WKU Printmaking Student Installation

Flora and Fauna

A group installation project created in Assistant Professor Marilee Salvator’s printmaking courses.

Dates: April 6- June 15

Location: Kentucky Museum

This large-scale installation was created with students currently enrolled in Salvator’s multi-level Printmaking: Screenprinting and Printmaking: Relief classes in the Department of Art. The project questions the notions of traditional printmaking by using the multiple in non-traditional ways. In traditional printmaking, an image is created on a matrix (in relief printmaking it would be a piece of wood or linoleum, in screenprinting a transparency that is exposed to a screen) then the artist would print multiple impressions of the image and create a printed edition (a group of prints that are identical). Salvator is less interested in this tradition and more interested in using the print in unique ways such as installation. Each student in the two classes were asked to print and cut out 30 impressions of their image on a special paper made out of Kozo fibers.

Salvator works in printmaking installation in her own work, creating large scale, long term works that have hundreds or thousands of individual elements. Two years ago, she got the idea that it would be interesting to have her classes work collaboratively and make a large group installation project. All of these group projects have been a huge success and a valuable learning opportunity for the students. The project teaches the students the importance of working collaboratively and gives them alternative ways of looking at art display and the medium of printmaking. Working in a group makes creating a large-scale work far less intimidating and often encourages her more advanced students to go on and create their own large-scale installation.

Salvator’s Printmaking: Relief class Fall 2017 created a beautiful bird installation on the second floor of FAC. This work was a big hit and Kentucky Museum Artist-in-Residence, Lynne Ferguson approached Salvator to ask if she was interested in having her class create an even larger scale project at the Kentucky Museum this semester. Marilee was super excited about this opportunity for her classes and agreed to the project.

In Spring 2018, Salvator had her Printmaking: Relief class do another group project that was installed on the 2^nd floor of FAC, it was also well received by the university community. This work was a combination of plants, animals and bugs.

The current work at the Kentucky museum includes select elements from both of these two previous works as well and all of the new works created by students this semester. Her current classes and her spent approximately eight hours diligently installing this exhibition over two days. The work is hung with a process called wall chine colle, a non-damaging, water reversible gluing process.

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 Students who installed the work and created elements from this semester:

Screenprinting

Bailey J. Jordan, Ethan T. Justice, Carly T. Lagrange, Nicole M. Ogorek, Hallie E. Pennington, Shelby R. Riley, Heather M. Bensinger, Sara D. Jones, Fengyan Liu, Rachel C. Rummage, Autumn Minor, Marlee Jones, Bronwyn Liddle, Zach Preston, Madeline Rafferty, Daniel Nausa, Paige Miller

Relief Printmaking

Zoe Caswell, JoyBeth Heberly, Trey Kessler, Tara Shade, Autumn Walters, Xueyan Wu, Sutton Doyle, Christina M Ligibel, Olivia Short, Emily Geiman, Bronwyn Liddle, Paige Miller

Students from previous semesters who have work included in the installation:

Bronwyn Liddle, Marlee Jones, Paige Miller, Emily Geiman, Aislynn Barnes, Daniel Nausa, Rachel Walker, Sam Johnson, Hanna Gribbins, Trent James, Mel Lively, McKenna Vierstra, Ellie Allen, Heather Bensinger, Meredith Bush, Lydia Farmer, Amber Lewis, Rachel Rummage, Jalen Garner, Zach Preston, Sunny Shepherd, Bryson Lacasse