently exacerbated with the chaos in Afghanistan; Haitians trying to escape abject poverty and climatic turmoil; conflict between Belarus and Poland that have left refugees trapped between their two borders in a no man’s land; not to mention other horrible situations in Africa and Asia.

This is a call for print artists including myself that have been making or will create work about the refugee situation; perhaps referring to a specific incident, group, or the problem in general.

I am asking distinguished printmaker and long- time professor at UW Madison, Jack Damer to help me select 11 artists. Jack not only is a formidable artist but has been engaged in socio, political and ecological issues in his practice over a long career.

Each artist will submit one print in any print media or combination with a paper size or other support limited to 18” in any direction. I will bring the prints to Madison and hang them for the one day exhibition.

The Conference theme calls for socially relevant contributions for which this pop-up show meets the criteria: “challenging systems of oppression………”  creating… “socially engaged graphic arts……”

Contact: ebernste@indiana.edu

 

Applicants wishing to participate will email a brief statement of intent summarizing their interest in the portfolio and a description of their planned media, as well as 1-3 images of sample work to the portfolio organizer. Please see individual entries for additional requirements.

Title: Speculative Futures

Organizer: Kala’i Blakemore and Jackson Taylor

Abstract: In the face of a global pandemic, political upheaval, and climate crisis, many of us are left with the question, What now? Where do we go from here? As we begin to experience an impending climate disaster how can we imagine a restructured future? How can we recover from the wounds of colonialism, systemic violence, and military imperialism?

Native scholar Nick Estes writes that “Indigenous resistance is not a one-time event. It continually asks: What proliferates in the absence of empire? Thus, it defines freedom not as the absence of settler colonialism, but as the amplified presence of Indigenous life and just relations with human and nonhuman relatives, and with the earth.”

Does the world “end” with one major event, or does our society unfold in degrees, one cataclysm at a time. As we trudge from one unprecedented event to the next, and governing powers become all too apathetic towards the suffering of the people, it becomes necessary to return to the drawing board. As patriarchal capitalism buckles beneath the weight of its own inequities, how does one rebuild, or reimagine a society that is egalitarian and sustainable? As artists and participants in the historically populist medium of printmaking how can we imagine community building in the post-apocalypse? What does a decolonized world look like, and how do we operate within it?

“Speculative Futures” begs the question, how, in the dimness of present global circumstance, can we propagate a network of communities to support an unprejudiced and equitable futurity?

We invite printmakers from across the globe to reckon with themes of reclamation, cultivation, and regeneration of worlds on the brink of collapse.

Themed Portfolio Specifications

• Edition Size: 27. 25 copies for Participants, 1 copy for SGCI Archive and 1 for the University of Virginia.  The exchange will also be exhibited at Ruffin Hall on the grounds of University of Virginia.
• Cost of Participation: $40 per participant to pay for the colophon, box and shipping costs.
• Edition Dimensions: 11’’x14’’ on archival paper.
• Edition Special Requirements: All prints are required to include an element of traditional print media.

Contact: kalai.blakemore@gmail.com

—

Title: Chimaera: Multimedia in Print

Organizer: Ivy Brenneman

Abstract: In Greek mythology, the chimaera was described as a fearsome fire-breathing monster, part lion, part goat, and part serpent. Today, the term has come to refer to “anything composed of very disparate parts, or perceived as wildly imaginative, implausible, or dazzling.” Printmaking as a medium has always dreamed big and pushed boundaries. It is unique within fine arts in both its ability to exist in several different places and reach a multitude of audiences at one time, something not possible before the printed edition, and in the sheer variety forms printed images can take. From the printing of the first known printed book The Diamond Sutra in China to the invention of the Gutenberg Press in 1440, from the discovery of lithography at the end of the eighteenth century to the development of squeegees for screen printing at the beginning of the twentieth century, from countless technological innovations all the way to our current era steeped in digital media and connected by the internet, the world of printmaking has continued to expand and grow our understanding of the possibilities of the pictorial image.

This portfolio proposal is a celebration of what printmaking is and what it can be. Taking inspiration from the chimaera, this portfolio looks to explore the ways in which print media can be mixed, matched, and expanded into unique art objects. Participants will utilize one or more traditional print processes (relief, screen print, lithography, intaglio, monotype, etc.) in conjunction with one or more non-traditional print processes (these can range from using digital fabrication or printing to unusual media, collage, low-relief sculptural elements, etc.) to create hybridized works of art that embrace the spirit of inclusivity and experimentation that permeates printmaking and imagine where the field can continue to grow in the future.

