A Print Sampler: Explore Printmaking Techniques Through Polish Prints 1960-1990
March 22, 2018 to May 27, 2018
Opening reception: Wednesday April 18
5 pm – 7:30 pm. Cash bar.
Free of charge and open to the public
This exhibition is geared towards teaching the viewer how to distinguish the various printmaking techniques–from mezzotint to woodcut, silkscreen, linocut, etching, aquatint, and engraving–using a collection of Polish prints dating from 1960-1990. Clear explanations of the printmaking process accompanies each print. Also on display are some of the tools used to produce the works on view.
The prints included in this exhibition were collected by Professor Emeritus Gus Mazzocca and are an intended gift to the Benton Museum. Mazzocca is responsible for creating an exchange program between the University of Connecticut and the art academy in Krakow, Poland in 1986. In the fall of 1984, printmaking professor Stanislaw Wejman from the Akademie Sztuk Pieknych w Krakowie (the art academy of Krakow, Poland) came to Storrs as a one-year sabbatical replacement in the UConn Department of Art and Art History. He brought with him a large roll of prints by colleagues from Krakow, which were eventually exhibited at the gallery space called “the Benton Connection” (now the Jorgensen Gallery) in the spring of 1985. At the end of his tenure here, Professor Wejman invited Professor Mazzocca to be a visiting artist at the Krakow academy. From this initial collaboration, a vibrant and fruitful exchange program developed between the two institutions. Over the years more than twelve visiting artists and scholars from Poland have been in residence at UConn, and eight different faculty members from UConn’s art department have participated in residencies in Krakow. The rich and varied collection of prints that accrued from this exchange is due to the generosity of the Polish artists represented.
Image Credits:
Anna Sobol-Wejman (Polish b.1946), Kawałki całości / Bits and Pieces , 1985, Mezzotint, Courtesy of Gus Mazzocca.
Krzysztof Tamalsk i(Polish b. 1963), Martwa natura w rombie / Still life in a rhombus, 1989, Aquatint, Courtesy of Gus Mazzocca.