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The 2009 James D. Phelan Art Award in PrintmakingPost an Event »

Kala Art Institute and Gallery

October 13 - November 29, 2009

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http://www.kala.org/
(510) 549-2977

2990 San Pablo Avenue Berkeley, CA 94702

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The 2009 James D. Phelan Art Award in Printmaking

The James D. Phelan Art Award in Printmaking honors two California-born artists with a $5000 cash prize and an exhibition at the Kala Gallery. The San Francisco Foundation and the Kala Gallery was pleased to welcome Larry Rinder, Director of Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archives, as this year’s esteemed juror. Mr. Rinder selected Harry Clewans and Maizie Gilbert from a competitive field of artists working in a wide array of print processes. Sarah Newton was acknowledged with an Honorable Mention for her high quality work in printmaking. Berkeley-based artist Harry Clewans studied painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, although he is essentially self-taught. In the 1980’s Harry began an exploration of the woodcut process and has gone on to develop a unique print-collage process. Harry creates drawings of simple random objects based on the graphic style of both scientific illustrations and historical medical prints. He draws directly onto wooden blocks, then hand-carves and prints the woodcut images. His studio process involves intricately cutting and collaging his prints into large and fantastically complex compositions that are comprised of a multitude of obsessive details. His initial drawing of a seedpod can evolve into the mottled and puckered skin of an octopus through the collage process. Layered meanings and visual associations are created between the image in its entirety and the individual components that comprise these complex collaged images. San Francisco artist Maizie Gilbert is both a photographer and print maker. Working with a 1970’s Polaroid camera, Maizie captures moody images that appear to be part of a non-specific narrative. Unexplained gaps in a storyline coupled with an unresolved ending link her sequences of photographs to the experience of watching a film. The images convey a haunting sense of disassociation similar to watching a foreign film without the subtitles. Maizie employs a hand-held camera to capture scenes often revealing the effects of extreme lighting with a dreamy soft focus. Her studio process involves scanning the Polaroid images and creating large archival, pigment prints on paper. San Francisco artist Sarah Newton received an Honorable Mention acknowledgement from juror Larry Rinder. Sarah’s etchings and woodcut prints depict desolate urban scenes filled with liquor stores, fenced-off lots and abandoned buildings. Her meticulous depiction of such subjects is a form of contemplation on the commonplace and the value in the ordinary that is so often overlooked.

fireplace by Harry Clewans