The Berkeley Arts Council (BAC) announces the award winners for the Contemporary Printmaking juried exhibit, an exhibit of works in various printmaking techniques. The purpose of the exhibit is to introduce the community to the versatile medium of printmaking.
The exhibit is on display from June 29 to August 6, 2022 at the Berkeley Art Works, 116 North Queen Street, Martinsburg, WV. The gallery is open every Wednesday – Friday, 11-5 and Saturday 11-4.
The juror, Matthew McLaughlin, selected five award winners.
The Best of Show went to Brandon Williams from Nashville, Tennessee for his copper plate etching entitled, “From the Ground Up”.
Merit Awards were given to Mitch Eckert from Louisville, Kentucky for his copper plate etching “Still Life with Inedibles”, and Ginny Fielding from Midlothian, Virginia for her lithograph “Upper Crust”.
Honorable Mentions went to “Downstream” a lithograph by Elizabeth Fontenot from Beaumont, Texas and “They’re Near You When You Sleep”, a zinc plate monotype by Mark Goodmanson from Crystal Lake, Illinois.
The juror, Matthew McLaughlin, is a mixed media artist and curator who explores the human relationship with their environments, specifically urban and suburban spaces. He is a Senior Lecturer and teaches printmaking at the University of Maryland. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Fine Arts from Ringling College of Art and Design and his Master of Fine Arts degree in Printmaking from Arizona State University.
There are 26 works by 19 artists from 15 states in the exhibit. “In making my selections, the versatility and breadth of printmaking and its processes continued to surprise me. For an art form to have such a wide range of capabilities and be able to produce such a variety of imagery astonishes me again and again. The submissions for the exhibition did not disappoint either. With pieces created through so many processes, it was difficult to decide upon the selections for the exhibition. The prints spoke to me in many ways. For some it was through their craft and cleanliness, while for others it was their gestural quality. Whether it be the crisp quality of a relief print or the tonal subtlety of photogravure, the scope of what an artist can accomplish with print continues to expand with each generation. In the exhibition, I choose to emphasize the range of printmaking’s abilities through the pieces. From photographic work to abstract, from small scale to large, the works bring forward the full gamut of the medium in both process and concept.”