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ARTISTS IN CONTEXT is a flexible organizational framework designed to assemble artists and other creative thinkers across disciplines to conceptualize new ways of representing and acting upon the critical issues of our time.  The Prospectus is the main project of Artists in Context, and is a curated, multimedia collection of works through which artists collaborate with creative thinkers from other fields to propose innovative ways they and others might intervene in major debates on global, national and local/regional scales. More information on the project can be found on the current Prospectus site. Artists in Context is a project of The Arts Company.

This website is an archive of previous AIC activities.

Click here to link to the current AIC website.

Zea Mays Printmaking, [substratum] Working Group

 


bowerman_entwined Judith Bowerman
grew up in Michigan near Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River, where she was first drawn to the quietude of water. After attending college near the dunes of Lake Michigan, she moved to Northern California for further training in painting and printmaking. The Pacific Ocean taught her about the absolute power and drama of water, and the coastal redwoods inspired her with a new sense of sublime scale. Longing to return to four distinct seasons, she moved to Western Massachusetts one snowy November and did not see green grass until after the mud season in early April the following year. In the 34 years since, the perpetual yet unpredictable seasonal changes of New England have continued to captivate her. She currently lives on a farm in Cummington, MA, surrounded by gardens, pastures, woods and streams.

 

Judith Bowerman, Entwined, monoprint

 



chalfin_another dayLiz Chalfin is the founder and director of Zea Mays Printmaking. She began her journey into safer printmaking as a teacher at Whittier College (CA) in the early 1990s. In 1997 she moved to Massachusetts and started a small studio for working artists interested in safer methods of making prints. That modest endeavor has blossomed over the years into Zea Mays Printmaking, one of the country’s largest “green” printmaking studios and a resource for artists from all over the world. Liz’s own artistic practice includes etching and photo-intaglio printmaking, works on paper and artist’s books.


Liz Chalfin, Another Day, page 2, intaglio 

 



crawford_mayday1996Pamela Crawford: “With color I define form or distinguish layers while changing ink viscosities and drawing form textures. All of my prints shadow my life and become a kind of visual expression of my current -- even daily -- struggle or celebration. I work spontaneously, without detailed planning, to sincerely represent a piece of my inner life. Within this construct, I attempt to illustrate certain realities of our existence: predatory and invasive behavior; biological patterns and structure; human growth and disintegration. And, most importantly, the beauty of heterogeneous elements coming together to form something exquisite.” Education: University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA: B.A., Art, Summa cum laude, 1993; The Art Institute of Boston, Boston, MA: Graphic Design, Honors graduate, 1984; Ringling School of Art & Design, Sarasota, FL: Foundation Year, 1981.


Pamela Crawford, May Day 1996, etching

 



diessner_elegyiiNancy Diessner's artwork emerges from her background in painting, printmaking, drawing, photography and digital image manipulation. Incorporating all these media, her photopolymer intaglio prints explore the mysterious and complex connection between humans and animals at the same time expressing our human longing for and isolation from the "other." Dedicated to safer printmaking, she created two low-toxicity printmaking studios during her 17-year college teaching career and now runs a public printmaking studio, Dog’s Eye Print Studio, in Framingham, MA, where she also makes photopolymer plates for artists.


Nancy Diessner, Second Elegy, photo intaglio 



 

 



stranc_harbingerSusan Jaworski-Stranc: "I am a printmaker, specializing in the creation of reduction linoleum prints. After each successive printing of a color, the surface of the block is reduced while at the same time the print surface is built up with multicolored labels. Born from one block of linoleum, my relief prints have the color nuances and rich textural surfaces of an oil painting.

My work is represented at 13Forest Gallery in Arlington, MA; McGowan Fine Arts, Concord, NH; Zea Mays Print Studio Flat File Project in Florence, MA; Carmen's Gallery in Solomon's Island, MD; and at my Western Avenue, Lowell, MA, printmaking studio and gallery. Professional memberships include Boston Printmakers and the Center for Contemporary Printmaking. My work also can be seen at www.appleciderpress.net and http://reduction-print.blogspot.com/




Susan Jaworski-Stranc, Harbinger, reduction linocut





peterfreund_eco.ominous 8Lynn Peterfreund:

“Most of my work has been a response to the world I experience: nature and culture, people and animals. I work in series, often for two or three years, looking for variations in description and interpretation of my chosen subject. I worked for many years primarily from observation, doing still life, landscape and portraits. That vocabulary of forms has been my inspiration for a decade of more geometric, abstract work. In the last few years, I have combined what I love about working with color and composition with a return to using representational forms. My two recent print series are A Murder of Crows, and Eco.ominous, gestural monotypes suggesting colorful abstracted moody skies that portend the changes and obstacles of modern life on our planet.” 







Lynn Peterfreund, Eco.ominous 8, monotype 

 



silverstone_lineageJoyce Silverstone is an artist printmaker based in Massachusetts. She grew up in the Midwest, studying art in Cleveland, and is a graduate and a traveling fellow of The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  An active artist for more than 30 years, she exhibits her work nationally and internationally. Joyce is affiliated with Zea Mays Printmaking, where she is an instructor and studio monitor. Her current work is represented in the studio’s Flat File Project, and at Printroom, London. Her paintings and prints are held in private and corporate collections in New England and in numerous permanent collections, including that of Yale University Art Gallery, MIT Art Gallery, the Decordova Museum, the Hood Art Museum and the Portland Museum of Art.

 

 

 


Joyce Silverstone, Lineage, monotype