Celebrating 20 years of the Experimental Printmaking Institute, EPI, at Lafayette

Contact:
Michiko Okaya, Director of Art Galleries
(610) 330-5361 or okayam@lafayette.edu

Lafayette College
Williams Center Gallery
317 Hamilton Street
Easton, PA 18042
Galleries.lafayette.edu
610 330 5361

From the EPI-Center: A Retrospective in Two Parts
Celebrating 20 Years at the Experimental Printmaking Institute

A Retrospective in Two Parts
Part 1, 1996-2004 / September 1—October 7
Part 2, 2005-2016 / October 15—December 17

 There will be a reception for Part 1, Sept. 29, 4:30-6 p.m. The reception for Part 2 will start at 4:30 on Oct. 20 with a talk by EPI Founding Director Curlee Raven Holton, at 5 p.m. “EPI: The Art of Making Images from Experiences.”
The exhibition and affiliated events are free and open to the public.

Since its founding in 1996, the Experimental Printmaking Institute (EPI) has passionately advocated for printmaking as an indispensable component of cultural and creative engagement. EPI introduces the printmaking medium to students through collaboration, shared artistic visions, intercultural exchange, and multigenerational engagement. Equally important is the commitment and support for diversity and ecumenical genius.

Combining traditional printmaking techniques with experimental approaches, EPI is committed to advancing this dynamic art form and expanding our visual language. EPI’s founding Director, master printmaker and David M. ’70 and Linda Roth Professor of Art, Curlee Raven Holton is retiring at the end of the academic year. This two-part exhibition, From the EPI-Center, is a celebration of EPI’s creative impact and the vision of its founding director. Part 1 includes examples from editioned prints, monotypes, proofs and studies from 1996 through 2004. Part 2 will include works through 2016 along with a selection of artists’ books.

At the heart of this groundbreaking program are artists’ residencies that to date have yielded more than 350 editions by artists such as Faith Ringgold, Richard Anuszkiewicz, David C. Driskell, Grace Hartigan, and Sam Gilliam.

EPI’s founding director Curlee Raven Holton, joined Lafayette in 1991 to develop a printmaking curriculum. As art historian  Julie L. McGee writes in a history of EPI, “[w]ith modest means and a progressive attitude, he pushed the boundaries of available resources to their fullest.” The first studio-classrooms were in a converted living/dining room of a campus owned residence. “Paper was soaked in the kitchen sink, plates were processed in the closet, and Holton’s office was on the porch. Faith Ringgold’s first etching under Holton’s direction—Anyone Can Fly—was created there in 1993 (editioned in 1997).

In April 1995 an expanded studio opened at 421 Hamilton Street, a former garage with nearly 3,000 square feet. Experimental techniques and more advanced lithography were introduced; papermaking, bookmaking, and advanced digital technology followed…. [Visting] artists such as Anuszkiewicz, Kumi Korf, Duncan Bullen, Maureen Cummins, and Audrey Flack employed the equipment to create exciting work. Over time it became a student-centered professional workshop with regional and international outreach.

Holton’s vision for EPI as a professional printmaking atelier embedded in an educational institution was timely yet atypical to undertake at a small liberal arts college. The majority of educational ateliers have been and remain university based. University- and college-based ateliers engage in unique experiments in art and education, fully integrating students in the creation of fine art.” McGee’s essay will be included in the accompanying history of EPI, You Can Fly and Make Prints Too, the title inspired by Anyone Can Fly, the first EPI etching by Faith Ringgold.

 

 

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For more information and gallery hours, visit galleries.lafayette.edu.

Lafayette College is located in Easton, Pa., on the Delaware River, 72 miles from New York City, and 60 miles from Philadelphia.

Lafayette College Art Galleries and EPI receive state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Image: Richard Joseph Anuszkiewicz, “Intersecting Blues,” 1996, printers proof, laser cut relief plate.

High Resolution images can be found at: https://flic.kr/s/aHskFZ4B4U