Vikings Printmaking: SGC members portfolio exchange, San Francisco 2014!

Recently I made a trip to San Francisco to attend the Southern Graphics Council or SGC. SGC is one of the country's largest printmaking conventions and is held once a year at various global locations but mostly in the U.S. At SGC you will encounter printmaking shows held at various sites linked with the conference, printmaking demonstrations, talks given by your favorite printmaking heroes and you will definitely meet friends and make connections.

One of the coolest things you will run into at SGC are the portfolio exchanges. A portfolio exchange is usually a printmaking trade and is organized between several printmaking communities. However many artists participate in the exchange dictates the size of the edition each artist will make. So each artist makes, for example, ten identical prints but by the time the exchange occurs the artist receives ten different prints; one from each participant in the exchange. Portfolio exchanges to me are the best reason to practice the "democratic" medium. Exchanges make the best use of the "edition" and I feel it is such a straight forward and honest way to use the resources of printmaking because it emphasizes the sharing that occurs in printmaking communities.

The photos of the prints I am posting are from the SGC members portfolio exchange and were on view at the Academy of Arts in San Francisco. The theme of the exchange and the SGC conference was "bridges," and how activism is nurtured by our connections to each other. It was difficult to keep track of all the individuals artists because there were multiple exchanges happening at one time. The walls were covered in prints!

A few of my favorite prints were by Kimiko Miyoshi and also by a printmaker whom I only know by one name: Yuji. Kimiko made a very simple but flawless cut-paper stencil, silkscreen that featured imagery of two burning bridges cut in half by flames. The severed bridges were set on impossibly high cliffs and lacked the presence of any sign of the peoples from either side of the gorges. I felt this print foreshadowed our era of a so-called linked and global culture that is seemingly connected but in reality fractured and tense.

The work by Yuji was more surreal and symbolic. Yuji's prints are usually etchings that are printed in CMYK color separations. I very much connected with the imagery of the persimmon fruit in Yuji's print because I like images involving food. Food is the great connector and we can all relate to its function. Please enjoy the photos of prints I recently encountered.