Printmaking News 2022

August 22, 2022

This annual newsletter celebrates the creative achievements of our students, alumni, faculty and staff. It provides a way to maintain alumni connections to “Rocky Top,” while also reminding us that making art has both personal and public significance.  We are proud of our record of creative activity, and grateful to have our graduate program recognized as 3rd among public universities by U.S. News and World Report. We hope that you enjoy this on-line edition and encourage our alumni to keep in touch. 

As we shifted to face-to-face teaching last year our approach was guided by efforts at our university to be creative, flexible, and compassionate.  We learned much from teaching some of our courses on-line during the COVID 19 pandemic, and integrating hybrid and on-line approaches when appropriate. We are also proud of the many creative and enterprising ways our alumni developed to teach printmaking during the global pandemic.  One example of this is the UTKPRINT YouTube Channel, for which we continue to add technical demonstrations and lectures by our visiting artists, faculty and students. This resource is not only an educational tool for our students, but currently has 440 subscribers.  You can also hear broadcasts of our visiting artist lectures on UTK School of Art Vimeo Channel.

We are proud of our legacy of making and teaching, and encourage you to visit our webpage on the history of printmaking at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Covering more than five decades, the narrative encompasses the years Byron McKeeby worked to establish the program, the impact of various faculty members on the growth and reputation of the program, connections to SGC International and the IMPACT International Printmaking Conferences, exhibition projects, visiting artists, and institutional collaborations. 

We are thrilled that 17 of our current students and alumni were on the program at the 2022 SGC International Conference in Madison, Wisconsin in March, and that we were able to once again gather for our annual alumni reunion.

Looking ahead, we are excited about our plans to host visiting artists Wuon-Gean Ho from the United Kingdom in the fall and Detroit-based printer Amos Paul Kennedy in the spring. We will also welcome the return of Crystal Wagner (MFA ’08) in September, who is being recognized with an award from the UT Alumni Association Award. Through support from the University, as well as the Betsy Worden Endowment, we are thankful to acquire two new Takach lithography presses and a portable Conrad Machine etching press for the studio. We look forward to an active printshop, with plans for our students, alumni and faculty to attend MAPC, SECAC and SGCI conferences. 

 

2021-2022 VISITING ARTISTS

In September we hosted Navajo artist and University of Colorado Professor, Melanie Yazzie for a one-week project in the print studios. Yazzie worked with students and faculty in the creation of a series of monoprints, a variable set of color lithographs and a suite of intaglios. Informed by her work, the intermediate-level students worked on a project involving the UT Map Library Collection. Her public lecture is available on-line. Her visit was supported through the Haines-Morris Endowment, the School of Art and the Betsy Worden Printmaking Endowment.

In February we hosted Phil Sanders to give a public lecture on “The Legacy of Robert Blackburn.” Born of Jamaican immigrants and raised in Harlem, Robert Blackburn (1920-2003) was an innovative printmaker and influential teacher. Blackburn grew up during the Harlem Renaissance, an unparalleled flourishing of the arts centered in New York City’s Black community. Now based in Asheville, NC, Sanders formerly served as Director/Master Printer of the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in New York City. His visit was funded by The Friends of Printmaking.

In March we hosted Adam Hartstone-Rose, a Professor of Biological Sciences at North Carolina State University to give two lectures, one of which was titled “Historical Representation of Centaurs Are WRONG! A revised anatomical reconstruction from a functional morphological perspective.” Delayed by COVID-19, his visit could finally happen in person, coinciding with the 28th year that “The Centaur Excavations at Volos” display has been in the Hodges Library on campus. Linking the visual arts and science, his visit was sponsored by the UT School of Art and the Haines-Morris Endowment in the College of Arts and Sciences.

ALUMNI NEWS

B. J. Alumbaugh (MFA ‘16) continues to run Cryptic Press, pursuing letterpress projects and freelance design work. This year he acquired Retrospect Vintage Store on Central Ave. in Knoxville as a platform for bringing culture to the masses.  bjalumbaugh.berta.me

Laura Atkins (BFA ‘96) works as director of marketing and sales at the Horticulture Lighting Group, based in Maynardville, Tennessee.

Gabrielle Barnhart (Buuck) (BFA ‘18) is the Annual Giving Manager for the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. She is also the co-founder West Fifth Studios in Old North Knoxville, which offers private studio space, a variety of art classes, and hosts community events. instagram.com/gabriellebarnhart.prints

Sukenya Best (MFA ‘07) completed her fourth-year as VMFA as an On the Road Coordinator for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, traveling around the Commonwealth of Virginia with the Artmobile. One of her paintings was included in the group exhibition “Coined in the South” at the Mint Museum Uptown in Charlotte, North Carolina. In April she was selected for “Artfields 2022” in Lake City South Carolina, a 9-day art competition. Best was also commissioned to paint the portrait of Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears. sukenyabestartistry.com

Ali Bhimani (BFA ’20) Ali Bhimani is completing a master’s degree in Islamic Society and Civilizations on full-scholarship from the Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) based in London, UK with a joint degree in postgraduate studies for reflective teaching practice from University-College London (UCL).  Ali has written his dissertation about the concept of artifact art education and art pedagogy in relation to religious identity. He has also written content curriculum for camps around faith-based art education and spiritual growth. Ali is moving to Atlanta, GA, this fall to begin teaching full-time and hopes to open a studio for printing and film in the area.

