Bradley University's International Print and Art Show
By Gary Panetta (gpanetta@pjstar.com)
Skulls, portraits, studies in the abstract play of line and shadow are among the subject matter of the more than 100 pieces making up Bradley University's International Print and Drawing Show, which opened in several locations around the city last week.
A visit to Heuser Art Center - where several dozen prints and drawings are on exhibit - shows imagery that hovers between the abstract and figural.
Some pieces hint at unspoken stories or, perhaps, tragedy.
Katie Beasely's "Pressure" (giclee and graphite) shows the image of a pale, blonde child, eyes shut, barely emerging from a white backdrop. The artist has sketched a medical diagram of a heart over the child's bare chest.
Christine Wuenschel's almost wall-sized "Mountain 2" (charcoal and acrylic) shows three nude figures - women black and white - entangled with one another, captured in midspin, a whirlwind of movement rendered in dramatic, curving lines.
"This year was a little more keen on drawing skills both in print and in drawing, so there's a more graphic quality to the work," said Oscar Gillespie, a Bradley art professor and printmaker. "People who love mark making. People who love taking any instrument - whether it be an etching needle or charcoal or pencil or pen and making marks that aren't intended to be softened marks but more very direct markings - marking with energy."
One of the longest running juried shows of its kind, the Bradley International Print and Drawing Exhibition takes place every two years and exhibits work at several locations in addition to Bradley, including the Peoria Art Guild and the Contemporary Art Center.
The exhibition began in 1950 as part of a renewed interest in printmaking after World War II. The second oldest print show in the United States (the oldest is sponsored by the Society of American Graphic Artists in New York), it has featured works by famed printmakers such as Leonard Baskin, who also is known for monumental figures in bronze, limestone and wood.
Various printmaking techniques were used to make images for the show, including lithography, intaglio and silkscreen processes.
Even in an age of digital technology, there is something amazing about a print, even if it's made by processes that Goya or Picasso would have recognized, said Robert Marx, a retired art professor and master printmaker who juried the show.
"It is a very expressive medium, and it is like magic," Marx said. "You draw on a piece of metal and you do all the preparation and then you rub ink into the lines that you made or the dots that you made. Then you wipe the surface clean, print it and run it through a press. And all of sudden, you pull this paper up and there is a marvelous kind of picture that you've envisioned. It is like magic. I always refer back to the first time a student pulls a piece of paper from a plate. The astonishment on their faces is remarkable."
Gary Panetta can be reached at 686-3132 or gpanetta@pjstar.com.
Bradley University's International Print and Drawing Show
- What: Print and drawing show featuring over 100 artists.
- Where: Heuser Art Center Gallery, Bradley University; the Contemporary Art Center, 305 SW Water St.; and the Peoria Art Guild, 203 Harrison.
- When: Through April 15.
- Special event: A lecture will be held by the juror, Robert Marx, from 5-6 p.m. on March 10 in the Horowitz Auditorium, Caterpillar Global Communication Center Room 126. Marx's lengthy career includes recognition as a master printmaker, an illustrator of more than a dozen books, a distinguished professor of art, and a Fulbright Scholar.
