Enter here: An introduction to the February 2025 edition
Welcome, fellow print people, to the February 2025 edition of Graphic Impressions. If you are a regular reader you may be asking, “where have you been?”! After two years manning the helm of GI I finally realized the publication calendar just didn’t make sense. It is tough enough to get contributors, especially students and art academics, to get material together around their busy schedule. It’s extra hard in December leading up to a January publication with the end of the semester and the holidays adding obligations and pressure. My family didn’t appreciate me spending days building the pages for the issue between Christmas and New Years either. So, welcome to the new normal. Graphic Impressions will now publish quarterly in February, May, August, and November. This new calendar will allow the journal to interact more favorably with the spring conference. The February edition can drum up excitement for the host community, the artists involved, and select events. The May issue can be a wrap up and celebration of conference happenings. I expect this will be a better fit for all.
The extra month of preparation for this issue allowed time to generate some additional content I’m excited to share with you. First, our featured exhibition, Printmakers for Disability Justice, is guest curated by Brett Taylor, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Studio at Mount Holyoke College, and newish president of MAPC. Accessibility and printmakers with disabilities has been a topic on my wish list for awhile, so when I heard about a portfolio exchange centered on Disability Justice leading up to the Verified by Proof conference it felt like providence! This show expands the portfolio roster and offers a deeper dive into how print artists address disability in their practice, often with edification and empathy in mind.
Next up, H Schenck returns with an essay on Artist’s Proof, an exhibition of early career Chicago area print folx for the July 2024 issue. While H’s initial curator’s statement was far from a proof, here he has provided us a more thorough analysis and appreciation for his artists while challenging the status quo of the academic print realm to embrace a future that fully activates the promise of the democratic medium.
For the ongoing interview feature, “Into the Wild”, with early career printmakers, we talk with rising artist Sebastián Román Soto. Sebastián discusses his burgeoning practice–largely in intaglio and monotype–that has already received some significant recognition, his identity as a Puerto Rican printmaker, and his involvement in the development of the upcoming Puertograbando conference in April.
Finally, The Reflective: The SGCI Archive at 50, offers a second look at an exhibition that debuted at the Madison conference, celebrating the breadth and depth of the organization’s impressive archive. The collection, generously stewarded by the Zuckerman Museum at Kennesaw State University, is a veritable treasure trove of print history in technique and perspective. Like many treasures though, the archive grows but remains largely hidden. Digitizing the collection so it can be an educational and professional resource for our members and beyond is a priority for me within the mission of Graphic Impressions and as a continuing supporter of the organization. That process will take commitments in people power and money. Please spend some time with this exhibition and consider how we can help make this living history accessible to the future of the field.
May these offerings elucidate and inspire. I hope to see many of you at Puertograbando. This conference has been a long time coming and I’m so excited to embrace and exchange with the host community. As always, if you would like to contribute to future issues of the journal, please reach out. Happy printing!
Blake Sanders
Graphic Impressions Coordinator
Blake Sanders
Graphic Impressions Coordinator