James Boychuk-Hunter (MFA ‘15) is a full-time lecturer at the Alberta University of the Arts and had a recent one-person exhibition at Martha Street Studio in Winnipeg, Manitoba, titled, Horizonline/Baseline. Last summer he was in a three-person exhibition at Lowlands Project space in Edmonton, Alberta, titled Topographies, and is participating in SNAP’s, (the Society of Northern Alberta’s Print Artists) 40th anniversary exchange portfolio.  jamespbhunter.com

Craig Branum (BFA ‘10) is a senior academic support technician at the Cooper Union in New York City and is actively involved in freelance video editing and motion graphics work. craigbranum.com 

Deborahmae Broad (MFA ‘80) retired from teaching at Minnesota State University, Moorhead, in 2003. In 2022 Broad was selected as a winner of an “Award of Excellence” at the 25th Annual Des Moines Arts Festival for her prints. She was also proud to have a former student, Scott Olson, also exhibiting in the highly rated juried festival. This year she and her husband Byron had a beautiful historic barn moved to their farm for his workshop. deborahmaebroad.com 

Deb Chaney (BFA ‘01), and her husband and fellow lithographer have been working this past year between NY and France in their studios, Ateliers Stéphane Guilbaud and Deb Chaney Editions. They have just acquired a home upstate NY and are looking forward to relocating their studio from Brooklyn to continue their joint editioning and publishing projects as D&S Fine Art Editions. They have recently published work by Boston-based artist Ethan Murrow, as well as a collaborative print with Dread Scott and his wife Jenny Polak. debchaneyeditions.com

Mary Climes (MFA ‘21) was appointed to a tenure-track position at the University of Wisconsin, Stout, where she is establishing a comic book program and also teaches foundations in the School of Art and Design. Living near Minneapolis has also given her a chance to keep in touch with fellow alumnus Connor McGrann (MFA ’21) and his family. maryclimes.com

Muriel Condon (MFA ’22) completed her MFA thesis “Ill Bread” this spring combining prints, papermaking, textiles, and ceramics. In August she will head to Helena, Montana, to work at the Archie Bray Foundation as an Educational Assistant. Her work was selected for the “SECAC 2021 Members Juried Exhibition,” held at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, and she coordinated “Field of Squares: A Print Pack Quilt Exchange”, which was presented at Gallery 1010 and Pellissippi State Gallery in Knoxville. Condon also chaired a panel “Just an Organism in an Ecosystem” at the SGC International Conference, in Madison, WI. This year she was awarded residencies at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design, Student Artist-in-Residence, Fine Arts Wrocław, Poland, and the Morgan Conservatory of Papermaking, Cleveland, Ohio. murielcondon.com

PHOTO: Muriel Condon in the lithography
studio at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy
of Art and Design this summer.

Eleanor Dickenson (MFA ‘07) is an independent artist in Little Rock, Arkansas, creating works informed by her world travels, including to Morocco, Iceland, Galapagos, Patagonia, Palau, and most recently Egypt. eleanordickinson.org

Tim Dooley (MFA ‘98), an Associate Professor and his colleagues Aaron Wilson and Dana Potter (MFA ’20) from the University of Northern Iowa, as well as UTK alumnus Alex McKenzie (MFA ’19) from Cornell College, presented an interactive installation project “Feedback Loop” at the SGC International Conference in Madison, ist/wilson-doole

Callie Farmer (BFA ‘10) is an instructor teaching printmaking, drawing, and art history at Fayetteville Technical Community College where she teaches Drawing, Printmaking, and Art History courses. She remains active in the studio, and is exhibiting her work regularly in Western North Carolina. This spring she gave birth to her second son Declan William. calliefarmerartist.com

Helen Farmer (BFA ‘06) lives in Greenville, SC, and devotes most of her time to raising three girls while being an avid gardener. She also has studio projects in the works.  greenvillearts.com/arts-directory/helen-farmer-edwards

Ben Fox-McCord (BFA ‘09) organized “Teamdraw,” a collaborative drawing project involving thirteen artists which included a publication and an exhibit at Antenna Gallery in New Orleans, LA, had an illustration published in The Pigeon Parade Quarterly. He exhibited new work at both the Dogwood Arts Regional Exhibition in Knoxville, and La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles, CA.

Jessica Gatlin (MFA ‘17) completed the third-year of a tenure-track position at the University of Maryland, College Park. jvgatlin.com

Rich Gere (MFA ‘92) is the Chair of the Department of Art and Art History at The University of Alabama, Birmingham, where he is working with architects on a new facility for the major part of their studio operations and was awarded a Windgate Foundation grant to initiate the Equity and Inclusion Scholars Program, providing four full-ride scholarships to underserved students. He presented “Maps and Monuments: Recent Drawings by Rich Gere” at the Hammond Gallery, University of Jacksonville, in Jacksonville, AL, and showed his work in juried and group exhibitions in California, New York, and Venice, Italy.

