Exhibition at Sarasota Art Museum features fine art prints made by 17 of nation’s top African American artists

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Printmaking is an art form that has been around since the Renaissance. To ensure that it continues to flourish, some fine art printing presses regularly invite painters, sculptors and mixed media artists to come in and work with a master printer to produce fine art prints. Paulson Fontaine in Berkeley, California has done this for 25 years and through August 10th, the Sarasota Art Museum is hosting a traveling exhibit of some of their prints.

“The exhibition shows primarily fine art prints, etchings to be exact, that were made by 17 of the top African American artists in the country,” said Sarasota Art Museum Executive Director Virginia Shearer.

Multi-colored basketball pyramid is the most eye-popping of the artworks contained in 'Personal to Political' exhibition. — Multi-colored basketball pyramid is the most eye-popping of the artworks contained in ‘Personal to Political’ exhibition.

Shearer said that the Sarasota Art Museum has long admired the work of many of these contemporary artists.

“Most of them are known for something other than printing, so we really wanted to draw connections to the primary way these artists work, and so what you’ll see throughout the exhibition are three-dimensional works of art that we have brought in on loan to supplement the exhibition,” Shearer noted.

Quilt by Gee's Bend quilter Mary Lee Bendolph — Perhaps the best known of the Gee’s Bend quilters, Mary Lee Bendolph’s quilt-making style is rooted in improvisation, using big, vibrant geometric shapes to create dynamic compositions free from the restrictions of standard pattern.

Visitors will also see an array of quilts made by members of Gee’s Bend Quilters.

“Gee’s Bend quilts are celebrated around the world and when people are knowledgeable about them, and they see one, they know it’s a Gee’s Bend quilt based on the way that the design is so utterly modern,” said Shearer. “They really have forged their own pathway and been great inspiration to modern and contemporary artists.”

Complex.

Multi-disciplinary.

Enthralling.

“Personal to Political: Celebrating the African American Artists of Paulson Fontaine Press” is on view through August 10th.

Docent leads tour of 'Personal to Political' exhibit at Sarasota Art Museum. — Docent leads tour of ‘Personal to Political’ exhibit at Sarasota Art Museum.

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“Personal to Political: Celebrating the African American Artists of Paulson Fontaine Press” features a range of fine art prints along with select sculptures and quilts by artists Edgar Arceneaux, Radcliffe Bailey, McArthur Binion, Woody De Othello, the Gee’s Bend Quilters (Louisiana Bendolph, Mary Lee Bendolph, Loretta Bennett, Essie Bendolph Pettway and Loretta Pettway), Lonnie Holley, David Huffman, Samuel Levi Jones, Kerry James Marshall, Martin Puryear, William Scott, Gary Simmons and Lava Thomas.

“’Personal to Political’ is a traveling exhibition,” Shearer noted. The museum booked it nearly three years ago. Bedford Gallery organized the show, which was curated by former Bedford Gallery curator Carrie Lederer.

“It’s been around the country and when it leaves the Sarasota Art Museum (SAM) on August 10^th, it will go to another venue,” added Shearer.

Two prints in the 'Personal to Political' exhibition. — The prints in ‘Personal to Political’ reflect the intaglio technique, which involves etching or engraving a metal plate to create grooves that hold ink.

There are several variations of printmaking. The works in “Personal to Political” reflect the intaglio technique, which involves etching or engraving a metal plate to create grooves that hold ink.

At Paulson Fontaine, printmaking is a collaborative process. Artists work with professionally trained staff who assist and enhance creative choices on the print plate and, eventually, the print. For most artists, working outside their studio with different processes and materials can be exhilarating, challenging and eye-opening.

To produce their prints, each artist physically etches or chemically alters the plates, responding to what they see as the proofing process unfolds. The work evolves until the final image emerges as a fine art print. While it may resemble their work with other media, the resulting print is unique to that moment and process.

Print of basketball pyramid that dominates 'Personal to Political' exhibition. — Color is as important in printmaking as it is in painting and even sculpture. Artists use color theory to pick colors that work well together, express emotion and provide depth.

Color is as important in printmaking as it is in painting and even sculpture. Artists use color theory to pick colors that work well together, express emotion and provide depth. To get the right colors, artists often mix inks. They may layer different inks or use more than one plate or screen. Darker colors usually need to be applied separately. This helps them look more intense and rich. This method adds complexity to the entire process.

Among the 17 artists with work in “Personal to Political” is Martin Puryear, known globally for his elegant abstract sculptural forms, and Lonnie Holley, a self-taught artist who is now a prodigious mixed-media master. Also featured is Kerry James Marshall and the famous abstract patterns of Alabama’s Gee’s Bend quilters.

Gee’s Bend takes its name from Joseph Gee, a North Carolina enslaver and planter who, in 1816, acquired 6,000 acres of land along a horseshoe bend on the Alabama River and established a plantation with 17 enslaved people. The Gee family operated the plantation until 1845, when, to settle significant debts, they relinquished ownership, including 98 enslaved people, to Mark H. Pettway, a relative, enslaver, and then sheriff of Halifax County, North Carolina. The following year, Pettway relocated to Gee’s Bend, transporting his family and furnishings in a wagon train while 100 enslaved men, women, and children were compelled to journey on foot from North Carolina to their new life in Alabama.