Details:

The portfolio will consist of 20 artists, for a total edition size of 22. Prints will be sized 11” x 11” x a maximum of .25” and must include a minimum of 1 traditional and one untraditional print process, though more will be accepted and even encouraged. (Choice of imagery is at the discretion of the artist.) Applicants wishing to participate will email a brief statement of intent summarizing their interest in the portfolio and a description of their planned media, as well as 1-3 images of sample work to the portfolio organizer. Once the participants have been decided, each artist will be responsible for paying a $20 participation fee (to offset organizer material and return shipping costs), producing an edition of 22 prints, and mailing them to the event organizer. The organizer will be responsible for the creation of the cases and the colophon. Once all materials have arrived, the organizer will assemble the portfolios and mail them to the participants, as well as to SGCI and host institution archives.

Contact: Ibrennem@iu.edu

—

Title: Collectivity is Flux

Organizer: Aunna Escobedo

Abstract: Collective art spaces are innovative. With aims to disrupt old rules and persistent hierarchies, they move outside transactional economies and traditional education, advocating for affordable access through forms of mutual aid. These include skill-shares, shared space, resources, and equipment as well as experiential opportunities like exhibitions, collaborative projects, and community-focused events. This ethos is based in generosity, transparency, equity, and joy, supporting a safe and inclusive social and cultural space. Collectivity is flux, a process of constant experimentation, breaking down barriers, emphasizing the importance of art in everyday life for any and everyone. Within our specific community, the collective is an interface for sharing, near and far, producing unique programs that stretch boundaries and present diverse perspectives.

These communal spaces embrace a shared responsibility in bringing accessibility to the art of printmaking. With this in mind, we seek the voices and visions of other intentional collective spaces to contemplate the work required to bring about livable, meaningful, just, emergent futures.

We invite participation from community-driven, non-profit print shops to collaborate on a portfolio. Innumerable tactics could inform your print edition, but consider the history of print media as a catalyst for social/political/cultural change. How does this influence the future of the collective art space? What does it mean to you to be part of a collective community? How might aspects of our shared and disparate spaces interact, clash, congeal, and present reconfigured cultural resonances? How and when must they take the form of social ruptures? What is out of reach, but available to your imagination, and why?

Requirements:

• Each participant must belong to a makers’ space, co-op, collective, or artistic community outside of academia.
• Twenty-five artists selected will come from a diverse background of people who belong to a collective space/place. An edition of twenty-eight will be made and dispersed to participating artists, the SGCI archive, and the Iowa City Press Co-Op for exhibition opportunities.
• Size: 11×14 inches, each print interleaved with glassine
• Medium: any reproducible method may be used- relief, screenprint, lithography, intaglio, letterpress, etc.
• Cost: $30 per participant
• Shipping cost of portfolio to the Iowa City Press Co-Op is the responsibility of the artist. The portfolio packaging and shipping cost of the finalized portfolio will be covered by participants’ payment listed above.

Contact: icpresscoop@publicspaceone.com

—

Title: The Capsule

Organizer: Leslie Friedman and Tamsen Wojtanowski

Abstract:  Stories shape our societies, create the foundation of our culture, and help us to further the evolution and survival of our species. The whole of human society is built on the understood organization of information and the hivemind that is created through our traditions, cautionary tales, and legends. And yet so often we arbitrarily divide ourselves into groups, keeping our stories and solutions to ourselves.

Print and photography produce ephemera, the physical embodiment of a passing moment held and discarded without regard, only to wish we had paid better attention. A print portfolio can act as a time capsule of information from the present to the future, a snapshot of the moment and all its impermanence.

What to do when the world ends? Begin again. The Capsule is a themed print portfolio that asks participating printmakers and photographers to consider those instructions, cautions, love stories, and jokes that they think are important enough to pass on to the next generation. Viewed, perhaps at a time when all is lost, as sent messages imagining our rebuilding and our shared futures.