James Greene (MFA ‘06) is a CX Librarian in Nonfiction/Periodicals who oversees the Art Gallery, Zine Collection and comics-making programs at Main Library in Downtown Jacksonville, Florida. Greene also creates and self-publishes original comic books. His latest book, Larry Loathman Snake Master, was featured in two exhibits at the University of Tennessee Ewing Gallery in January–February. He’s currently working on logistics for the library’s upcoming celebration of self-publishing: the Duval Comics and Zines Fest, scheduled for October 2022. His sons are finishing high school – Elias works as a YMCA lifeguard and Deo will be playing varsity football.  james-greene-art.com

Gregory Graham (MFA ‘82) is represented by Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis, MN, where he presented a one-person exhibition of his paintings this past winter.  gregorygrahamart.com

Jennifer Haston (Leach) (MFA ‘05) resides in Nashville where she is the Visual Arts Coordinator for Friends Life Community, which provides opportunities for teenagers and adults with developmental disabilities. In her work she leads classes in Art and Social Enterprise, providing opportunities for Friends to be creative in crafting original designs while practicing job skills by using their designs to create FLC merchandise.  She also works tirelessly behind-the-scenes to increase awareness of the Visual Arts Program. An avid gardener, she also leads gardening classes at FLC.  You can follow her on Instagram at instagram.com/jennifer_haston

Justin Helton (BFA ‘07), owner of Status Serigraph, creates design and poster work for a variety of national and international clients in the music industry, including officially licensed Grateful Dead prints and an officially licensed print for Alice in Chains. statusserigraph.com

Mark Hosford (MFA ‘01) is the chair of the Vanderbilt University Department of Art. Last year he presented an exhibition of his drawings “Tales from the Woods,” at Vol State Community College, in Gallatin, TN. One of his drawings was included in the 12th Annual Drawing Discourse; International Contemporary Drawing Exhibition, University of North Carolina Asheville, Asheville, NC. sugarboypress.com

Jade Hoyer (MFA ’16) has accepted a tenure-track position teaching printmaking at her undergraduate alma mater, Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. This past fall as the Windgate Artist in Residence at Arkansas Tech University she completed the project, A Community Effort, a handmade paper mural for the Pope County Library created in collaboration with 350 elementary school students from the Russellville, AR, region. www.jadehoyer.com

Raluca Iancu (MFA ‘15), completed her third year as an assistant professor teaching printmaking at Iowa State University. This spring she was awarded a “40 Under 40” Award from the UTK Alumni Association, and was able to come back to Knoxville to present a lecture, conduct studio visits, and receive the award. This summer she completed two residencies in Japan, one at Mi-LAB in Kawaguchiko at the foot of Mount Fuji, and then at Studio Kura, further south in Fukuoka. Her work was recognized with a first-place award in “Her Voice,” held at Expressions Studio, Oak Park, Illinois; as well as a juror’s award as part of “Unprecedented: Art Responds to 2020,” at the View Center for Arts and Culture, Old Forge, NY. Iancu’s work was selected for 9 juried exhibitions, including “Innovations in Printmaking & Mixed Media,” held at the D’art Gallery, in Denver, CO. She was also a panelist for the session, “Building from the Found: Exploring Collage as a Print Media Process” at the SGCI Conference in Madison. ralu.ca  

Gareth Jones (MFA ‘94) is a senior lecturer of fine art at Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Chongqing, China, where he leads a one-year international pre-master’s program in art and design that prepares Chinese students who’ve completed undergraduate degrees for graduate programs in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.

Kristina Key (MFA ’20) won first place in the National Skills USA competition for her welded sculpture last summer, and has since moved to Charleston SC. She is currently a full-time welder creating large “T Tops” for several boat companies. kristinakey.com

Elizabeth Klimek (MFA ‘97) resides in Virginia and is an adjunct professor teaching on-line courses at the College of Southern Nevada. elizabethklimek.com

Yas Kumagai (BFA ‘93) is currently a senior manager at Art Front, Tokyo, where he has been working for nearly 30 years. In addition to an exhibition program, Art Front provides comprehensive art consulting and related services. This year Kumagai helped to coordinate two of the largest art festivals in Asia, the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial in Niigata, Japan and the Setouchi Triennial held in Kagawa and Okayama, Japan. He has also been involved in promoting the UTK Alumni meeting held in Tokyo this past June. artfront.co.jp/en

