fbpx

Student-Curated Exhibition, “Printing History,” at the CWAM from April 16-May 12

WOOSTER, Ohio – A student-curated exhibition, “Printing History: Observation, Imagination, and the Ephemeral,” opens in The College of Wooster Art Museum’s (CWAM) Burton D. Morgan Gallery on Tuesday, April 16, and runs through Sunday, May 12. The opening reception takes place on Thursday, April 18, from 6:30-8 p.m., and beginning at 7 p.m., the students will give gallery talks. The CWAM is located in Ebert Art Center (1220 Beall Ave.).

Andy Warhol’s 1986 screenprint “Sitting Bull” is one of the prints featured in this exhibition. Image: Andy Warhol (American, 1928–1987), “Sitting Bull,” 1986. Screenprint on Lenox Museum Board, 36 h x 36 w (inches), The College of Wooster Art Museum 2013.79. Gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York, NY. Extra, out of edition. Designated for research and educational purposes only. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

“Printing History” investigates how printmaking has challenged definitions of authority, industry, and status since the original graphic revolution began around 1400. The exhibition consists of 30 works selected from the CWAM’s permanent collection. The chronology of the exhibition begins with Albrecht Dürer – one of the first influential printmakers – and concludes with pop artist Andy Warhol. The exhibition surveys print technologies to illuminate the artistic and social circumstances in which these images were crafted, circulated, and consumed.

The student curators are enrolled in the “History of Prints” seminar taught by Tracy Cosgriff, assistant professor of art history at Wooster. During the first half of the spring semester, the students studied both the prints in the exhibition and more than 150 other prints that rotated through the Burton D. Morgan Gallery.

Cosgriff stated in the course’s syllabus, “We live in a world of infinite images. This seminar critically examines the invention of prints and the emergence of duplicable media in the West, whose cultural currency and aesthetic criteria differ considerably from those of painting, sculpture, and architecture. Together, we are exploring how print media shapes cultural definitions of canon, creativity, and industry, and by interrogating real objects, we are critically reconsidering their role as agents of historical meaning.”

The CWAM routinely supports exhibition projects synthesizing coursework with the research of objects selected from its permanent collection. “Printing History” is one of 12 such projects undertaken in collaboration with faculty and students since the early 2000s.

The CWAM, which supports the College’s goals of teaching, researching, and global engagement, is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 1-4 p.m. All exhibitions and events are free and open to the public. For additional information, visit the CWAM’s website and/or call (330) 263-2495 or (330) 263-2388.

Posted in News on April 4, 2019.