In our academies, printmaking and photography are seen as distinct mediums, with their own traditions, vocabulary, and processes. There are, however, more than a handful of techniques and approaches that straddle the boundary between these two. They are like separated siblings of the same art family. In this portfolio, artists are invited to make work that straddles the line between print and photo. Light-based printmaking techniques typically taught in the print shop like photogravure, photo lithography, silkscreen, ImagOn etching, etc. and the more printerly photographic techniques like cyanotype and van dyke are some of the mediums we anticipate seeing in this portfolio.

Logistics:

• 20 Participating Artists, edition reflecting that number
• Medium: The intersection between academic printmaking and photography
• 11” x 14” paper size
• $40 plus shipping

Contact: LesliePVD@gmail.com

—

Title: Calculating Chaos

Organizer: Brian Gonzales

Abstract:

Contemporary life has highlighted global connections and dismantled the idea of separation. In recent years, it has become abundantly clear that there is no such thing as an isolated community. Events in one part of the world can quickly affect the whole. Within chaotic systems small changes in initial conditions can unfold into sweeping, unpredictable variation permanently altering the future state of that system.

Reflecting on current events, participants are encouraged to explore the ways in which personal, communal, and governmental decisions can have large-scale or unanticipated

consequences for our shared future.

Organizer’s Note: This exchange portfolio will include a diverse, international group of artists and if selected we will run a parallel exhibition of the themed portfolio in the United Arab Emirates at the same time as the conference in Madison, Wisconsin. I am hopeful that the round 2 call for participation will attract a diverse group of artists from the SGCI community to join those listed below.

Currently confirmed participants:
Athoub Albusaily – Kuwaiti
Majd Alloush – Syrian
Shaikha Al Mazrou – Emirati
Raj Bunnag – American
Hala El Abora – Palestinian/Jordanian
Brian Gonzales – American

Technical details:

• Edition Size: 23
• 20 participants +3 (1 portfolio for UWM, 1 for SGCI, 1 for traveling exhibition in the UAE)
• Paper size: 28 x 38cm (11 x 15 inches)
• Participation Fee: $40 to cover shipping and boxing of prints. Less if you can pickup/drop off in the UAE (Sharjah or Dubai)
• Open to any traditional printmaking media and interdisciplinary approaches
• To apply email Brian Gonzales at briangonzalesartist@gmail.com with a brief statement of interest, 3 images of your work (2000 pixels max in longest direction), and link to online portfolio/social media.

Contact: gonz@illegitimatepress.com

—

Title: Codes of Conduct

Organizer: Luke Johnson

Abstract:  The chasms between the codes we claim to uphold as a society and the reality of our conduct has only become more apparent over the last several years, amidst a global rise of right-wing populism, ecological devastation, and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. In the face of these realities, growing social movements are thinking otherwise, imagining futures which may be uncertain, but which offer alternatives to previously upheld systems which all too often function as pillars of animosity in the way of goodwill, growth, and change.

Societies, cultures and institutions have structured themselves around these spoken and unspoken codes, and members of this portfolio are asked to reflect broadly on this theme for their work. How do such systems dictate our everyday lives, unite and tear us apart, remain present in the mind or invisible until broken? What does a response to these ruptures look like from the numerous points of view offered within a portfolio? How might our art draw attention, provoke thought, and channel support towards the repair, revision, or replacement of the structures of our daily life? And, in keeping with the conference theme, what futures do we propose? Our prints will collectively offer a varied set of individually situated responses thinking through—but not necessarily answering—such urgent questions.

Portfolio Details:

• Edition: 25
• Size: 15×20 inches (any orientation or plate size)
• Media: all print media are welcome (intaglio, relief, screen, litho, digital, letterpress, etc.)
• Finished prints due: February 2022
• Portfolio participation fee: $40 (goes towards case, colophon, return shipping—please be in touch if this cost is a preventative restriction to your possible participation)
• Artists interested in participating are asked to send 5 sample images of previous work, a cv, and a statement on their work via email. If the themes you hope to address in your print for this portfolio require additional explanation, you can include an additional written statement, or link to an audio/video statement, which helps contextualize how you hope to address the portfolio theme. These materials should be sent via email to organizers Aaron David (ajdavid128@gmail.com) and Luke Johnson (ljohnson@ualberta.ca), subject line ‘Codes of Conduct’, by Monday, November 22, 2021.

