“a powerful case for printmaking”
November 16th, 2008 — 05:04 pmPhil Isaacson, an art reviewer for the Portland Press Herald, hits all the right notes in his piece on the Peregrine Press show at the Saco Museum (Oct/Nov 2008). Here’s the text of the review. I’ve added a link to a PDF of the article, which includes images of work by Allison Hildreth, Deedee Schwartz, and Noella Kingsley.
IN SACO, A POWERFUL CASE FOR THE ART OF PRINTMAKING
Philip Isaacson (November 16, 2008)
Reviews of some shows are compulsory. Advance publicity, incessant requests and a particularly interesting subject are some of the forces that compel the pen.
“First Impressions” at the Saco Museum has elements of all three, but its largest measure is the last - an interesting subject. When 27 Maine printmakers put their respective best feet forward in a common cause, the occasion insists on a review.
I left “First Impressions” inspired. That’s not a frequent feeling for me. I felt that I had been close to a congregation of artists who were reaching out in behalf of a form of art - printmaking - and that their effort was for my benefit as a viewer and not an opportunity to outperform one another. There was a freshness and bounce to the event that remains with me.
As you may know, the printmakers, assembled under the name Peregrine Press, are a cooperative that offers studio facilities to its members.
The Saco Museum show supports that endeavor, and has two components. The paramount offers the public an opportunity to examine a portfolio of splendid original prints created by the members for the benefit of the Press. The other, through its title, “New Work by Peregrine Press Artists,” is self-descriptive.
The portfolio, under the name “The Peregrine Press Portfolio,” is a sumptuous production. Housed in an elegant box made by David Wolfe, it can be taken as an excursion through what in some instances are the baffling forms of printmaking.
The classics, including lithography, monotype, silkscreen, drypoint, color etching and woodblock, are all represented, and are the most accessible for the viewer. Other techniques can be so exotic as to be beyond the comprehension of ordinary mortals.
The portfolio can also be taken as an index into the intensity and technical accomplishment of Maine print artists of this time.
I have come to believe that printmaking, along with photography, is now the truest barometer of the contemporary arts. The richness and the variety of contemporary prints appear to be without limit, often while maintaining a becoming deference to tradition. If pressed on the question of subject, I would say that the natural world and the human figure prevail in the portfolio.
If pressed on individual prints, the following have special appeal: Richard Wilson’s lithograph “The Professor” that continues the artist’s adventures in comedic sexuality; Dorothy Schwartz’s blunt woodcut “Darwin’s Bee” (although I am a Darwinian, I don’t recognize the reference); Jeanne O’Toole Hayman’s “Venus with Attitude,” which has what the name implies, but with grace; and Mary Lou Lipkin’s intaglio “Lotus Bound,” which is outstanding in its technical and provocative thematic implications.
The New Work component is animated by its virtuosity and flair. The latter is not quite the best term, but I use it to suggest the expressive freedom in much of the work.
Frankie Odom’s monotype “Moondancers,” Robin McCarthy’s collage-like “Orange Entry,” Blair Folts’ monotype, and Kate Cheney Chappell’s collagraph (whatever that species may be) sustain the lift I got from this wonderful event.
It all adds up to authority, finesse and a reciprocated energy.
Sad to say, time for viewing this show is short; it closes today.
(Philip Isaacson of Lewiston has been writing about the arts for the Maine Sunday Telegram for 43 years. He can be contacted at: pmisaacson@isaacsonraymond.com Copyright © 2008 Blethen Maine Newspapers)