Shaurya Kumar (MFA ‘07) was promoted to full-professor and serves as the chair of the printmedia department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Kumar is also the Chair of Faculty at SAIC, an elected five-year position voted by all full-time and part-time faculty. In this role he oversees programs for faculty development, mentoring and promotion, advising faculty searches and the promotion and tenure process. He recently was selected for the AICAD BIPOC Academic Leadership Institute, a year-long professional development program for faculty identified as emerging academic leaders. Kumar has also remained active with his studio projects, exhibiting his work last year at the India Art Fair in New Delhi, India, and the Abu Dhabi Art Fair, in the United Arab Emirates. His work was included in invitational exhibitions in New York City and Minneapolis, and he curated the exhibition “E/merge: Art of the Indian Diaspora” presented at the National Indo-American Museum (NIAM) in Lombard, IL. Kumar is represented by Threshold Gallery in New Delhi. shauryakumar.com

Lauren Kussro (MFA ‘06) completed her fifth year as an assistant professor at the University of Houston-Clear Lake in Houston, Texas. She had work selected for the “The Contemporary Print” exhibition at Print Austin in January and the “Women’s Printmaking Invitational Exhibition,” held in Canton, Ohio, in March. One of her newest sculptural prints was featured in an invitational exhibition called “Wolfpack Presents: Beyond the Rectangle,” held in Colorado. laurenkussro.com

Nancy (Becker) Laemlein (MFA ’81) retired from an academic career in the arts and then IT systems (University of Tennessee and University of Rochester) in 2016.  Living in her native Finger Lakes, NY, she is an independent artist, now painting in gouache.  Last year she served as a New York State Arts Council grant reviewer for her county. 

Emmy Lingscheit (MFA ‘12) continues to teach at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where she is an associate professor. In 2022 she has a solo exhibition opening at The Sheldon in St. Louis, MO, and taught a relief workshop at the St. Louis Artists Guild. emmylingscheit.com 

Chance Losher (BFA ’12) was slowed down by COVID19, but is now back to work setting up his art at concerts and festivals across the Midwest and Southeast regions of the USA. Some highlights include festivals at Red Rocks in Colorado and The Caverns in Tennessee where he displays his art alongside some of his favorite bands as well as internationally renowned artists. You can also find his work in local art and craft markets in Knoxville.  professorrainbow.com

Abigail Lucien (MFA ’17) is on the faculty of the interdisciplinary sculpture department at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. An interview with Lucien is posted on the LVL3 website. Last fall they published “Nan Vant Soléy La / In the Belly of the Sun” a work of creative non-fiction from the journal March International about their family and home in Haiti, including the impact of COVID19, political violence, and looking to art to imagine potential futures for the island nation. Lucien’s work was included in a number of two-person and invitational group exhibitions in New York City; San Blas, Panama; Turku, Finland; Taos, NM; and Chicago, IL. This year Lucian has been selected for the 2022-2023 Amant New York Studio & Research Resident Program based in Brooklyn, NY. abigaillucien.com

Elysia Mann (MFA ’17) works in the UTK School of Art as the 2-D Technician, a position that was recently expanded to include interdisciplinary support within the school. Her new role includes producing collaborative print editions with the Painting and Drawing area’s Artist-in-Residence program. She was awarded a Bailey Opportunity Grant to make three visits to Penland School of Craft this year, including a two-week Winter Residency.

Lee Marchalonis (MFA ‘03) who is based in Detroit, Michigan, runs Studio Souterre, a hand lithography and book binding studio. Marchalonis also teaches printmaking and drawing at the University of Michigan. leemarchalonis.com

Tim Massey (BFA ‘85) retired this spring from professor at SUNY Brockport University, where he taught printmaking and drawing, and previously ran their gallery program. This summer he relocated his studio to East Tennessee.

Daniel Maw (MFA ‘10) completed his tenth year of full-time instruction at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyoming where he teaches foundations, drawing, art history, sculpture, and photography and is the Director of the Esther and John Clay Fine Art Gallery. This year he exhibited at the Supernova Digital Animation Festival, a juried animation festival in Denver, CO. danielmaw.com

Ashlee Mays (MFA ’20) continues to serve the East Tennessee region as a CAC AmeriCorps member. In addition to national service, Mays is a co-collaborator at Whistlepig Farms, a collective of makers growing food and preserving craft in the hollers of rural Tennessee. She also continues to lead the Museum of Infinite Outcomes as both President and Director. This year through the 2021 Urban Agricultural Resilience Program Award, funded through the United States Botanic Garden and the American Public Gardens Association, the Museum provided free educational classes to neighborhood children, held open hours for the Library of Infinite Outcomes (a public lending library of seeds) and distributed native plants and crops to neighbors and volunteers through the newest exhibit, The Conservatory. This coming year the Museum will continue to offer interdisciplinary educational experiences that center ecological intelligence through Appalachian craft, as well as keeping regular Library hours, and providing plants for people thanks to the Tennessee Arts Commission Arts Education Community Learning and the American Rescue Plan grants facilitated by the Arts & Culture Alliance and funded through the City of Knoxville, Knox County, and the National Endowment for the Arts. museumofinfiniteoutcomes.com

Jesse McAdams (BFA ‘18) currently teaches at Pigeon Forge High School where his program is the beneficiary of funding from Dolly Parton. In March, Jesse was able to attend the 2022 SGCI Conference in Madison, WI.