Contact: ljohnson@ualberta.ca

—

Title: Solastalgia: Redefining Home in Precarious Times

Organizer: Jenn Manzella and Katie VanVliet

Abstract:  The theme of this proposed Portfolio Exchange for the SGC conference in Madison, WI is “Solastalgia”. This is a relatively new term that has been unveiled by Australian environmental researcher and philosopher, Glen A Albrecht. Solastalgia refers to the stress on individuals caused by environmental changes while they are connected to their home environment which can be either your individual home or the area one lives in. The root of the words formed by the Latin word for comfort “solacium” and the Greek root “algia” which refers to pain, suffering, and grief.

These changes can include events such as natural disasters, industrialization, or even gentrification that occurs within an area that people consider home. Solastalgia happens when these environmental changes have a negative effect on people and lead to a sense of powerlessness or lack of control over the unfolding change process¹. Similar but different to Nostalgia, the feeling and longing of being away from home; Solastalgia deals with the effect of one’s home as not feeling safe or recognizable anymore and therefore unsafe. “Solastalgia is when your endemic sense of place is being violated,” Justin Lawson from Melbourne’s Deakin University explains solastalgia, “It really is about redefining our emotional responses to a landscape that has changed within a lifetime.”

The past two years have thinned and polarized our relationships to each other, brought to the surface increasing systemic social injustices, and left us feeling the environmental impact because of our tireless consumption of material resources. All of this has caused an increasing amount of anxiety that directly affects our emotional health and a sense of security in our home environments.

Currently, ecosystems and people around the world are simultaneously facing extreme changes to their environment which cause physical stress to a place and emotional distress to individuals. Dramatic changes such as climate change, over industrialization, gentrification and even social upheaval impact the health of nations, populations, ethnicities, and individuals.

By addressing this topic in the portfolio, we hope to allow an opportunity for artists/printmakers to reflect on their personal relationships to the place they call “home” or the concept of home and how current environmental changes, political systems, and power relationships influence their emotional being. Even though this term can have a negative connotation to describe a certain type of “homesickness” that individuals or people can feel; we believe that the concept is broad enough to encompass a more hopeful, humorous, or reflective narrative that is inclusive of a varied spectrum of circumstances.

Portfolio Details:

• The portfolio will welcome fourteen artists to join the co-curators in creating an edition of twenty prints, which includes a collated set for each participant, a portfolio of prints for the SGCI archives, the portfolio sponsor BYO Print, and an exhibition portfolio exhibited at SGCI 2022: Our Shared Future. The edition’s paper size will be 11″ x 14.” Artists working in any printmaking media are welcome to apply, with emphasis paid to artists working with non-toxic materials or environmentally-conscious practices.

¹ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18027145/

Contact: Byostudio.philly@gmail.com

—

Title: PriBlended Fibers/Blended Cultures

Organizer: Lacey Mills

Abstract: Blended Fiber/ Blended Cultures is a trade portfolio that emphasizes the use of handmade paper and printmaking. Like handmade paper itself, the blended fibers make a strong structure or surface for printing. Some papers have inclusions, some have color and pattern while others are simply plane and white. Both provide a base or layer for printing. Like the ionic bonds created in paper making, we each as individuals are made up of blended  “fibers”;cultures, Ideas and Influences.

The intention of this exchange is to incorporate handmade paper and printmaking techniques to create a print that reflects the artists experience of being a part of or product of blended cultures.

 

—laceybmills@gmail.com

Title: This is a Gift

Organizer: Heather Parrish

Abstract: Next to my desk hangs a small letterpress print. I remember the night I got it: crowded around a table overflowing with vibrant and evocative Amos Kennedy prints, a stack to purchase in my arms. As he added up the total he read aloud the small one: This is a Gift. The print said it; and so it was.

On a shelf across from my desk is a small cardboard-wrapped stack of zinc plates. I remember the auditorium, post-conference panel, overflowing with a profound sense of generosity and love. Diné artist Melanie Yazzie, the host, ended the session by giving a gift from her studio to every person in the room. The little zinc plates have been awaiting a worthy print exchange; and here it is.

‘This is a Gift’ portfolio will celebrate and carry forward the threads of generosity that brought us here and from which we will weave our shared future. Do you have a gift to give? Please email me at heather-parrish@uiowa.edu , subject line: This is a Gift Portfolio.  Include a paragraph to introduce yourself, a paragraph with your idea for the exchange and your mailing address. If selected I will mail you a little zinc plate.

