Zoe Brester-Pennings (MFA ’23) Receives Artist-in-Residence Position in Printmaking
The UTK School of Art is proud to announce Zoe Brester-Pennings, MFA Printmaking Graduate of the Class of 2023, is the recipient of The University of Wisconsin-Parkside’s Artist-in-Residence (AIR) position in Printmaking. This position runs from the Fall of 2023 through the Spring 2024 semester.
The residency will give Brester-Pennings full access to the academic/professional printmaking studio in UWP’s Rita Tallent Picken Regional Center for the Arts and Humanities. The studio features up-to-date ventilation and equipment for artists creating prints through a variety of methods including lithography, linocuts, woodcuts, letterpress, monoprint, screen printing, and intaglio. The goal of the residency is to support early-career artists and to provide first-rate facilities and instruction for the art-making communities of southeast Wisconsin.
During her residency, Brester-Pennings will act as the print shop studio manager, welcoming and supporting students in the printmaking lab and providing general upkeep and maintenance for the studio and its equipment. While encouraging the creative printmaking work of Zoe Brester-Pennings during her year-long residency, the university will also support her as she supervises “office hours” in the printmaking area so that community, students, and colleagues can engage their own creative endeavors. She will act as a resource for these groups, answering questions and sharing expertise.
In addition to her studio responsibilities, Brester-Pennings will be teaching two workshops, one in Fall and the other in Spring. These workshops will explore monotype, screenprint, and other printmaking mediums, and will seek to engage members of the broader Kenosha arts community.
Originally from Northern California, Zoe Brester-Pennings came to Tennessee to pursue her graduate studies at UTK, one of the highest rated MFA programs in Printmaking.
In 2018, Brester-Pennings received her BFA in Studio Art-Printmaking from Sonoma State University. Prior to her graduate studies, Brester-Pennings was a part-time art instructor in her hometown of Healdsburg, California. During her time in Tennessee, Brester-Pennings has met many wonderful artists, enjoyed the beauty of the Appalachian countryside, and even worked briefly at Dollywood, which served as partial inspiration for her recent thesis show The Buck Wilde Attraction.
Despite receiving her MFA in Printmaking, Brester-Pennings is an interdisciplinary artist, working across print, sculpture, video, and performance. Brester-Pennings describes her work as “an exploration of beauty, femininity, and fallibility”. Her recent body of work involves the creation of a hyper-femme character known as Buck Wilde, a former rodeo clown and endearing bimbo. “My work is based in performance but is also a study of auto-fiction and mythmaking.”
With the support of the Betsy Worden Printmaking Award, Brester-Pennings had the recent opportunity to travel to Wrocław, Poland to participate in an exchange with the Fine Arts Academy. During her residency she and fellow printmaker Haley Takahashi, were in a two-person exhibition entitled, Paper View. In addition to the exhibition, Brester-Pennings had the opportunity to travel, view an abundance of art, and even create an edition of risographs.
For more information about Zoe Brester-Pennings and to see photos of The Buck Wilde Attraction, visit www.zoebp.xzy