Conor McGrann (MFA ‘21), resides in St. Paul, MN where he is the Digital Studio Arts Technician at Carleton College in Northfield. He has an exhibition upcoming at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota. He and his partner welcomed their daughter Una Catherine McGrann this spring.  cgmcgrann-editions.com

Sarah Marie Miller (MFA ‘11) practices visual and healing arts in Boulder, Colorado, and produces a podcast, Thyme in the Studio. Recent episodes include “5 Ideas to Help You Sleep at Night” and “Herbs to End a Virus that Won’t Quit.” thymeinthestudio.simplecast.fm

Emmett Merrill (MFA ’20) manages the stone lithography studio at Grafik House, a fine art printshop located in downtown St. Louis, MO. One of his recent lithographs was purchased by the Library of Congress during New York Print Week 2021. He had three recent one-person exhibitions including “Tornado” at the Kranzberg Gallery in St. Louis, MO; “Dead Deer” at Wonderfair Gallery in Lawrence, KS; and “Everyday Ghosts” at The Kansas City Artist Coalition in Kansas City, MO. Merrill’s work was also displayed at the Bradbury Art Museum, Artist Image Resource INC. in Pittsburgh, PA, and the Tippetts & Eccles Galleries in Logan, UT. emmettmerr.wixsite.com/mysite

Emily Minnie (MFA ‘03) and Josh Minnie (MFA ‘04) co-own and operate The Pattern Farm, a wallpaper company that specializes in collaboration with artists and designers to create custom wallpapers for residential, commercial, and artist installations. thepatternfarm.com

Guen Montgomery (MFA ‘12), a teaching assistant professor at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.. During the pandemic she focused her studio practice on home-based methods, including screen printing and using digital methods for embroidery and laser cutting as part of future print projects. She has been part of recent exhibitions in Nashville, TN; Jacksonville, FL; and Des Moines, IA.  guenmontgomery.com

Heather Muise (MFA ‘00) teaches printmaking at East Carolina University. In the past year her work was included in several international and national exhibitions including the “Four Rivers Print Biennial,” Carbondale, IL, and the “27th Parkside National Print Exhibition,” Parkside, WI. heathermuise.com

Ashley Nason (MFA ‘99) is a practicing artist living in Loveland, Colorado creating works for commercial spaces such as REVE, Boulder. This past year she has spent more time traveling the west, staying in her camper van and donating time to the local Humane Society. ashleynason.com

Daniel Ogletree (MFA ‘14) lives in Las Vegas, where he teaches drawing and printmaking as a part-time instructor at the University of Nevada and the College of Southern Nevada. He is entering his second year as a Faculty Center Fellow at UNLV, where he will lead a monthly nature journaling session for faculty on its beautiful desert campus. He is also beginning his second year as a Program Assistant at Clark County Wetlands Park, where he has created a two-week Artist in Residence program, a monthly Visiting Artist Workshop series, and a roster of four annual gallery exhibitions. He has also brought outdoor screen printing to some of the many public events at the park and introduced relief printing into the roster of public art workshops that he leads. In the meantime, he has pursued freelance illustration while spending as much time as possible exploring the dramatic Mojave Desert with his wife, Kay Leigh Farley (MFA ’16), and their McNabb Sheepdog, Laika. Daniel and Kay Leigh look forward to a much-postponed honeymoon in Iceland. danielogletree.com

Jessica Owings-Crouch (MFA ‘04) resides in Fort Collins, Colorado, with her family, a cat named Book, an ever-evolving Darwinian garden, and a bunch of bicycles. She runs an independent and occasionally collaborative venture, The State Park Press, a letterpress and fine art studio. thestatepark.com

Jen Poppen (BFA ’93) completed her MFA at the University of New Mexico following her studies in Tennessee. She is a mother, artist and art educator in rural Ohio, where she teaches K-5 art. Several of her illustrations were recently published in a children’s book and she has completed different murals in her rural community. She is currently working towards an exhibition next spring in Columbus, OH.

Dana Potter (MFA ‘20) continues as an Assistant Professor of Interactive Digital Studies at the University of Northern Iowa. She has received a Pre-Tenure Grant and Creative Activity Grant from UNI to support a new body of prints and will be an artist in residence at the Morgan Conservatory in July of 2022. She has had a particularly active year as an arts collaborator and organizer. For an audio-visual installation in collaboration with UTK alumni Alex McKenzie (MFA ‘19) called “Retrack,” she created screen-prints paired with augmented reality, which has traveled to Cornell College in Mt Vernon, IA; the Figge Museum in Davenport, IA;  and the International Digital Media and Arts Association Conference, Winona, MN. Similarly, she created screen-prints and augmented reality work for “Feedback Loop,” an interactive audio-visual installation and collaboration with UTK Print Alumni Tim Dooley and Alex McKenzie (Cornell College) and Aaron Wilson (University of Northern Iowa), presented as a pop-up project at the SGC International Conference, Madison, WI. Finally, as an arts organizer she has been appointed as Co-Director of the Open Air Media Festival, an outdoor time-based media arts event presented by Public Space One, Iowa City, Iowa. danapotterart.com