Plate size: 3 x 4 inch zinc

Paper size: 5 x 7 inch

Edtion size: 20

Due: Feb. 14, 2022

Contact: heather-parrish@uiowa.edu

—

Title: Speculative Futures: Visions from Printmaking Caregivers

Organizer: Katie Ries and Carrie Scanga

Abstract:  “Speculative Futures: Visions from Printmaking Caregivers” is open to artists who are pointedly both printmakers and caregivers. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the impact caregiving has on our collective functioning and well being. No part of our lives is untouched by the complications and challenges of caregiving labor. From national media on healthcare, education, and labor to intimate group chats on caring for family and friends across time, space, and generations, caregiving is part of the zeitgeist. “Speculative Futures” builds on these discussions a platform for the visions of the future dreamed of by printmakers-caregivers. Our definition of caregiving is deliberately broad and inclusive. Caregivers include, but are not limited to, healthcare workers, parents and guardians, teachers, elder care workers, mutual aid groups, and artists who love and live with those with mental health issues and addiction.

“Speculative Futures” is a container for a future imagined and co-imagined by printmakers who spend significant time and labor in caregiving relationships. Our work is indebted to artists such as Mierle Laderman-Ukeles, whose 1969 Care Manifesto called out maintenance as the “sourball of every revolution” and an f-ing “drag.” The necessity and monotony of care can be deadening. We seek to offer solace, beauty, comfort, and radical alternative visions from one caregiver to another. What visions do caregivers have for better worlds? What do caregiving artists dream of in the vulnerable state between waking and unconsciousness? What images do we as caregiving-printmakers wish to create and disseminate? Can the use of the reproducible matrix be considered an act of care towards an image or idea?

Following the SGCI conference, this portfolio will be made available for exhibition to caregiving facilities such as assisted living centers, daycares, and other congregate settings in which fine art prints are not typically displayed. We invite interested artists to bear in mind these larger non-traditional contexts and audiences.

Contact: kt.ries@gmail.com

—

Title: Optical Impermanence

Organizer: Jennifer Scheuer

Abstract:  The exchange portfolio Optical Impermanence explores shared vision through optical play and interactivity of image and materials. Participants will create a radial 9.5” round print on Japanese paper, vellum, mylar, or other translucent surface.

The translucency of the prints in this portfolio will create new interactions, intentional placement, interdependencies and discovery as the works are laid atop one another and arranged for viewing. The portfolio asks the viewer to remove, re-sort, and rearrange the prints to restore them to their container.

Artists are encouraged to explore transparency, cut outs, and translucency of inks, materials, and imagery that supports the interactivity between works. Prints can be hand torn or cut to the circular dimension. Please submit works with round glassine interleaving for archival storage. The packaging for this project will be a round 10” container.

Portfolio Details:

• Dimensions: 9.5” Round Print
• Open call for 20 Participants
• Portfolio Fee: $40.00
• To apply for this portfolio please email jscheue@purdue.edu with the subject heading “Optical.” Submit three representative images of your work, a resume/c.v. and a short statement of how you will use translucency as a concept or in materials use in your print.

Contact: jscheue@purdue.edu

—

Title: Well-Fed!

Organizer: Becci Spruill

Abstract:  Well-Fed is a portfolio designed to nourish the soul. Food is cultural, social and an integral part of the human experience. Whether it’s a local drag brunch and mimosas with your bestie, your mom’s cornbread and chili on a cold night, or eating your favorite pan dulces from the local panaderia with your nephews, food is a part of culture that is closely related to our identities and our relationships.

This portfolio is an invitation to elevate and celebrate foods that blend memory with identity. Well-Fed is an opportunity invite the viewer to share a meal, celebrate our many cultures and the social acts of cooking and eating.

Portfolio Details:

• Open to printmakers at any level around the world. Participation is limited to the a maximum of 20 participants. Application costs $15, and participants are expected to create 22 images; one portfolio will go to the hosting institution while another will go to SGCI’s archives.
• Applicants should send three images of their current work and a short artists’ statement to beccispruill@gmail.com. 

Contact: beccispruill@gmail.com