The 10th anniversary exhibit of ‘‘The Screenprint Biennial,’’ based out of New York City, has made its only stop on the West Coast at Chico State’s Janet Turner Print Museum.
The biennial was founded by Nathan Meltz, an art department instructor at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. It premiered in 2014, and has been exhibited every two years in non-profit galleries. It is usually a juried competition, but for the 10th anniversary the biennial chose work by artists who have shown in previous “Screenprint Biennial” exhibits.
Meltz reached out to Dr. Rachel Skokowski, the first full-time curator at the museum, to suggest bringing the exhibit to Chico State. Many museums have a printmaking collection, but The Turner is fairly unique in that it is entirely dedicated to printmaking.
“Screenprint is known as the most democratic, the most accessible, but to actually see how artists are taking that basic technique and turning it on its head and coming up with new ways of making art through screen printing is really fun,” Skokowski said.
There are 23 different artists exhibited. The work in the biennial is remarkably varied, to the point the untrained eye would not assume all the pieces are the same medium.
“They are really experimental and trying to push the boundaries of what traditional screen printing can be,” Skokowski said.
Meltz traveled to Chico to install the exhibit with Chico State art students and the staff at The Turner. Artist Sheila Goloborotko also visited to help set up her piece, “Ecosistema,” which takes up a decent-sized room. She took the time to speak with printmaking classes about her work and career.
There are plans for events this fall where people can make their own screen prints. The Turner will hold one the afternoon of Nov. 19, with local community art project, Pedal Press, where they will be doing screen printing live outside of the museum.
“If anyone leaves the exhibition, is really inspired and wants to try something, there will be opportunities to do that,” Skokowski said.
“The Screenprint Biennial” runs until Dec. 13 before it will head back to the East Coast to be shown at the Opalka Gallery in Albany, N.Y.
The next show at The Turner will be a collection featuring Asian-American artists, which will involve collaboration with Asian Pacific Islander student groups. The final show in the spring semester is always a show of student work from this year, Skokowski said.
Sean Shanks can be reached at [email protected].