Tatiana Potts (MFA ‘16) taught printmaking last spring semester at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Beginning this fall, she has accepted a position teaching printmaking and book arts at Western Carolina University. The appointment will allow her to return to the North Carolina mountains, having completed her BFA from UNC Asheville. tatianapotts.com

Lisa Renz (MFA ‘07) is living in Northern Virginia with her husband, Nathaniel, and homeschooling her son, Winston, while also continuing to make art.  lisarenz.com

Katie Ries (MFA ’10) co-organized a portfolio with artist Carrie Scanga for the SGCI conference which featured prints made by “printmaking caregivers.” The portfolio included an essay by labor historian and East Tennessee native, Jessica Wilkerson. Last year Ries was invited by the Trout Museum of Art to be part of their Community Artist program, completing a screen print based on that work for the museum’s permanent collection. Ries continues to teach art, design, and printmaking at St. Norbert College, in DePere, Wisconsin, where Althea Murphy-Price had a one-person show this spring. katieries.com 

Clifton Riley (MFA ‘13) lives in Houston, Texas, where he works for Vistex Graphics, an architectural and graphics firm, and continues to make prints and drawings. cliftonriley.com

Bethany Robertson (BFA ‘10) has a studio in Brooklyn, New York, where she does freelance illustration and design, specializing in hand lettering, murals, and cut paper and printed installations. Her clients have included Planned Parenthood, the Food Network, and Senator Kristen Gillibrand. bethanyrobertson.com

Jennifer Scheuer (MFA ‘14) completed her second year as a tenure-track assistant professor, and her fifth year at Purdue University. This summer she is an artist associate at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts where she is creating work with photopolymer and sculptural books, and taking workshops in books and paper. Over the past year Scheuer exhibited her prints in 25 national/international group exhibitions, and received Best in Show at the Morgan Conservatory’s 10th Annual Juried Exhibition. She participated in the International Print Exchange Programme, India. Through IPEP her work will be in 39 international exhibitions in 2022. Scheuer organized the portfolio “Optical Impermanence” for the 2022 SGC International Conference. In this portfolio artists created prints on translucent papers and films; she is co-curating a second round of this project for the upcoming IMPACT Printmaking Conference in Bristol, UK. Scheuer received a faculty fellowship for course redesign in Fall 2021, with this support she is hosting a visiting artist series to bring regional printmaking artists to campus for one day visits.  jenniferscheuer.com

Sarah Shebaro (MFA ‘08) is a multidisciplinary artist, printmaking instructor, designer, illustrator, and DJ based in Knoxville, TN. Last year she exhibited her work at the Tri-Arts Arts Gallery in South Knoxville. sshebaro.com

Veronica Siehl (MFA ’10) joined Chicago start-up, Crafty, this past May as Senior Product Designer (UX/UI). There she focuses on bringing intuitive, delightful user experience to Crafty’s Client-facing platform. This past February, Veronica visited UTK virtually, serving as a guest reviewer for undergrad Seniors in the Graphic Design Professional Seminar course taught by Lauren Ray Wagner. veronicasiehl.com

Jason Shoemaker (MFA ‘11) has taken a new position as a web developer for Oak Ridge National Labs. He continues to develop a new body of work inspired by bouquets of flowers he bought himself during the COVID shutdown. 

Roxanna Shohadaee (BFA ’11) is the founder of habRitual, which is an experiential production, interdisciplinary design, and immersive art studio based in Emeryville, California. Clients have included the Burning Man Project, Planet Home and UC Irvine. habritual.studio

Lila Shull (MFA ‘19) taught online courses at Appalachian State University last year and moved this year to Minneapolis, MN, where she is now a member of Highpoint Center for Printmaking and taught a lithography course this past spring. She will be teaching at the University of Minnesota this fall. She was awarded a residency at Cahoots in Petaluma, California, presented her work in seven exhibitions last year, and was awarded a Boston Printmaker’s Sponsored Scholarship.  lilashull.com

Hannah Skoonberg (MFA ‘14) is an associate professor and department chair at Santa Rosa Junior College in California, where she is director of the Robert F. Agrella Gallery. skoonberg.com

Josh Smith (BFA ‘98) is represented by David Zwirner Gallery in New York City, Xavier Hufkens Gallery in Brussels, Belgium, and Galerie Eva Presenhuber in Zürich, Switzerland.  This year he presented a one-person exhibition “Josh Smith: Keyhole,” at Xavier Hufkens.  Smith also collaborated with designer Matthew M. Williams in translating some of his vibrant paintings into different garments for Givenchy’s Spring-Summer 2022 runway show.  Hear a conversation with Smith and curator Anne Pontégnie about his recent work.

