Dear friends,

I recently returned from a trip to Zygote Press in Cleveland, OH. I was invited to consult with the staff and plan a transition from traditional etching practices (nitric acid and Dutch mordant, asphaltum grounds, etc.) to safer ones (ferric chloride and copper sulfate mordant, acrylic and ink based grounds), and to demonstrate some of the etching practices in use at Zea Mays Printmaking. Additionally, I got to work in their shop for several days proofing a plate of my own for their master printer to edition. It’s always a privilege to be invited into another studio that is in the throes of a transformation, and I see it as an opportunity to share my experience with green printmaking and help a new group of artists. I realize that it’s often difficult to give up tried and true practices for new ones, but Zygote is taking this on with enthusiasm, joy, and optimism. Kudos to Zygote for making positive change.

Part of the pleasure of working in another shop is getting a sense of the culture of the community. The Zygote staff, under the leadership of Liz Maugans, are a fantastic group of artists, printmakers and community builders. The shop was well organized, the people friendly and welcoming. During my days there I got to watch a book arts class in progress, and work alongside artists making screen prints, woodcuts and etchings.

Director Maugans took me on a tour of one Cleveland neighborhood devastated by the economic crisis of the last decade. This area of boarded up houses and businesses is being revitalized through the arts, including Zygote's new editioning studio located in a former crack house. I was so impressed with the leadership role Zygote Press has in the Cleveland arts community-- from helping to revitalize neighborhoods to creatively advocating for art support at the state and national level.

Despite the bitter cold, It was a real pleasure to spend a few days working in their spacious studio and living in the residency loft above it. I encourage those of you in Ohio and beyond to check out this great print studio and meet the artists who bring it to life.

In the last newsletter, I mentioned two new programs that Zea Mays Printmaking is offering. The Certificate in Green Printmaking: Intaglio was so well received that we now have only one space left in the program. Frankly, I didn’t anticipate the level of enthusiasm for this program and we are already talking about offering it again in the summer of 2016. If you want to get on the waiting list for this summer’s Certificate program please email me. If you don’t get into it this summer, you’ll have first dibs on a spot for next year.

The Artist Mentorship Program (AMP@ZMP) is about to roll out. Please look for a special edition newsletter in your email box next week with all of the details.

In the meantime, check out the great Spring/Summer workshops we are offering. They fill quickly.

I hope to see many of you at Zea Mays Printmaking now that the weather is warming and the promise of leaves and flowers and fresh veggies is in the mud.

Liz

2015 Fellowship Recipient Announced

On March 31st, the Zea Mays Printmaking community is thrilled to welcome the first ever Residency Fellowship recipient: Marnix Everaert of Belgium.

Mr. Everaert is a professor of non-toxic printmaking at the Academy Visual Arts Ghent, Belgium. His focus on safer methods began in 2000 after a visit with Keith Howard at R.I.T. He has worked all over the world in schools, studios and residencies where he says most of his new ideas have been generated.

Marnix Everaert will be in residence through April 13th. Check out his website here

Our residency program has already hosted several wonderful artists in 2015. Here are some photos of these artists at work.

Ellyn Weiss was in residence in February, working on monotypes on Plexiglass.

Ellyn was followed by Rhea Nowak who worked in photopolymer intaglio and etching.

Currently, Melissa Harshman (University of Georgia, Athens) is doing a mini-residency in etching.

Learn more about residencies at Zea Mays Printmaking here

In another residency update, member artist Anne Beresford shares some big news with the studio:

"I am thrilled to have received a MacDowell Fellowship for this spring. I will be off in a cabin in the New Hampshire woods drawing and dreaming about Utopias - (and perhaps living in one!). I will be in residence at the colony from the end of March through April. I hope to be very productive. Very. Hope. To. Be. My sincere thanks to all of you,(especially Liz and that elusive woman, Zea Mays) who have been so supportive of my work in the past several years - this opportunity has certainly been made possible by your encouragements."

Stay tuned for more about Anne's residency in our next e*newsletter.

Interns Audrey Blood and Jenny Gover have successfully created substitutes for Z-Acryl spray aquatint and stop-out. They will demonstrate the finished products and present their research to members on Friday, March 20th at 11am. Please contact the studio to rsvp for this event.

For a history of research in new and safer printmaking methods, visit our technical pages.

Woodcuts and Etchings by Nancy Haver in the Loo Gallery
@ Zea Mays Printmaking

"On exhibit is a sampling of woodcuts and etchings inspired by my 2014 artist residencies at Petrified Forest National Park, AZ and Catoctin Mountain National Park, MD. My childhood visits to the national parks were the fuel for my lifelong devotion to the natural sciences. Before I learned to read I was fascinated by field guides and spent long hours in the back of the station wagon poring over them. Returning to this source of inspiration for a time of intensive work has given me the opportunity to focus on the environment in an unfettered way–to regain my compass–for, as Emerson wrote, “In the woods we return to reason and faith.” This spring I will spend 2 weeks at Acadia National Park and 3 weeks at Great Smoky Mountains National Park."

