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Jeffery Sherven is instructional support technician in the Printmaking Program and supervisor of the experimental Print Imaging Center (ePIC).
How do you define printmaking?
I recently came across the
word "poly-graphics" used to describe visual works of art in which a
physical or electronic matrix is employed to produce a variety of
compelling graphic works of art as a larger part of contemporary art.
This follows a natural progression in which print media, as with all
art, examines the structural underpinnings of its language and vehicles
of expression—testing the boundaries of meaningful understanding to
see what may be a more current and relevant form of artistic visual
communication. Printmaking has become more inclusive of its vernacular
offspring, much to the chagrin of its traditional ancestors: stencil
cave printing, intaglio, lithography, letterpress and woodcut. It now
embraces everything from wallpaper to billboards, packaging,
installation, Web design, digital imaging, photography and graphic
novels—better known in the day as comic books. It dances around and
with the hard discipline of producing multiples, yet courts its desire
to be original, unique and free by avoiding reproduction. It is openly
tolerant in sharing ideas, discriminate in making fine distinctions of
quality and craft, and therefore, always in flux. Such colonizing of
media by print is an outgrowth brought on by the highly technical and
complex array of social communication undertaken these days. Students
communicate more with their cell phones, instant messaging and placard
fashion than they have ever done with pen and paper. As it has reshaped
society, our contemporary montage of mediums and modes of expression has
had the same tremendous impact on contemporary art.
Is technology changing the field of printmaking?
The
obvious answer is yes and no and all the above. Technological advances
and improvements for environmental health and safety have altered the
playing field of all the arts, print media included. One of the
functions or responsibilities of institutions of higher learning is to
maintain some knowledge and understanding of archaic/analog modes of
expression, reconstituting their purpose for contemporary means. For
printmaking, this means we engage the most current technology we can
afford and employ it hand in hand with some of the oldest forms of print
technology. So lithographs created from actual four-inch-thick limestone
are created alongside relief flexographs made from photometric resin. We
have graduates creating large-scale hybrids of digital imaging combined
with a twist on woodcut to create a transparent paper reductive print
that is read from all sides while displayed off the wall. The boundaries
of what a print can be are being expanded as we speak. One of the
ironies of imaging technology is that the chemical/mechanical features
that distinguished print media from photography are melting away.
PhotoShop, through which all prepress work is performed, is now the
primary tool for creating digital prints. This is in no small part due
to the necessity to reduce chemical wastes and contact with hazardous
chemicals in industry and academe alike.
What's the focus of the printmaking program at UB?
Our
primary concern is developing message and concept through the print
medium, followed by addressing appropriate methods of executing said
print by all means imaginable and possible. Obviously, it would be
easier to mediate images through a single filter of print media, but
that would eliminate the unique tactile qualities each of the print
process possesses. The friction caused by these inevitable and subtle
differences is what stimulates the senses, piques our curiosity and
fuels our desire to both know and understand and not accept anything
less. In printmaking, we bring this process in our "Print Concept One"
courses by providing a sound technical understanding of medium combined
with socially relevant themes for assignments. Our 300-level print
courses focus students on contemporary social and political issues
embodied in print media, while gradually moving them along in creating
more self-directed research and artwork. "Topics in Print" combines
undergraduates and graduates in a colloquial setting to cover the most
current global issues engaged by print media with complete focus on
mentoring a self-directed body of work. We tend to emphasize a balance
between conceptual development and learning from observant examination
after the act of creative experimentation. This acknowledges the reality
that students have different abilities and skills in approaching a
problem. Some are better at pre-conceptualizing everything before they
begin work. For others, such premeditation is productively crippling.
They tend to be more comfortable working from a notion of what they are
after, preferring to take a leap-of-faith and follow their intuition of
the moment to make effective decisions.
You do a lot of community outreach through the experimental Print
Imaging Center (ePIC). What services/programs do you offer? Are these
all for the serious artist, or can anyone who's interested try it
out?
ePIC was created out of our desire to foster the
understanding and knowledge about print media in the region and is
completely housed within the print media concentration at UB. By sharing
our expertise and facilities through the non-credit programs of the
Community Printshop, Print-Paper-Book Workshops and Collaborative
Printing, we have made steady progress on our goal of building a
stronger print community. The modest fee collected for these programs
supports student scholarships and professional development, and helps
defray the associated costs for materials and equipment. Workshops are
designed for teenagers and up who are novices to print media and have a
desire to learn the basics of archaic, conventional and contemporary
print processes. The Community Printshop provides a mechanism for public
access to the print labs for those who can demonstrate the ability to
work independently in the creation of their own original prints.
Collaborative Printing is primarily designed as shared educational
endeavors by which students work with a visiting artist to create and
execute a print project. Every Friday before Thanksgiving, printmaking
and ePIC sponsors its annual Holiday Print Sale and print exhibition in
the Center for the Art atrium. Prints from students, faculty and
Community Printshop members are available for purchase. All proceeds
support the artists and ePIC's programs. For instance, funds from the
ePic program will support the attendance of six UB students at the
Southern Graphics Print Council Conference being held this week at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison. As I have taken on new responsibilities
implementing and supervising the Art Resource Center and Large Format
Printing (BAP), I now just offer ePIC workshops during July and early
August. I will post the schedule online at the end of April. Go to http://www.art.buffalo.edu/resources/printlabs/index.
html for details.
What is the Student Visual Arts Organization? Is this the student
association for art students?
SVAO is an academic student club
registered with the Student Association. Its mission is to sponsor
student-run programs that provide the opportunity to take an active role
in the events that shape the quality of student life in the Department
of Art/Visual Studies and the community at large. SVAO has sponsored
year around Open Figure Drawing for more than seven years. This program
is open to the public and permits anyone interested in drawing the
figure to do so in a professional studio setting. All participants need
to do is bring their drawing supplies and pay a $5 fee for a session at
7 p.m. on Wednesdays. The student-run One Hour Gallery on Elmwood Avenue
in Kenmore also is sponsored by SVAO, which has helped put on student
art exhibits, musical events and provided artwork for an AIDS benefit
silent auction. Most recently members of SVAO donated artwork to the
Boys and Girls Club of Western New York for its annual silent auction
fundraiser.
What's new with the printmaking program?
Besides the
recent merger of the departments of Art and Art History into the
Department of Visual Studies, I think the biggest development is the
retirement of SUNY Distinguished Professor Harvey Breverman after four
decades of teaching. He guided the printmaking concentration through its
inception to its present state and mentored many students who have gone
on to fine careers in visual arts, academe and teaching. Professor Adele
Henderson currently heads the program. This spring, she has taken the
opportunity to invite a group of successful
alums—protégés of our program—to be visiting
artists, guest critics and speakers. UB students assisted Endi Poskovic
in proofing and printing his multicolor woodcuts. Mark Franchino
demonstrated embossments and shared with us his experience as recent
director of the Print Center at Plains Art Center in Fargo, N.D. Martin
Kruck and Mia Brownell were guest artists speaking and sharing their
work in the Graduate Seminar.