Keely Snook (MFA ’16) is an Emmy winning designer, interdisciplinary artist, and freelance puppet builder. Based in New York, she is now a member of IATSE (United Scenic Artists Local 829) has worked on projects for organizations such as the Jim Henson Company (recently for the new Fraggle Rock series), The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Sesame Street, Coca-Cola, Avenue Q, Netflix, Apple TV, and Disney. Her work in puppetry grew out of her MFA thesis in Tennessee. keelysnook.com

Kelsey Stephenson (MFA ‘16) continues to teach as an Assistant Lecturer in Print Media and Foundations at the University of Alberta. She was awarded an Alberta Foundation for the Arts Project grant for this year for a new installation project titled “Currents.” Her recent project “Flux” was shown at Open Studio in Toronto this past January/February. kstephenson.ca

Jennifer Stoneking-Stewart (BFA ’05) teaches in Hamblen County, TN. She leads a successful AP Art and Design program at Morristown-Hamblen High School East. She lives in Talbott, TN.

Baxter Stults (MFA ’19) coordinates the Media Pool in the UT School of Art, overseeing the circulation of digital and analog media equipment. He also provides a variety of communications support for the school and helps to maintain the School of Art website. baxterstults.com

Jason Terry (MFA ‘92) is a professor and coordinator of the art program at Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin. jasonterrystudio.com

Jessie Van der Laan (MFA ‘09) now serves as the Assistant Dean of Humanities at Walters State Community College in Morristown, Tennessee, where she teaches art. jessievanderlaan.com

Jeanne Voltura (MFA ‘96) has worked for the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, for the past 18 years, and currently oversees the city’s gallery programs.

Crystal Wagner (MFA ‘08) has been based in Los Angeles for the past three years where she has been working on her hemispheric paper sculptures housed in acrylic domes. She also has developed “Wild Bloom,” a new series of affordable digital prints related to her hemispheric works. While some of her exhibition projects were postponed due the pandemic, she recently completed a large-scale installation for TOYOTA, created a new large-scale installation for her exhibition titled “Sublime” which opened at Fort Works Art, in Fort Worth TX on July 9th will remain on view through October. Currently her work is featured in the Urban Art Biennale in Berlin, Germany. This September she will return to Knoxville to receive the Alumni Promise Award from the UT Knoxville Alumni Association.  crystalwagner.com

Ericka Walker (MFA ‘10), an associate professor at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University, worked with master printer Steve Campbell and Nikki Otten, Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Milwaukee Art Museum, to develop strategies with which to replicate the lithographic techniques of Jules Chéret. Walker was commissioned by the museum to create an original lithograph as part of the “Always New: The Posters of Jules Chéret” retrospective (Curated by Nikki Otten, and opened June 2022) at the Milwaukee Art Museum. She continues working with Master Printer Jill Graham on the printing of “Yankee Station,” a series of large-scale, multi-color lithographs. She also is developing on new 55-piece series of large-scale works called “The Heritage Collection,” each piece is a large-scale (32 x 48 inches) multicolor reductive relief carving of a man-made explosion since the War of The American Revolution. The images are combined with panels featuring a seminal literary text Chickamauga, written by Ambrose Bierce in 1869. In addition to exhibitions in Australia, Canada, and elsewhere, Walker also exhibited her series “The Great Experiment” in the UT Printmaking Showcase Gallery from March-May of this year. With her partner Ben Wooten, she is thrilled to welcome their second child into this world: Ivo Castle Walker. erickawalker.com

 

Johanna Winters (MFA ‘18) received a 2022 Charlotte Street Foundation Visual Artist Fellowship Award with a $10,000 stipend and an exhibition, this fall, of new work in Kansas City. She was also awarded the 2022-23 Grant Wood Fellowship in Printmaking at the University of Iowa, and is departing her teaching position at the Kansas City Art Institute. She had one-person exhibitions at Drama Club Gallery, Chicago, IL, and COOP Gallery, Nashville, TN, and continues to stage performances involving shadow puppetry with musical collaborations with composer Ethan Philbrick. This summer she taught a puppetry workshop at the Penland School of Crafts, and returned this summer to the Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency, in upstate New York, as a Residency Coordinator. jojowinters.com

Erin Wohletz (MFA ‘21) has accepted a tenure-track position teaching at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, where they will start this fall. In January, they presented a one-person exhibition at the Northwest Arts Center at Minot State University in North Dakota, and had work included in the International Print Center, New York, juried exhibition, “Unfinished: New Prints 2022/Winter.” ewohletz.com

 

NEWS FROM THE PRINTSHOP

Elysia Mann (MFA ’17) our shop technician, has now been promoted to a full-time position supporting printmaking and the other 2-D areas in the UT School of Art. She continues to play an active role in helping to keep our studios operational and safe, while also initiating programming to support studio access. 

Following a two-year postponement due to COVID-19, this spring we were able to renew our student residency exchange with the Eugeniusz Geppart Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław, Poland. Graduate students Muriel Condon and Noah Lagle spent four weeks in Poland, in May and June, and we are looking forward to hosting Agnieszka Hoza and Izabela Kabza, from Poland, this September.  

