Emerging Printmakers

“Emerging Printmakers” featured artwork from printmaking students and faculty from PennWest Edinboro University and West Virginia University.  Both institutions have excellent Master of Fine Arts programs in printmaking, and the show presented a wide range of strong work in a variety of printmaking media. 

This exhibition explored the art of printmaking.  Original prints are artworks made using any number of printmaking methods chosen by the artist for their unique and interesting visual qualities.  The artist chooses that method which provides him or her with the visual qualities most appropriate to the image that is being created.  The artist creates a printing element or matrix to which he or she applies ink, and then transfers this ink to another surface, typically paper, creating a print.  The fact that the artist can do this several times, creating multiple images from the same printing matrix, does not detract from the print's status as an original work of art.  The printing element, be it a carved block, an etched plate, a lithographic stone or a silkscreen, is only the tool the artist uses to create the artwork - the print is the art. 

The PennWest Edinboro University printmaking program, headed by Professor William Mathie, offers students in its Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) programs training in the traditional printmaking media as well as the latest in digital technologies.  PennWest Edinboro also is home to Egress Press and Research, its own professional fine art publishing studio.

The West Virginia University printmaking program is directed by Professor Joseph Lupo.  WVU also graduates students with BFA and MFA degrees, exploring the traditional print media along with digital and alternative printmaking processes.  WVU students benefit from a unique partnership with Pittsburgh’s “Artists Image Resource”, providing opportunities to learn new processes and collaborate with professional artists.

Our exhibition featured outstanding work by students from both of these programs, as well as work by Joseph Lupo and William Mathie.