Posts Tagged ‘shows’

Print/Counter-Print

Posted on: February 28th, 2012 by jmbroekman
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Print/Counter-Print at Rose Contemporary

March 2nd through April 13th, Rose Contemporary in Portland, Maine is hosting a show featuring the work of artists from Peregrine Press and Zea Mays Printmaking Studios as well as introducing Maine College of Art Printmaking Students. Although I am across the pond, I will have work included in this show from the series of work shown at left (though not this particular piece). The show will travel to Zea Mays in Florence, Massachusetts in April.

Opening reception: Friday March 2nd, from 5:00 – 8:00 PM

Free public lecture: “Growing a Sustainable Printmaking Community” by Liz Chaflin, founder of Zea Mays, Saturday March 3rd, 6:30 PM in the MECA Osher Lecture Hall. This talk is sponsored by the Kate Mahoney Memorial Fund of the Peregrine Press

Rose Contemporary
492 Congress Street
Portland, Maine
207.780.0700

Wednesday – Saturday, 1:00-6:00PM
www.rosecontemporary.com

Check it out if you are in the area!

Hello Spring!!!

Posted on: April 10th, 2011 by jmbroekman 3 Comments

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The peepers and the crocuses are back at last

It’s so nice to have weather that allows for digging around in the dirt to see who is coming back to life after that long snow-covered winter nap. Today was just such a day, and to my great delight there were spots of color poking out from the ground all over the place. Last night I heard the first of the peepers which means it’s time to plant the peas. I’m looking forward to all that flurry of garden activity, and being able to spend time outside without being wrapped in 25 layers of clothing.

Other bright news today: the Dunia Moja/One World show got a great review in the Maine Sunday Telegram. To my surprise one of the pieces I worked on was singled out; though I think more for what Fatma did to my base sheet than anything I might have done. None-the-less, it was nice to see my name in print, and spelled correctly at that! You can read the full review here: www.pressherald.com

The Sketchbook Project

Posted on: April 1st, 2011 by jmbroekman 2 Comments
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A return to the Sugar Bowl sketchbook

I was inspired to get back to work in my Sugar Bowl sketchbook after seeing The Sketchbook Project: 2011 in Portland yesterday. There are almost 10,000 sketchbooks that come from more than 60 countries in this traveling library cum concert tour. The show is a lot o fun, you literally check out the books like in a library, then sit down and take your own sweet time perusing. The following were among the highlights of those that I saw (clicking on the artist’s name will bring you to their Sketchbook Project page where you can see some of the work):

  • Jeff Woodbury – a fellow Peregrine Press artist who did the most amazing mind-bending cut-out drawings in his book;
  • Mary Anne Lloyd – a good friend of mine who is a magnificent illustrator and has filled her book, in her own inimitable style, with all the things that give her life meaning (for example her cappucino machine);
  • Nancy Gibson Nash – another good friend, who is also an illustrator and collage artist. She filled her book with log-cabin-quilt-inspired collages – including some paper that I had collected for her from Italy;
  • Seth Fitts – this is an artist/illustrator I didn’t know before seeing this show. He is from the Atlanta area, and his work is absolutely lovely; and
  • Daniela Volpari – another artist I didn’t know about prior to this show. Of course I had to look for one from Italy. She has adorable illustrations of cats and dogs (the theme of her book).

The project was conceived by and is sponsored by the Art House Coop in Brooklyn. After the tour, all sketchbooks will enter into the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Art Library, where they will be cataloged and available for the public to view. So if you can’t see the show, you can always visit the sketchbooks in Brooklyn.

I just missed the deadline to participate in this project – I’m going to try and not let the next one slip by. In the meantime, I’ve pulled out my giant sugar-bowl sketchbook and spent time filling a few pages today (photos at left).

Dunia Moja/One World: A print exchange

Posted on: March 22nd, 2011 by jmbroekman
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I just finished updating the Peregrine Press website to include information about our upcoming show, and thought I’d finally describe my part in this project here as well. You can read a lot more about the project, and see some of the work at www.peregrinepress.com/zanzibar.html. To see the work, scroll down and click on any of the three pictures towards the bottom of that page.

The images included above (on this post) are pairs of before and after shots. Each participant created an edition of “base” prints that were sent to the other group to be completed by another artist. So moving clockwise starting top left above are: one of my base sheets that was sent to Zanzibar; the print completed by Fatma and sent back to Maine; one of my completed prints in which I worked on top of Rehema’s base print; and Rehema’s base print.

The project presented me with some serious challenges – not least of which was figuring out how to add to an already complete and beautiful print, while respecting what was there, but somehow adding my hand to it. In the end, it was a lot of fun, and in some ways opened up a new door for me in terms of imagery. I enjoyed working with all those swirly shapes that were in Rehema’s prints, and ended up making some plates based on blown up versions of her prints that I think I may continue to work with.

I encourage those of you who are local to check out the show. It will be up from the 1st of April through the 28th of May in the Lewis Gallery at the Portland Public Library. There is an opening reception on April 8th. And if you can’t get to the show itself, definitely check out the Peregrine Press website and scroll through the images. The work is really remarkable.

Common Thread

Posted on: September 29th, 2010 by jmbroekman
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October 9 – November 14, 2010

Common Thread
George Marshall Store Gallery, York, Maine

Opening reception: Saturday, October 9th, 5:00 – 7:00 PM

More info: The George Marshall Store Gallery

I am pleased to have work included in this show. Curator Mary Harding invited a small group of artists to create new work in response to a set of bedhangings in the collection of the Museums of Old York. I wrote a little bit more about this show – and my process in creating work for the show in my last post.

The image at left (which is a detail) – 09.07.10 – was the last piece I created for the show. It is a matboard etching/collage with graphite and stitches. The overall image size is around 10″ x 9″.