Our graduate students have remained active in the studio and were able to pursue their professional goals, with 6 one-person exhibitions, 82 group exhibitions, and 5 conference presentations. The geographical reach of these activities encompasses 22 states (Arkansas, California, Georgia, Kentucky Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin) and 5 countries (Australia, Japan, Poland, United Arab Emirates, and the United States). 

Many of the one-person exhibitions took place at Gallery 1010, including shows by Muriel Condon, Danqi Cai, Zoe Brester-Pennings, Anthony Huang, and a collaborative two person show with printmaker Chloe Wack and painting/drawing student Landin Eldridge. Our graduate students, faculty, and staff presented a group exhibition “Reflected Narratives” at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church Gallery, Knoxville, TN, that opened in January 2022. 

Our students had prints selected for several prominent national juried competitions, including the “27th Parkside National Print Exhibition,” University of Wisconsin, Kenosha, WI; “The Fierce Urgency of Now: Socially Engaged Printmaking,” Janet Turner Print Museum, California State University, Chico, CA; “37th Annual International Exhibition,” Meadows Gallery, University of Texas at Tyler, TX; “SECAC 2021 Members Juried Exhibition,” Bolivar Art Gallery, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY; “Delta National Small Prints Exhibition,” Bradbury Art Museum, Jonesboro, AR; “WILDERNESS,” Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH; and  the “Awagami International Miniature Print Exhibition,” Awa Japanese Handmade Paper Museum, Yoshinogawa City, Tokushima, Japan. 

Four of our graduate students were session chairs and/or panelists at the SGC International Conference, and second-year graduate student Danqi Cai served as a student representative on the Mid American Print Council Board of Directors.  

The Printmaking Showcase Gallery continues to be a resource for teaching, with some exciting exhibitions including an exhibition of a portfolio organized by Melanie Yazzie, Mapping Home / Collecting Truths: Works by Indigenous and International Artists and “Capital Punishment,” prints by New York-based artist Justin Sanz. In February to March we presented the exchange portfolio, “The Dream Deferred,” prints inspired by a Langston Hughes poem by 31 artists from the continental United States and Puerto Rico, representing diversity of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, regions of the country, ages, perspectives, and printmaking media. Our final show of the academic year was “The Great Experiment,” an exhibition of lithographs addressing concepts of nationalism and history by UTK alumna Ericka Walker (MFA ’10). Our annual summer exhibition presented works by our faculty, staff and students. 

FACULTY NEWS

Beauvais Lyons has continued to develop his Circus Orbis project. His work with the Hokes Archives was prominently featured in Antoinette LaFarge’s new book Sting in the Tale: Art Hoax, and Provocation published by DoppleHouse Press (Los Angeles), and he was interviewed by the author in conjunction with the book. Lyons also published essays on teaching printmaking in the London journal Printmaking Today (on “Making Money, Making Meaning”) and the Mid-American Print Council Journal on the theme of “Repair.”  In January he hosted art historian Chang Tan, curator of the KMA exhibition “Global Asias” as part of a panel session sponsored by the UT Humanities Center. 

Traveling with a large delegation of UTK students to Madison, WI, he chaired a panel session at the SGC International Conference on “Publicly Engaged Print Education.” In November he exhibited one of his lithographs in Münich, Germany for “Stone, Plate, Polyester,” an international show of contemporary lithography at Edition Hoke. His new lithographic pop-up books were selected for several national juried exhibitions, including “Contemporary Prints” at Print Austin, Austin, TX, and a purchase prize from the “2022 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition” at the Bradbury Art Museum, Arkansas State University. volweb.utk.edu/~blyons

Althea Murphy-Price spent time this summer teaching workshops in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and in Snowmass, Colorado, at Anderson Ranch.  She exhibited her work in one-person exhibitions at The University of Tulsa, in Oklahoma, and The Bush Art Center at St. Norbert College, DePere, Wisconsin. Her work was also included in group exhibits at the Brandywine Print Center in Philadelphia, and Highpoint Print Center in Minneapolis, as part of Black Women of Print (BWoP). As the Diversity Faculty Fellow in the College of Art and Sciences, she helped to coordinate a collaborative exhibition program that links UTK students with HBCUs Fisk and Tennessee State University. She became a proud recipient of a University of Tennessee Jefferson Prize for achievement in research and has continued exploring photography and 3D printing for a new series of photographic portraits.  Crowning achievements, Ida (10) and Emery (7) remain equally active in theatre, music and swimming.  They will begin middle school and 2nd grade in the fall. altheamurphyprice.com

Koichi Yamamoto presented a one-person exhibition at Sage Community Arts, Sheridan, Wyoming, in March and he presented his work as part of an invitational group exhibition “Paper Wind Water,” held at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center Kahului, Hawaii, in July. Yamamoto had a busy summer, conducting workshops at California Summer Arts, California State University, Fresno, and Hui No`eau Visual Arts Center, Makawao, Maui, Hawaii.  He was also an artist-in-residence at Double Dog Dare Studio, Kalaheo, Kauai, Hawaii in June. His kites were featured in Kunst + Unterricht Magazine in Münich, Germany. yamamotoprintmakin.com, @koichi_yamamoto