Nancy Haver's show is up through the month of March. See more of her work here

An Invitation from Joan S. Wright

“Machine Age Modernism: Prints from the Daniel Cowin Collection,” has just opened at The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown. Consisting mainly of linocuts, but also including etchings, drypoints, and lithographs made by English printmakers in the 1920’s and 1930’s, the show is small but striking. It shows several English artists grappling with continental influences such as Cubism and Futurism, and incorporating mechanistic imagery in their work while, at the same time, encouraging hands-on printing practices. The show is on until May 17th, and if studio members come on a Tuesday morning, when I work there, I can cover their admissions. -Joan S. Wright, Member Artist

Diana MacKenzie has prints in two group shows during the month of March. "Springfield College Visual Arts Faculty Exhibition:" members of the Springfield College visual arts faculty exhibit work created in a variety of two and three-dimensional media, February 27 - March 26 at William Blizard Gallery, 2nd Floor of Blake Hall, 263 Alden Street, Springfield, MA. And "Drawings by Lynne Adams; Mixed Media by Diana MacKenzie; Handcrafted Wooden Vehicles by Louis Leone," March 3 – 30 at the Hosmer Gallery, 2nd floor of Forbes Library, Northampton, MA, opening reception Saturday, March 7, 2-4 PM.

Frank Ozereko is showing three teapots in "Eclectic Traditions:" the Attleboro Arts Museum presents work by the faculty and alumni of Massachusetts College of Art, March 24 - April 3 2015, and his image was chosen for the poster. He also has three teapots in "2015 State of Clay" at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton MA, an invitational group exhibit March 7 - May 24, 2015.

Larinda Meade had two prints; “Judy’s Pond” and “Near Albany” accepted for the juried show "Artist’s Choice" at the River Arts Gallery in Damariscotta Maine. The exhibit runs from February 28-March 26.

The number of attendees at Carol Blackwell's Encaustic Monotype demo for MassWax far exceeded the organization's expectation and introduced many of its members to printmaking with wax. Her work is currently part of the Danforth Museum's March Faculty Exhibit, on display now.

Jean Allemeier Boot will have prints included in an upcoming exhibition at LaFontsee Galleries, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The exhibition, entitled "Lookie Here," opens on March 26 and runs through the month of April.

B.Z. Reily's show "Junk Drawer”... Assemblages and Prints will be in the Oxbow Gallery Back Room, Pleasant Street in Northampton March 5th to 29th. Opening Reception: Friday, March 13th.

The Boston Athenaeum commissioned Neil Brigham to create a print of their historic building on Beacon Street in Boston. He finished the four color linocut in December and it is now a part of their prints collection along with nine other prints of Neil's which they previously acquired. One of these nine linocuts, depicting a snowy owl, was used on their 2014 holiday card. The Athenaeum will use the building image for their in-house publications and publicity.

Annie Bissett has received a Fellowship for Creative and Performing Artists from the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, MA, where she will spend four weeks in April researching the Society's extensive collection of early American graphics.

Liz Chalfin and Zea Mays Printmaking are featured in the book Contemporary American Printmakers, a collection of work by more than seventy print-based artists and thirty print shops from across the United States whose work embraces the history and techniques of traditional printmaking while pushing the bounds of new print media. Available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

The Lessendra Art Gallery in Sofia, Bulgaria is accepting entries for the 14th Lessendra World Art Print Annual- Mini Print 2015. Entries will be accepted until March 31st 2015. From the gallery website: "An international print annual with the premise that no art form has broader implications in contemporary society than that of the print. The aim is to gather and exhibit contemporary art print works from all over the world and to contribute to the contacts and the exchange between artists, art lovers and collectors and to stimulate the research into paper, inks, and other materials used in printmaking." Details here Entry form here

The McMaster University Museum of Art in Hamilton, Ontario is accepting entries for their Environmentally Responsible Print Practices Exhibition beginning January 2016. Submissions must be postmarked by August 7th, 2015. More information here

This month we're highlighting member artist Adrienne Figus's website, found here

Adrienne is also featured in The Daily Hampshire Gazette's Art Maker section of Hampshire Life. Check out the article here

You can find a full directory of links to member and faculty websites here.

News about the changing landscape of printmaking and improvements concerning safety and toxicity are always welcome. Please submit letters, updates, or ideas to sally.clegg@gmail.com