Colby-Sawyer College to Host Printmaker Mary Mead for Presentation of 'Artists Who Make Prints'
NEW LONDON, N.H., January 19, 2011 – Colby-Sawyer College will host “Artists Who Make Prints” as part of the 2010-2011 Artist and Scholar Lecture Series. Mary Mead, Adjunct Assistant Professor of printmaking at Colby-Sawyer, will discuss her own art work and introduce the work of other artists who make prints.
Mead's presentation will be held in Hicks Alumni Lounge, Ware Campus Center on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011 from 12-1 p.m. Admission to this event is free and the public is invited to attend.
Mead, who earned her MFA from the Boston Museum School/Tufts University, first made prints when she became a founding member of Two Rivers Printmaking Studio in White River Jct., Vt. Coming into the world of printmaking as a trained sculptor, Mead seized the chance to immerse herself in multiple printmaking techniques, including stone lithography, intaglio, photo etching, monotypes and several experimental processes after the studio opened in 2001.
Over the course of five years spent at Two Rivers Printmaking Studio, Mead focused on her new found love of printmaking and continued to absorb as many techniques as possible. She explains, “I love everything about printmaking. I was trained as a sculptor and sculptors love process and machines and getting their hands dirty. I love the endless possibilities, the multiple processes, the surprise element [in printmaking]. There is nothing I don't like about making prints.”
During her presentation of “Artists Who Make Prints,” Mead will show a range of printmaking techniques used in her own work, as well as those used by artists whom she admires. Some of the artists she will discuss include Judy Pfaff, Micheal Mazer, Ross Bleckner, Squeak Carnwath and Joan Snyder. Mead will also discuss well-known master printmaking facilities like Crown Point Press, Tamarind and Tandem Press.
For her own work, Mead says her favorite printmaking processes are monotype, drypoint and lithography, all of which involve, to some degree, drawing. During a week in 2009 at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Mass., Mead sought to bring more color into her prints with oil and watercolor paints. She was also introduced to the technique of printing woodcuts as intaglio plates. She says that her art has many focal points, but is mostly about her response to internal and external stimuli. Mead states, “I hope that viewers find enough [in my art] to engage in a visceral conversation with the imagery. The response to art can be non-verbal, emotional.”
Learn more about Mead's art and previous exhibitions here.
-Jessica McLavey '10
Colby-Sawyer College is a comprehensive college that integrates the liberal arts and sciences with professional preparation. Founded in 1837, Colby-Sawyer is located in the scenic Lake Sunapee Region of central New Hampshire. Learn more about the college's vibrant teaching and learning community at www.colby-sawyer.edu.
Colby-Sawyer College, 541 Main Street, New London, N.H. 03257 (603) 526-3000
