AS220 Turns Focus to Printmaking - Inside Art With Michael Rose

AS220 Turns Focus to Printmaking - Inside Art With Michael Rose

 

Right now is the very best time to explore the art of the print in Rhode Island. At AS220, four concurrent exhibitions all focus on printmaking in various forms. The shows are awe-inspiring and creatively energizing.

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Spread throughout discrete venues dotted across several blocks, AS220’s Galleries offered varied installations of dynamic prints. On view in the organization’s Aborn Gallery at 95 Empire Street, Crossroads is a group show curated by local printmaker Lois Harada. Next door in the AS220 Main Gallery at 115 Empire Street, PVDPrintmakers has organized an exhibition titled Swap/Exchange/Trade, focused on the popular practice of print trades and swaps.

 

 

In the AS220 Project Space and Reading Room at 93 Mathewson Street, multidisciplinary artists Edwige Charlot and Noél Puéllo are mounting a vibrant exhibition featuring prints, photographs, and fiberworks titled Homeisland, Home Is Land. Finally, in the Resident Gallery at 131 Washington Street, a tightly packed group show titled Refuge of All The Arts celebrates artists and community at AS220. With an abundance of work to see, even seasoned art lovers will be very pleased with this lineup.

 

The exhibitions are thoughtfully assembled but wonderfully diverse as well. A plethora of printmaking techniques executed by dozens of local artists make it possible for visitors to get to see a wealth of local print practice all at one organization. Whether it be a quilt, a hand-made book, a graphic poster, or an installation piece, prints take numerous forms.

 

 

In AS220’s second floor Aborn Gallery space, Lois Harada’s Crossroads exhibition probes a variety of modes of printmaking. Traditional pieces like linotypes and lithographs appear, but so do other less-expected processes. Andre Lee Bassuet is showing prints executed using Legos and Harada herself is exhibiting a penny press. Featuring a strong stable of contemporary artists, Crossroads is a great introduction to printmaking as well.

 

Asked what she aims for exhibition-goers to experience, Harada responds, “I hope they get to meet a new printmaker! The exhibition has a range of folks highlighting different printmaking techniques and work is hung unframed. This lets people get very close to the work which printmakers love to do—we like to analyze and figure out how something was made (and if we can’t, that’s even better!).”

 

 

Harada praises Gallery Director Neal Walsh and Gallery Assistant Gabby Banks for making this notable exhibition series possible. The AS220 team, along with the talented artists sharing their work, all deserve the thanks of their community for helping the city put its best foot forward during the recent SGCI conference. Though geared toward this national audience, the exhibitions will remain on view for locals to enjoy through April 27.

 

 

While Harada’s show highlights a wealth of genres, the PVDPrintmakers exhibition Swap/Exchange/Trade explores charming prints that show off what can be done on a small scale. Prints by Heather McMordie and Carey Good stand out here. Nearby, in the AS220 Resident Gallery, letterforms, design, and even texture are centered in works by local artists. Well-known artist Jacques Bidon is sharing a poster in this showcase. Down the street, the powerful Edwige Charlot and Noél Puéllo exhibition at the Project Space and Reading Room highlights a visual conversation between two gifted artists probing overlapping themes of identity and experience across media.

 

 

Speaking of what excites her most about the organization turning over all of its galleries to printmakers, Lois Harada says, “AS220 is one of my favorite places to show work—the organization’s policy of ‘unjuried and uncensored’ means that there is always something interesting to see at their gallery spaces. As a print nerd, it’s been great to share this amazing community resource with printmakers from so many different places. There are four print shows at AS220 right now with a wide range of work and media so it’s also nice to say, ‘thanks for coming to the Aborn Gallery, have you checked out the Project Space?’ and vice versa!”

 

 

Printmaking is an art form that makes fine art more accessible to broader audiences. It also enables storytelling and activism in important ways. The artists showing now at AS220 are leveraging print media to make engaging artworks and all four exhibitions merit enthusiastic and repeated visits. These exhibitions are evidence that Rhode Island’s printmaking community is a vibrant powerhouse of creative energies.

 

The Galleries at AS220 are free and open to the public 12-5 pm Thursdays - Fridays. The current exhibitions with a printmaking focus all continue through April 27, 2024. Learn more and plan your visit at www.as220.org or by following @as220galleries on Instagram.