In a gallery filled with different printmaking pieces, the Collective Minds show highlights Austin’s printmaking community through the expressions of twenty different artists. With its variety of prints, from lithographs and etchings to monoprints, the annual show opened on June 14 and runs until July 26, with free admission to the public.
“I’m hoping people who are not printmakers can come and learn a little bit about printmaking by looking at the show, but also enjoy works that are fine art prints as artworks themselves,” said Katherine Brimberry,
director and co-founder
of Flatbed — a center for contemporary printmaking
.
The exhibition exclusively displays Flatbed members’ works. Membership requires that they have prior printmaking practice and experience, while allowing artists to use the Flatbed studio to create prints for shows like Collective Minds.
Collective Minds showcases four of printmaker Samantha Melvin’s pieces, which consist of a suite of lithographs of three different native plants from the Edwards Plateau region around Austin. This is Melvin’s fourth time displaying work in the show.
“Any time that you have an opportunity to show your work formally (and) not just in the studio … but actually where it’s displayed and where we can contemplate it from a more formal perspective … I think it’s just so exciting,”
Melvin said.
“
You notice things about the works that you didn’t see previously. In the context of the larger show, you can see where there may be similarities, but also where each artist really has created a unique work.”
Along with Collective Minds, Brimberry said Flatbed also gives visitors a tour of the studio where they can see the artists working. Additionally, people can view the collector showroom, where there are prints created by professional artists with whom Flatbed collaborated and published.
Featuring printmaker
Colleen Blackard for the first year, Collective Minds displays two of her pieces in the show, “Remembrance” and “Assisi.” Blackard said both pieces are inspired by her recent travels to Tuscany.
“Being a part of a creative community is such a big part of why I love to be an artist
—
it’s to get to share what excites and inspires us,” Blackard said. “It’s kind of this unknown territory. You don’t really know what you’re going to learn from everybody when you’re around them.”
A
rtists who are interested in the printmaking community and want to support Flatbed can sign up for classes to see if they enjoy it and potentially become a member, Brimberry said.
“
Every year the work gets better and better, and in some cases, the different artists that came at one point now have grown, and their work has gotten so much better,” Brimberry said. “That’s very gratifying to me to see.”