“In the 1960s, during the Civil Rights movement, the [ferry] to get to Gee’s Bend was eliminated,” Shearer noted. “It was the only way to get in and out of Gee’s Bend.”

Wilcox County Sheriff P.C. “Lummie” Jenkins reportedly said at the time, “We didn’t take away the ferry because they were black; we closed it because they forgot they were black.”

“It’s one of the tragic civil rights stories, but also a story of resilience, creativity, what art can do under extreme conditions,” said Shearer.

On March 26, 1966, more than 60 quilters from Gee’s Bend, Alberta, and surrounding communities met in Camden’s Antioch Baptist Church to found the Freedom Quilting Bee (FQB). One of the few Black women’s cooperatives in the United States, the FQB quickly grew into a robust organization, landing contracts with New York decorators and with Bloomingdale’s to produce made-to-order quilts, helping to inspire a national revival of interest in patchwork.

'Housetop Variation 2003' by Loretta Pettway. — ‘Housetop Variation 2003’ by Loretta Pettway.

“The exhibition includes an actual hand-stitched quilt by Loretta Pettway,” Shearer pointed out. “She is one of the storied quilters from Gee’s Bend, Alabama.”

For generations, the women of Gee’s Bend have been creating patchwork quilts by piecing together scraps of fabric and clothing in abstract designs that had never before been expressed on quilts. Their patterns and piecing styles were passed down over generations, surviving slavery and Jim Crow. Enlivened by a visual imagination that extends the expressive boundaries of the quilt genre, these astounding creations have expanded the realm of Black visual culture and opened a door to new understandings of American art and history.

“These women who had been making quilts in quilting bees, and handing down traditions for generations, thrived during that time and actually created their own vocabulary,” Shearer added.

In 2002, the seminal exhibition of “The Quilts of Gee’s Bend” debuted at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, celebrating the artistic legacy of four generations of Gee’s Bend quiltmakers. Hailed by the New York Times during its display at New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art as “some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced,” the quilts were displayed at 11 other museums nationwide. Since this first exhibition, Gee’s Bend quilts have been exhibited in museums worldwide, including, most recently, at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark.

With 46 fine art prints, a selection of Gee’s Bend Quilts, four mixed media sculptures, and a large-scale basketball pyramid installation, “Personal to Political” showcases a diverse array of artworks by both high-profile and underrepresented visual artists. Drawing from themes of history, identity, and spirituality, the artists included in this exhibition share complex stories of the African American experience through the artworks only they could create.

Panoramic view of 'Personal to Political' exhibition at Sarasota Art Museum. — With 46 fine art prints, a selection of Gee’s Bend Quilts, four mixed media sculptures, and a large-scale basketball pyramid installation, ‘Personal to Political’ showcases a diverse array of artworks by both high-profile and underrepresented visual artists.

Circling back to printmaking, Shearer noted that Southwest Florida has its own connection to the art form.

“USF has Graphicstudio and it’s still there and thriving,” observed Shearer. “USF has worked with contemporary artists since the 1970s, I want to say, doing major, major printmaking projects, which is great, because the artists come out of that with prints that they can sell and [the public] benefits because these are works of art that most normal humans can afford, which is really great.”

Graphicstudio was founded in 1968 by Donald J. Saff [Distinguished Professor, Chair of the Art Department, and Founding Dean of the College of The Arts at the University of South Florida] as an experiment in art and education at the University of South Florida, Tampa.

At Graphicstudio, research into art-making techniques works in tandem with new aesthetic expressions by leading and emerging artists. The constant push by collaborating artists and studio staff to create new possibilities for artistic practice is the backbone of the atelier, and the impetus that has kept it at the forefront of international fine art publishing.

Graphicstudio practices traditional printmaking techniques including intaglio (etching and engraving), lithography, silkscreen, and relief along with photogravure, cyanotype and pigment prints. Sculpture multiples are produced in a range of media including bronze, steel, aluminum, wood, rubber, and less traditional materials including lava (basalt) and pigmented resins.

Since its inception, the studio has invited over 100 emerging and established contemporary artists from around the world who have worked in a range of styles and media to produce more than 1,000 limited edition print and sculpture multiples. Impressions of Graphicstudio editions have been acquired by leading museums and corporate and private collections worldwide.

Robert Rauschenberg was among the artists who worked with Saff and Graphicstudio ‘s team of printmakers. Over three decades, they produced more than thirty editions of prints and sculpture multiples. This relationship would expand the method, scope, and very idea of printmaking through important series such as “Made in Tampa” (1972-73), “Crops” (1973), and “Airport Suite” (1974).

From 1984 to 1991, Saff served as Artistic Director of the Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI), a global exhibition tour and cultural exchange program that involved Rauschenberg’s travel to each participating country and the development and exhibition of work inspired by his travels. One of the key works produced during the ROCI project is “Chinese Summerhall” (1983), a 100-foot-long photographic print from images captured on the trip to China that inspired the ROCI project.

In 1990, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. established an archive of the editions that resulted in a major exhibition with an accompanying catalogue documenting the history of Graphicstudio. In 2014, the Tampa Museum of Art presented a major survey exhibition also accompanied by a significant publication that focused on works produced in the last two decades.

Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.

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