INTERNATIONAL FINE PRINT DEALERS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES THE 2016 IFPDA FOUNDATION GRANT AWARDS

INTERNATIONAL FINE PRINT DEALERS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES THE 2016 IFPDA FOUNDATION GRANT AWARDS Seven grants given to museums and art centers across the US in support of exhibitions, programming and research in printmaking #IFPDA #CollectPrints  Ann Dean; Image from the 2014 Steamroller Project at The Lawrence Arts Center New York, August 17, 2016 - The International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2016 IFPDA Foundation grant awards in support of exhibitions, scholarly publications, and educational programs that promote a greater awareness and appreciation of fine prints. This year's projects range from exhibitions to performance-based community happenings, and scholarly research, many of which use new technologies to enhance their impact.  The seven grant recipients are: Arts Center of the Capital Region (Troy, NY); Kala Art Institute (Berkeley, CA); The Lawrence Arts Center (Lawrence, KS); RISD Museum (Providence, RI); Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago (Chicago, IL); University of St. Joseph Art Museum (West Hartford, CT); and the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library  (Winterthur, DE). For over two decades, as the leading international authority on fine art prints and their connoisseurship, the IFPDA has been dedicated to advancing scholarship in the field.  Michele Senecal, Executive Director of the IFPDA, explains, "As a part of our longstanding mission to further the dialogue surrounding the medium, we are proud to support these institutions in their work and look forward to seeing these projects come to fruition and engage new audiences of print enthusiasts." The selected grant recipients will explore notable periods and methodologies within the printmaking discipline; increase audience engagement through public art happenings and events; make use of new technologies in the creation of multimedia installations; and produce scholarly and archival catalogs.  2016 IFPDA grant recipient projects: The Arts Center of the Capital Region will host the East Coast Screen Print Biennial from October to December 2016. Encompassing multiple art exhibitions, a symposium, and talks by nationally-recognized artists Josh Macphee and John Hitchcock, the 2016 biennial will celebrate the specific discipline of screen printing. Also referred to as serigraphs or silkscreen prints, these are made using a process based on the stencil principle in which ink is forced through the exposed areas of the mesh screen. The resultant image is simple, yet bold and often has a graphic quality. In January 2017 a version of the biennial exhibit will also travel to the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, CT where it will be exhibited through March 2017. The Kala Art Institute will use their grant support to make their archive and print collection public and accessible. Consisting of more than 2,500 prints by local, national, and international artists, the Institute's archive and print collection serves as an important historical record of its 42 years of serving artists who create prints. Kala's programs directly support professional artists working in and across printmaking and digital media, as they take artistic risks and experiment with new forms of printmaking and related media. Making the collection public and accessible serves Kala's mission: to help artists sustain their creative work over time through its artist-in-residence and fellowship programs, and to engage the community through exhibitions, public programs, and education. The Lawrence Arts Center will use the IFPDA grant to reactivate the Steamroller Printing Project which was unable to run in 2016 due to a lack of financial support. This is an eight-week class that will be offered in 2017 to students aged 14 and up in which students carve relief patterns into large MDF boards under the guidance of the Arts Center's print fellow, culminating in a public street party, during which the City of Lawrence's Public Works Department will provide a steamroller and steamroller operator to help each student print their relief patterns onto paper and muslin. By using fine prints as a focal point for public gatherings, and with the partnership of the city of Lawrence, this project brings together artists and non-artists alike to appreciate printmaking as a fine art that can also be a form of community. The RISD Museum will produce an online resource to augment the upcoming exhibition The Elements of Etching: Process and Innovation in Late 19th-Century Paris, planned for July 2017. The exhibition will explore the manner in which the etching process fostered creativity and experimentation to an unprecedented degree in both subject matter and form among artists working in Paris in the late 1800s. The web-based resource will be the first to combine the specialized knowledge of art historians and the technical knowledge of printmakers to understand the ways that the independent and private production of etchings led this medium to become a locus for creativity and formal experimentation during this period in Paris. It will be useful in supporting research use by both advanced scholars as well as general audiences. The Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago will exhibit Classicisms, on view from February 16 - June 11, 2017. This exhibition explores the enduring influence of Classicism in the visual arts from antiquity through the 20th century, while examining its shifting aesthetic and sociocultural implications across multiple eras and contexts. Classicisms will examine prints as an important means of communication among artists themselves and their use in transmitting stylistic developments in the arenas of painting and sculpture and providing affordable resources for inspiration, study and further elaboration, bridging geographic and generational gaps between artists and helping facilitate the continued evolution of Classicism as a major theme in the visual arts.  The University of St. Joseph Art Museum in West Hartford, CT will present HANGA NOW: Contemporary Japanese Printmakers, a survey of the most important Japanese printmakers working today in all print media, from color woodblocks to etchings, mezzotints, lithographs and screen prints. This will be the first museum exhibition in the Northeast in more than thirty years to present a survey this kind and will include collaborative programming from both the Greenwich Historical Society and the Bellarmine Museum at Fairfield University alongside printmaking demonstrations from Tamekane Yoshikatsu at nearby Smith College and the Loomis-Chaffe School. The Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, DE will exhibit Lasting Impressions: The Artists of Currier & Ives, the first exhibition to investigate the role of two of the Currier and Ives' most prolific artists, Frances Bond Palmer and Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait. Through their association with printmaking and with this publisher of popular lithographs, Palmer and Tait expressed innovative visions of artistic creation in a world that witnessed the early stages of mass visual culture. This exhibition will provide a greater awareness of the roles of lithography and two under-studied artists in the development of 19th century American fine arts. Through an app created for the show, visitors will engage with the exhibition and appreciate 19th century art in print through the connoisseurship-oriented attitude that characterized many 19th century viewers.  Other programs include lectures on hand coloring techniques, print collecting, and the role of prints in American art. About The IFPDA Founded in 1987, The International Fine Print Dealers Association is a non-profit organization of expert art dealers dedicated to the highest standards of quality, ethics, and connoisseurship. The IFPDA has grown to include nearly 170 members in 13 countries, whose areas of specialization range from old master and modern to contemporary prints, including publishers of prints by renowned contemporary and emerging artists. The IFPDA aims to promote a greater appreciation and a deeper understanding of fine prints among art collectors and the general public through the annual IFPDA Print Fair, as well as public programming, awards, and funding for institutions via its public charity, the IFPDA Foundation. #fineartmagazine