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Operated by the Calgary Contemporary Arts Society January 7 to January 27, 2010 |
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Beyond Printmaking:
The exhibition “Beyond Printmaking: Images in Objects”
Jacek Malec
2009 International Triennale of Graphic Art Kraków/Poznań
List of Images (left to right, top to bottom):
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Contemporary printmaking in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg, and other centres in Western Canada is a pluralistic phenomenon, identifiable by a rich diversity and a broad spectrum of artistic styles, individual goals and innovative studio practices.
offers a snapshot of various artistic trends in studio and experimental printmaking in both Alberta and Western Canada. The exhibition celebrates the distinctive vision and direction of print artists: Karen Dugas (Tofield, Alberta), Marjan Eggermont (Calgary, Alberta), Alexandra Haeseker (Calgary, Alberta), Liz Ingram (Edmonton, Alberta), Davida Kidd, (Burnaby, British Columbia), William Laing (Calgary, Alberta), Ewa Tarsia (Winnipeg, Manitoba), and Jill Ho-You (Edmonton, Alberta). Four of the exhibiting artists: Ingram, Haeseker, Tarsia and Laing are members of the prestigious Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
“Beyond Printmaking: Images in Objects” was selected by an international jury as one of the key international thematic exhibitions for the prestigious 2009 International Triennale of Graphic Art in Kraków/Poznań, Poland. It was the first thematic exhibition of new trends and directions in Canadian contemporary studio and experimental print art ever presented in the history of the International Triennale of Graphic Art in Kraków. 
The exhibition was showcased from September 18 – October 15, 2009 at the “At the Jesuits” Gallery of Contemporary Art in Poznań, Poland in conjunction with the 90th Anniversary of Poznań’s Academy of Fine Arts. 
“Beyond Printmaking” illustrates a growing desire for Canadian print artists to challenge notions of how print art is executed. Whether through uses of multiple processes and editions, or complete abandoning them, many works presented in this exhibition are ‘unique’ prints, or not printed at all. This group of eight contemporary Canadian print artists relies less on the technical guidelines of the printmaking process and instead focuses more on the message in their work, or on an object as a work of art. 
The works by Ewa Tarsia, William Laing, Marjan Eggermont, and Jill Ho-You can be considered as the fields of conceptual activities that also encompasses symbology and poetic metaphor. Their works allude to a unique association of ideas. The aspects of human figure, gender, transient nature of human life, ecology, cultural anthropology, and socio-political issues all wrapped in a poetic and philosophical metaphor, are recurring topics of the photo-based print works and installations by Liz Ingram, 
Alexandra Haeseker, Karen Dugas, and Davida Kidd. These eight experimental print artists do not function as any formal artistic group, and their artistic expressions are all individual. The only common element they share could be described by a metaphoric character of their art, as well as by the principle of breaking away from the traditional dimension of medium and artistic conventions. 
The exhibition “Beyond Printmaking” offers a wide panorama of philosophical, stylistic, conceptual, and formalistic directions in contemporary Canadian print art with various approaches to the materials and techniques used, including new digital technologies. Technically, all of the works in this exhibition are ‘prints’, although not in the traditional sense. Instead, each artist has implemented some aspect of traditional printmaking process but has moved beyond these boundaries to create elaborate, labour intensive, stratified images which engage the viewers’ interest and emotions. 
