Windsor Printmaker’s Forum is proud to open its doors to visitors for this Original Print Exchange and Exhibition which will coincide with Walkerville Holiday Walkabout week-end.

Reception Friday, November 18thfrom 4pm – 9pm and Saturday, November 19th from 10am – 5pm

Chatham-Kent artist Vanessa Cornell organized an international print exchange for ARTspace, in Chatham. This satellite installation is on view at the Windsor Printmaker’s Forum from November 14, 2011 – January 25, 2012.

Over 70 artists chose to participate from Chatham-Kent, Windsor, and 8 additional countries including Australia, Belgium, England, India, Mauritius and Scotland. All of the artists were asked to create an edition of 10 prints in a print method of their choice at the set size of 5” x 7”. One of each artist prints are now in the permanent collection of ARTspace, and these will be on display at Windsor Printmaker’s Forum.

The remaining prints were re-distributed into a suite of 9 for each participant. A print exchange is a traditional printmaking event, that allows artists to share work from around the globe.

Come and enjoy the holiday atmosphere with music, refreshments and great company of international art and local artists.

Windsor Printmaker’s Forum
420 Devonshire Rd
Lower level, North Entrance

A Review of the Exchange,  by guest writer – Erin Ward

The fascinatingly diverse prints of seventy-two artists from around the world currently line the walls of the Windsor Printmaker’s Forum Art Gallery like rows of tiny windows offering intriguing glimpses into the creative minds that produced them. They range from ethereal to whimsical, thought-provoking to meditative. As I walked around the space, leaning in to gaze though these little windows, I marveled at the unique ability of this show to bring artists from such vast distances together in this room, all present in a sense; represented by the the works still resonating with the creative energy poured into them. One such print for example, an untitled, richly textured, abstract collograph which is an ARTspace satellite installation by Bouchel Marina, was so recently in the hands of its creator in Belgium, and now here it is hanging before me as I share in the idea he has expressed. From across miles of the Atlantic ocean he has reached me here in the Printmaker’s intimate gallery, glowing from the soft but luminous lights that illuminate the walls of art.

I met up with Vanessa Cornell, assistant administrator at Chatham’s ARTspace, the initial home of the Original Print Exchange and Exhibition & Community Arts Initiative show and curator for the Windsor Printmaker’s Forum, to discuss the inspiration for the show. Cornell joined me in the gallery as an embodiment of her passion for printmaking, fresh from the creation process herself, and attired in an apron decorated with ink; the life’s blood of this art form. This international show, she explained, provides an opportunity both for printmakers to share ideas and techniques as well as for local residents to experience the work of international and local artists. A call for submissions was put out online and by email to printmakers and forums all over the world. Each participating artist submitted ten original five-by-seven inch prints, of which one print was put on display while the rest were divided amongst the other participants. “I think that’s really the joy of participating in exchanges,” Cornell says, “because you know you’re going to get art work and its all going to be so different from what you would do yourself.”

Once all the prints were received, three prizes were awarded: two People’s Choices, one international and one local, and a Curator’s Choice. Cornell selected Aaron S. Coleman’s mezzotint and silkscreen entitled Sacred Physiology from Illinois, U.S.A., an evocative artwork depicting the standing figure of a man in a dimly coloured jungle of etchings, the outline of a hand just visible over his heart and his head swathed in cloth. “When I received Sacred Physiology in the mail, I was already really excited about it,” Cornell explains, “and then as more and more work came in it was just really apparent that it was the favorite, not only because of the tremendous amount of detail and care that was put into it, but also because I find it very though-provoking. I wonder if its based on concepts of identity or maybe ethnicity. I appreciate it giving me so much to think about especially from such a small piece of work.”

In addition to prints received from this international call, the gallery is also displaying works created as part of a community arts initiative. Cornell taught classes to local participants making their first foray into the world of printmaking at the Thames Art Gallery in Chatham. The participants of this workshop made six prints each and did their own mini-exchange with the other workshop participants. One of each of these prints can also be viewed now at the Forum.

As a testament to Cornell’s curatorial abilities, there is an absorbing flow to the prints. As I moved through the room, from black and white to vivid colour, across desert landscapes and city sidewalks, through abstract expressions to concrete imagery; the transition from each piece to the next was effortless. Many even seemed to compliment one another by suggesting further themes to contemplate, thereby adding another level of depth to the show.

For example, the ARTspace satellite installation of Californian Amanda Blake’s linocut entitled, Chuck With Young Woman, which provides an amusing, caricature-like depiction of a lonely man looking for companionship in the dim recesses of a bar, stands in an interesting combination of contrast and compliment to its wall-mate beneath, the ARTspace satellite installation of the linocut, El Músico, submitted by Monolete Diaz of Havana, Cuba. El Músico pictures a kind of jazzy, black and white, geometric representation of a musician playing cello in a venue with a striking checkered floor. The sun-like burst of design over the musician’s head seems to be representative of creative energy flowing out from him through his music while he plays. Together the two prints provoke a consideration of the various occupations of night-life and the many paths taken by the human condition, whether creatively or destructively, in pursuance of fulfillment.One print is perhaps an illustration of desperation; a weathered, despondent man following familiar avenues of empty distractions from an unfulfilled life, while the other is vibrant; an expression of inspiration in the life of this musician.

The Original Print Exchange and Exhibition & Community Arts Initiative ultimately brought together artists from ten countries across the world whose artwork is on display at the Windsor Printmaker’s Gallery, located at 420 Devonshire Road, from now until January 25, 2012. The show offers an exciting opportunity for residents of and visitors to Windsor and Essex county to experience the creations of international artists working with this unique art-form. As Cornell expressed: “You don’t get the opportunity to see art work from all over the world very often, especially in a smaller gallery. You can seek it out, but it doesn’t often come to you.”