STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAU) — The public has an opportunity to both view and purchase artwork made during a special UW Stevens Point program Thursday night. It’s part of Monoprint 2015, which is a biennial gathering of printmaking artists at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point.
Bob Erickson is a Professor of Art at UWSP’s Department of Art and Design. He says students get to work with established printmaking artists from around the world for a week. “We invite artists from all over the world, printmakers, to come here, make their works. We work from 9-5 everyday for a week, and then all of the UWSP Art & Design students, or a selection of them, help the artists make their prints.”
Erickson says at the end of the week, they choose two prints from each artist for display and sale. Each print sells for about $300 dollars and the proceeds go to help support the UWSP Art Department for supplies and equipment.
Erickson says the artwork on display Thursday night is ready to hang on your wall. “We professionally frame them. We put them in the gallery, and then we have an auction sale. All of the works are framed at 22″ by 28″ and they sell for $300 dollars each, and so we put a little box below each print, and over the course of the two hours, you can write your name down and put it in the box. At the end of the two hours, we just go around each print and draw a name out. If we draw your name, then you can buy the print.”
The artists participating in Monoprint 2015 have different styles, different experiences, and bring a lot of variety to the event. “There is a lot of variation, I mean these people have been developing their processes and the way they work throughout their whole careers. To use a business phrase, I think there’s something for everybody. There’s a lot of different (styles) from the matchings, to screen print, to lithographs, to oleographs, to mixed media, and digital. It will really be great for people in this area to see what is happening within the printmaking medium. You’ll see a huge variety of things.”
The Monoprint 2015 Gala Exhibition and Print Sale is Thursday May 28th from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m. at the Noel Fine Arts Center on the UW Stevens Point campus.
(Click the hyperlinks here to listen to our interview with Bob Erickson and Andy Rubin.)