GRANVILLE, Ohio—The power of print is exemplified in four new exhibitions opening at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 8, in the Denison Museum (240 West Broadway). The exhibitions, “DRUCKWORKS: 40 Years of Books and Projects by Johanna Drucker,” “Book + Art: The Reading Room,” “Artist’s Books Print Project,”and “Queer Graphix Zines,” will be open through Saturday, May 11, with hours Monday through Saturday noon to 5 p.m., and extended hours on Thursdays until 7 p.m. The museum is free and open to the public. For more information contact Sarah Baker at 740-587- 6255 or visit www.denisonmuseum.org.
Books that are also works of art, artists books are created from a variety of materials, through various construction techniques and may be a poem, tell a narrative, offer instruction or serve any purpose the artist intends. A distinguished writer, typographic poet and scholar-critic, Drucker is a prolific creative artist with more than four-dozen editioned artist’s books to her credit. The DRUCKWORKS retrospective allows audiences to experience the course of her artistic development and offers insights into the evolution of the field of artists’ books. DRUCKWORKS is organized by the Center for Book and Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago.
“Book + Art: The Reading Room” features books by Ohio artists and is the result of sabbatical research conducted by Heather Lyle, Denison University archivist. Authors include Jean Bartlett, David Colagiovanni, Diana Duncan Holmes, Melissa Eddings-Mancuso, Gabrielle Fox, Kerri Harding, Melissa Haviland, Kate Kern, Jennifer Evans Kinsley, Heather Lyle, Susan Myers, Melissa O’Grady, Timothy Riordan, Ellen Sheffield, Stephanie Sherwood, Diane Stemper, Heather F. Wetzel and Melissa Vogley Woods.
Students in Denison University’s Introduction to Printmaking course, taught by Visiting Professor Melissa Vogley-Woods, created artists books that addressed an exploration of memory, including place and time, and reflecting on their private and shared environments. In “Artists Books Print Project,” viewers will see the result of students’ use of form, color, text and narrative to explore visual language and sequence through the process of printmaking. The students used many techniques in making these books including dry-point etching, trace mono-print, letterpress and more.
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer (GLBTQ) artists and art movements are the subject of zines created by students in a course offered by Ron Abram, associate professor of art. Zines, short for fanzines or magazines, are short works that are self-published in either digital or print form. Queer Graphix deals with alternative queer art-making practices and aesthetics with a focus on issues of identity, gender, orientation and sexuality.
Calendar Listing:
CALENDAR LISTING: Denison, Granville—Denison Museum exhibition opening: “DRUCKWORKS: 40 Years of Books and Projects,” “Book + Art: The Reading Room,” “Artist Books Print Project,” and “Queer Graphix Zines,” at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 8, at the Denison Museum in Burke Hall (240 West Broadway). Free and open to the public. For more information, contact Sarah Baker at 740- 587-6255 or visit www.denisonmuseum.org.
About Denison:
Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.
