What is SGCI 2019?

Texchange engages the capacity of printmaking to act as an agent of transformation in its practices within the field, contributions to other art media, and larger cultural roles. Prints are celebrated for the ways in which they spread images, information, ideas, and political views. Through shared spaces and collaborations, printmakers influence other artists, innovators, and disciplines. With printmaking, we create change together. SGC International is an educational non-profit organization representing artists of original prints, drawings, books and handmade paper.

The Panel:

SOCIAL PRACTICE AND PRINTMAKING COLLECTIVES: THEN AND NOW

Location: Fairmont Hotel, Terrace Level, Fountain room

Time: 7 March, 8:30–10am

Chairs: Celeste De Luna, Lecturer, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley & Laura Berman, Professor, Kansas City Art Institute

Panelists: Laura Brown, Independent Artist and Educator, Adjunct Faculty, Augsburg University will present “Learning As We Go: Building a Socially Engaged Print Collective”

Luis Valderas & Kim Bishop, Social Engagement Artists, Educators and Curators will present “The A3: Pop-Up Industrial Press”

Álvaro D. Márquez, Teaching Artist, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and MFA student in Printmaking at California State University Long Beach will present “Pushing Tinta and Making Community”

Printmaking and prints have long been associated with accessibility, distribution of information, versatility of form, and cultural impact. This panel will take this role and expand on printmaking in social practice and community-oriented art, a field of art practice which aims to create social/political change in the creation of art while enhancing community itself. Presenters will focus on their own experiences with social practice and community-oriented printmaking as well as take a historical look at printmaking in regards to social practice and cultural impact. Discussing the role of printmakers and prints have had and currently have in the expanding field of social practice art, creative place-keeping and community-oriented art fits in perfectly with Texchange’s focus on shared spaces, collaborations, and creating change together.

Tale of the tape:

After checking in at the Fairmont Hotel where the conference was being held we went for a walk. The proximity of the Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center made it a must to visit one of those places so we chose the Nasher. It is such a peaceful garden right in the middle of Dallas that I could sit there all day drinking coffee and sketching. After walking the grounds at the sculpture garden at the NSC we had to meet up with our presentation team back at the hotel.

While waiting for the team we ran into Karl from Yay Big Prints. He was in town for the print exhibit that he was coordinating at UT-Arlington titled the AMBOS LADOS INTERNATIONAL PRINT EXCHANGE. The Ambos Lados International Print Exchange expands the dialog between the two cultures, as there are strong printmaking communities in both the US and Mexico, but the printmakers are not familiar with each other. Karl came back the next day for or presentation.

Meanwhile, the meeting was the first time I met Laura Bermam, Laura Brown and Alvaro D. Marquez and everything worked out like butter. After the meeting it was "Taco-Time-in-Dallas-Tx!" so we went across Woodall Rodgers Freeway and had some really good street tacos at Taqueria La Ventana- I fully recommend that place.

Presentation Morning:

We began our morning with coffee and a few more friends. Meredith Dean was with her group from Santa Reparata International School of Art as well as fellow Artist-Lab cohort and printmaker Nicole Geary. Our presentation panel was at 8am sharp and at first I was thinking it was going to be a small group of a few early birds but by the end of the panel presentation there was a full house and lots of eager listeners. Laura Berman lead the panel with a historic presentation about printmakers and printing collectives lead the way into Celeste De Luna presentation of Las Imaginistas and their recent El Taller de Permiso in Brownsville, Texas. Laura Brown from the Twin Cities showed us how the Proof Public Letterpress Project began creating engagement with the public and artist in their community. Kim Bishop and I followed up by presenting about our A3 Pop-up Industrial Press and speaking about the beginning of large scale prints in San Antonio in 2005 and following it up with our Texas Size Print and the ongoing Texas Size Breach Project. Alvaro D. Marques closed out the panel with his presentation about the history of Self Help Graphics in Los Angeles. After the panel presentation we had a chance to talk to the audience and we hung out with the guys from El Paso's Horney Toad Prints-Manuel Guerra and Francisco Delgado. I look forward to keeping in touch with all these amazing artists/printmakers and continuing to share our experiences and what we are learning along the way.