"Impressed" Printmaking Show Opens at Bakehouse Art Complex

Eddy A Lopez

Birmingham (Paki) - 8-color linocut, 5"x7", 2010

​When the newspaper industry finally crumples to death what will people roll up and smack their bad dogs with? Laptops? No matter. Even when the presses for the New Times choke to a halt, the art of printmaking will survive.

The art form has been traced back to ancient China. In the early A.D.'s, ink flowers were pressed into silk, and later paper. But other printing processes, like rubbings, etchings, lithography, and monotypes involve the use of chemicals, 10 ton steel behemoths, and even Xerox copy machines. And screen printed t-shirts? That's printmaking too. The truth is that artistic printing is all around us. Leave it to the Bakehouse Art Complex to celebrate it with "Impressed," a juried exhibition featuring established artists, educators, and emerging talent from across South Florida.

Miami Dade College adjunct faculty member and University of Miami printmaking student Eddy A. Lopez is one of twenty Miami artists featured (there are also folks from Palm Beach, Broward, and Monroe counties). His linoleum print "Birmingham" took "about three or four days to finish." He says, "It's tough to beat an Inkjet. You just press print and it's done. If you have to spend five days to get a print done, the average person isn't going to want to do that. But there are labs opening up for it around town, and the interest is definitely picking up in the local art scene."

Lauren Wagner, the associate director of exhibitions at Bakehouse, says "the printmaking scene is kind of hidden, and you only ever see it in the classroom setting. This is our way of shedding light on the level of printmaking talent in Miami. It's flourishing. There's a lot of good talent coming out of Miami schools, and there are a lot of educators in this show next to the young artists."

Bianca Pratorius

Fenced In #4, Monoprint, Acrylic on paper 50" x 50", 2010

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Lani Shapton

Frozen in Time: Collections #1, 5 and 6, Solarplate print with Chine Colle 8" x 8", 2011

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Kari Snyder

SnailKite - Engraving on paper, 42" x 54", 2010

​Miami favorites like Brian Reedy, Charles Humes Jr., Ingrid Eliasson, and Lopez present work that will open your eyes to a world of printed art, and that's just scratching the surface. Kari Snyder's large scale animal prints take over the project room, all the studios, including the two-press print room, are open, and there's an open bar, and music by DJ V.

All the Miami based artists in the show are:

Abraham Camayd
Alberto Meza
Ashley Ford
Bianca Pratorius (BAC)
Brian Reedy
Charles Humes Jr.
Denisse Monge
Eddy Lopez
Ingrid Eliasson (BAC)
Jennifer Basile (BAC)
Jose Pacheco Silva (BAC)
Kari Snyder
Katherine Poltoratzky
Lani Shapton
Maria Sonia Martin (BAC)
Patricia Weisen
Regina Jestrow (BAC)
Russ Ronat (BAC)
Toa Castellanos
Vivien Romoff (BAC)

Impressed at the Bakehouse Art Complex (561 NW 32nd St. Miami) is open from 7p.m.-10p.m., and it's free. Call 305-576-2828 or visit bacfl.org for more info.

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