UT Printmakers attend Southern Graphics Council International (SGCI) in Puerto Rico
In April, students and faculty from the UT School of Art’s printmaking program traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico for the Southern Graphics Council International (SGCI), an annual gathering of artists, printmakers and graphic designers that draws participants from all over the world.
UT’s long-standing, top-ranked printmaking program regularly has a significant presence at SGCI conferences. This year’s event included multiple presentation and exhibition opportunities for students and faculty, as well as an alumni reunion.
“The Southern Graphics Council International (SGCI) is a major gathering of artist/printmakers and serves as a platform for ideas and creative work from around the world,” said Beauvais Lyons, Divisional Dean for Arts and Humanities and Chancellor’s Professor of Art. “UT has hosted the conference three times previously, in 1992, 1995 and ten years ago in 2015. We are excited to have such a strong presence again this year.”
One of the highlights of every conference are the open portfolio sessions, when artists at all stages of their careers present their most recent work. All eight current UT printmaking graduate students and two undergraduate students attended the conference with support from travel grants and presented their work as part of the sessions, giving them a chance to connect with other printmakers, including previous graduates of the School of Art.
“I like going to SGCI conferences because you get to meet other artists to share techniques, processes, and ideas. It makes the printmaking world feel a lot smaller,” said Shannon Ferguson, a second-year MFA student in printmaking.
“It was a really great experience attending SGCI this year in particular because I was able to host my first conference panel, “Prints in Motion: The Animated Print”,” she said. “I had four panelists including UTK Alumni, Raluca Iancu, discussing how they use printmaking processes to make animated videos.”
In addition to networking and gaining valuable professional experience through chairing and participating on panels, attending the conference also allowed students to learn about career opportunities in the field.
“I think the exciting thing for printmakers when it comes to careers is that the process of printmaking instills a set of overarching skills and values that can be applied really broadly, like persistence and collaboration,” said Elysia Mann, the SOA’s printmaking technician and a graduate of the MFA program. Mann chaired a panel about outlying professions in printmaking at the conference. “Students who are drawn to those things develop skills further and then can go out and apply them in a lot of ways.”
Scroll down to read more highlights from this year’s conference and to explore photos of the fun event.
• Gino Castellanos (MFA ‘24) received the SGCI Emerging Printmaker Award and was part of the conference steering committee.
• Associate Professor J. Leigh Garcia chaired the panel “Mapping Personal Histories/ Navigating Political Tides.”
• 2nd Year graduate student Shannon Ferguson chaired the panel “Prints in Motion” about prints and animation.
• 3rd year Graduate student Gaby Hurtado-Ramos, a member of the SGCI Board of Directors, chaired a panel of Student Lightning Talks including UTK grad and undergrad: Ivy Manska and Grace Russell.
• Elysia Mann (MFA ’17), the SOA’s current printmaking studio technician, chaired a panel, “Occupying the Margins: Stories from Printmaking’s Outlying Professions”
• Jen Scheuer (MFA ‘14) chaired the panel “Artist Books: Place and Space” which included and Tatiana Potts (MFA ’16). Scheuer also presented a demonstration on “Tonality in Letterpress: Photopolymer.”
• Dana Potter (MFA ‘20) organized the portfolio “The AI Print Workshop.”
• Danqi Cai (MFA ‘23) organized the portfolio “Lessons from Our Mother Tongues.”
• Professor Koichi Yamamoto organized the Outside the Box event “Print Kite” that involved flying kites by 40 artist collaborators at the UNESCO Heritage site Castillo San Felipe del Morro.
• Jade Hoyer (MFA ‘16) organized the pop-up exhibition “Print Pública.”
• Professor Beauvais Lyons organized the pop-up exhibition “Prayer Flags for Puerto Rico” in response to Hurricane Maria at Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño de Puerto Rico.
