Natural Selection: Landscape Print Portfolio From Center Street Studio

Thursday, March 23 to Friday, June 23, 2006,

University Museums and Center Street Studio are co-publishing a portfolio of prints titled National Selection by ten contemporary artists, printed by James Stroud, master printer, artist, and founder of Center Street Studio, Milton, Massachusetts. Proceeds from the portfolio will establish the printmaking workshop's Archives as part of the permanent collection of the Joel and Lila Harnett Print Study Center.

Artists in the portfolio include Nell Blaine, Bernard Chaet, Anne Harris, Carolyn Harris, Charles Ritchie, Tanja Softic', James Stroud, Bill Thompson, John Walker, and George Whitman. The artists have generously donated the prints in the portfolio, and Center Street Studio provided the printing.

The exhibition also features artwork created by these artists in other media (such as painting and drawing) to exemplify their range of skill and subject matter.

Highlighting the remarkable collaboration between master printer and artists that has been the hallmark of Center Street Studio since its beginnings in 1984, the workshop's history provides a unique look into the very nature of contemporary printmaking in America. Master printer Jim Stroud invites artists to work as partners in his printshop on their printmaking projects. In his role, Stroud says he focuses "on communicating the artist's intent and what it took to achieve the result. ... It's the artist's creation and I act as a catalyst."

The Archives document the master printer's interaction with artists, from trial proofs, to annotated working proofs, to bon à tirer prints, to other ephemera and material related to the creation, printing, editioning, and distribution of contemporary prints.

The wealth of artwork and documentation contained in the Archives will be utilized as primary sources for both research and exhibition at the University of Richmond. As the repository of Center Street Studio's ongoing artistic production, the Harnett Print Study Center will provide students, scholars, artists, and the community with this important resource for contemporary printmaking.

Programming

Lecture and Reception
Sunday, March 26, 2-4 p.m.
2:00 p.m. Lecture, Cousins Studio Theatre, George M. Modlin Center for the Arts
3:00 p.m. Preview of the exhibition and opening reception, Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, George M. Modlin Center for the Arts