2009 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition opens at Bradbury Gallery Jan. 22

Jan. 15, 2009 -- The 2009 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition (DNSPE) will open to the public at  5 p.m. on Thursday, Jan.  22, at Arkansas State University-Jonesboro’s Bradbury Gallery, located in Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive, Jonesboro. This beautiful, well-rounded show includes a variety of prints from traditional to experimental, minimal to intricate, and realistic to abstract.

Each year artists from across the nation submit original prints for possible inclusion in this exhibition, which is chosen by a nationally known expert in the field of printmaking. The 2009 DNSPE was selected by Siri Engberg, who is a specialist in contemporary prints and a curator at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minn.  Engberg painstakingly reviewed each print and selected an exhibition that spans the range of print types and styles. She also determined which works would receive awards, including purchase prizes.

Engberg joined the Visual Arts department at Walker Art Center in 1990. Since that time she has organized numerous exhibitions for the museum, including solo exhibitions of artists such as Claes Oldenburg, Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Motherwell, Lorna Simpson, Edward Ruscha, Joan Mitchell, and Donald Judd. She also oversees the Walker’s print collection and manages the museum’s McKnight Print Study Room. Engberg has contributed to a variety of publications and exhibition catalogues on contemporary art.

Engberg stated, “The exhibition on view represents a broad sampling of media and techniques that attest to the quality and rich diversity of works on paper being made today.”  She continues, “When shown together, the small prints featured here lend the exhibition an album-like quality, inviting us to look more deliberately at imagery that can be at once intimate and universal. I was intrigued, when invited to select these examples, by the premise of a show comprised solely of small-scale work. I wondered whether the parameters of size would prove to be a limitation on the variety of works submitted. I was pleasantly surprised, however, by the number of artists who seem to have found the idea of working small particularly liberating—in this case, less is decidedly more.”

When making the selections, the DNSPE juror is only allowed to see the print and its title, size, and type.  All decisions are made without the juror knowing the artist’s name or address. Because of this, the Bradbury Gallery is pleased to announce that two ASU art faculty members, Shelley Gipson and John Salvest, and one recent graduate from the department of art, Andrea Mary, will be included in the exhibition.  

A full-color catalog of the entire exhibition will be available at the opening reception, which runs through Sunday, Feb. 22. Bradbury Gallery hours are 12 noon-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 2-5pm on Sunday. The exhibition, the catalog, and the reception are free, and the public is welcome. For additional information, please contact Les Christensen, director of the Bradbury Gallery, at (870) 972-2567, or e-mail her at lchristensen@astate.edu.           

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Images, from top:
Aaron McLeod, "3 fils, 2008," copper and photo etching
Daryl DePry,  "The doctor reused the syringe; she's already dead," 2008, reductive woodcut
Caroline Thorington, "Joker, 2008," lithograph and chine colle