April Vollmer

NEW PRINTS 2010/Autumn, International Print Center New York

508 West 26th Street, Room 5A, NYC
October 21 to November 20, 2010
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 21, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
IPCNY Autumn Press Release

Curatorial Essay (PDF)

Essay by Katie Michel

Illustrated Checklist available here.

A 10^th ANNIVERSARY EVENT!

International Print Center New York presents New Prints 2010/Autumn in its gallery at 508 West 26^th Street, Room 5A, between 10^th and 11^th Avenues in Chelsea. On view from October 21 – November 20, the show consists of forty-three pieces by forty-three emerging to established artists, selected from a pool of some 1,500 submissions. A reception with the artists will be held at IPCNY on Thursday, October 21, from 6-8 pm.

Please note that IPCNY has relocated to Room 5-A, 508 West 26th Street in Chelsea.

The Selections Committee for New Print 2010/Autumn included Jennifer McGregor, curator, Wave Hill; Katie Michel, The Grenfell Press, printer and collector;John Newman, artist; and Martina Yamin, paper conservator.

New Prints 2010/Autumn is the thirty-seventh presentation of IPCNY’s New Prints Program, a series ofjuried exhibitions organized by IPCNY four times each year, featuring prints made within the past twelve months by artists at all stages of their careers.  The Exhibition represents a cross-section of some of the most exceptional printmaking today while continuing IPCNY’s commitment to provide an ongoing exhibition venue for contemporary prints and a major source of information about artists working in the medium.

The complete artists’ list is as follows: Jebah Baum, Joell Baxter, Jarrod Beck, Anne Beresford, Håkan Berg, Derek Boshier, Lisa Bulawsky, Victoria Burge, Walter Buttrick, Onyedika Chuke, Ann Conner, Michael Dal Cerro, Bruce Davenport, Jr., Donna Diamond, Sara Eichner, Sara Farrell Okamura, Gary Groves, Kevin Haas, Takuji Hamanaka, Mary Hood, Anita S. Hunt, Isaiah King, Michael Loderstedt, Nichole Maury, Frederick Mershimer, Mitch Mitchell, Carol Montgomery, Sean P. Morrissey, James Mustin III, Lisa Nankivil, Alice O’Neill,  Ryan Parker, Sarah Plimpton, William Powhida, Ross Racine, Jimena NoemíRamos García, Scott Reeds, John-Mark Schlink, Shino Soma, Fulvio Tomasi, April Vollmer, Carolyn Webb, and Judy Youngblood.

Highlights of New Prints 2010/Autumn include: Jebah Baum’s Prime I / Blue Orb, a bold woodblock of graphic, circular forms in an overlapping pattern; Frederick Mershimer’s Moonlight, a masterful mezzotint that depicts the reflections of the moon over the ocean; Brewster, a nine-color reduction linoleum cut of a staring, blue-eyed creature, by Walter Buttrick; Bruce Davenport, Jr.’s Crusaders, a lithograph of a New Orleans junior high school marching band in formation; and an intricate mapping of constellations in Montana Night, made with photopolymer intaglio by Victoria Burge.

In addition to the many independent artists included in this show, the presses, publishers  and printshops represented are: Flowers Gallery, London; The Grenfell Press; Groveland Editions; Lower East Side Printshop; Print (vb.n.), London; Protophorm Press; Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop; and Streetside Editions.

An illustrated brochure with a curatorial essay by Katie Michel will accompany the Exhibition.

Printopolis Conference at Open Studio, Toronto
Mokuhanga, Beyond the Basics Exhibition and Demonstration
Presenters: Elizabeth Forrest and April Vollmer

Printopolis Event Photos

Demonstration – Mokuhanga: Beyond the Basics
This demonstration goes beyond the basics of mokuhanga and offers the unique perspectives of two experienced practitioners. Vollmer will demonstrate the use of kento registration notches cut directly in the block and how to repeatedly print multiple blocks to illustrate the process of creating an image that is larger and more complex than can be made from straightforward printing from a single set of blocks. Forrest will demonstrate pigment layering and bokashi—the blending of colours and values—recommending various approaches to overcome printing challenges, such as accurate registration and use of binders to permit crisp, separated colour superimposition. This demo is relevant to printmakers with some previous knowledge of mokuhanga.

Exhibition – Mokuhanga and Beyond
This is an exhibition of contemporary Mokuhanga, Japanese water-base woodblock printing, curated by Elizabeth Forrest and April Vollmer. The show features nine artists from Canada, the USA and Europe who use the technique to create personal prints. All have been profoundly influenced by the woodblock tradition of Japan, and many have studied there. Each artist incorporates essential elements of the technique, the precise cutting and registration, control of color, and printing on handmade Japanese washi, in the creation of new work. The show focuses on the way each artist uses the technique to further an individual vision, giving the tradition of Japanese woodblock printmaking new vitality by creating challenging contemporary art that could be made in no other way.

The artists included are:

Jacomijn den Engelsen, Holland
Elizabeth Forrest, Canada
Daniel Heyman, USA
Dariuz Kaca, Poland
Mike Lyon, USA
Tuula Moilanen, Finland/Japan
Eva Pietzcker, Germany
April Vollmer, USA
Barbara Wybou, Canada