MACON — The Macon Arts Alliance will hold its first-ever all-printmaker, group exhibit and sale Friday, June 7 from 5-8 p.m. Six artists were chosen, representing the many forms of printmaking being produced today. This exhibit unveils the true art of printmaking and seeks to break the connotations of mass reproductions often associated with prints.
“There is a rich and long history of printmaking dating back hundreds of years,” explained Heatherly Wakefield, director of fine arts at the Macon Arts Alliance. “The skill and technique required to make fine art prints is just as significant as painting, and the results are equally as beautiful.”
“First Editions” features work by three local art professors, Dennis Applebee, Craig Burkhalter, and William Fisher along with three local freelance artists Sharon Clabo, Jason Frost, and John Whistler. These printmakers will display original, hand-pulled prints in The Gallery at Macon Arts Alliance.
There are four basic forms of printmaking. Relief prints use cut wood, often done by hand with carving tools. Intaglio printmaking involves engraving and etching metal plates using acid baths or solar emulsions. Lithograph prints are made when an artist draws on stone with a greasy crayon, and stencil printmaking is most often made with silk screens. What makes printmaking so compelling and complex is that artists must create their images in reverse, as the final image is a mirror to the original plate or wood cut.
“This show is designed to highlight fine art printmaking over giclee prints, which are mass produced reproductions of other works of art,” explained Wakefield. “The term print can refer to either, but a fine art print is handmade and much more significant and valuable.”
“First Editions” will be on display June 7-29 and is always free and open to the public.
Vein Specialists of the South and Spa Medical are proud sponsors of First Friday at The Gallery at Macon Arts Alliance.