David Krut Publishing

Jillian Ross, David Krut Workshop’s head printer, was invited to Minneapolis, USA to give a talk at the Highpoint Center for Printmaking on April 16^th. This accompanied an exhibition held at Highpoint’s gallery of 11 South African artists who have collaborated with DKW. These include: Deborah Bell, Diane Victor, William Kentridge, Rose Shakinovsky, Claire Gavronsky, Wim Botha, Ryan Arenson, Penny Siopis, Paul Stopforth, Trasi Henen, Maya Maljevic, Colbert Mashile, Nathaniel Stern, Andrzej Nowicki, David Koloane.

The exhibition ran from March 26 to May 1, 2010.

Review of exhibition in Start Tribune, local newspaper in Minneapolis: http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/art/89706617.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3

Highpoint website: http://www.highpointprintmaking.org/exhibitions/2010/south_african_prints/

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Jill’s experience at Highpoint:

In my guided tour of the show, I introduced DKW and spoke in depth about each of the artists on show. I was able to contextualize the work and answer any questions a non-South African audience may pose.  A small group of printmakers, artists, curators and collectors were present.

Highpoint is a beautiful studio with wonderful people.  It is owned and run by Cole Rogers and Carla McGrath.  It is home to a print co-op with members who rent the studio and to an educational program that teaches young learners the basics of printmaking. They also have a dedicated gallery and a collaborative studio (Cole is the master printer).

Cole answered many technical questions and took me through the work that has been created at Highpoint over the years. They work in all print media (Intaglio, Lithography, Relief and Silkscreen) and the work was incredible.  Carla made the rest of my trip and took me around parts of Minneapolis and to  the Walker Art Center.  They also made sure I visited the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) and Dennis Jon, curator (at MIA) and friend, very kindly took me through MIA’s current exhibitions.

I met 2 artists while I was there: Karl Bethke and Jenny Schmid.

Karl worked at Rorke’s Drift in 1978 for a year and  has been making prints on the subject for the last 30 years. I had the pleasure of looking through the work and at his collection of prints from Rorke’s Drift students.

Jenny is a printmaker, an artist and a professor.  She also owns and runs “Bikini Press International”.  The small world of printmaking ensured that we knew many of the same printers and we had a wonderful time together.  Please check out her work at  http://www.bikinipressinternational.com/

Description of Exhibition (From Highpoint Center for Printmaking website):

Highpoint Center for Printmaking is thrilled to announce its upcoming exhibition of prints from David Krut Projects. From March 26 through April 24, 2010, visitors to the galleries will have the opportunity to view prints from eleven South African artists. David Krut established his print workshop in 2002 as a professional facility for collaborations between South African artists and local and international printmakers. Krut invites emerging and established artists to his Johannesburg studio to create limited edition intaglio prints and monotypes. Highpoint is honored to host this outstanding group show, which builds on HP’s history of exhibiting contemporary prints from around the world.

As one might expect, several of Krut’s artists use their work to explore South Africa’s fraught social history. Paul Stopforth, for example, was one of the country’s first visual artists to challenge apartheid through his work; government officials withdrew his art from the 1981 Valparaiso Biennial International Exhibition because of its controversial content. Diane Victor also condemns apartheid through her work; her prints juxtapose biting social satire with delicate mark-making.

Other participants concentrate on more personal matters. Deborah Bell, for instance, works through spiritual questions with her artistic practice; she draws on imagery from both classical and African mythology. Colbert Mashile, who is of Sotho ancestry, offers viewers a stylized, surreal vision of life and customs in rural South Africa. In contrast, Maja Maljevi?Lc is inspired by modern rock music, which infuses her prints with bright colors, bold strokes and abstract forms.

For many viewers, William Kentridge will be the most familiar artist in this exhibit. Well-known for his work in film and theater, he is also a prolific printmaker. He has studied printmaking since adolescence and has also taught printmaking. The show at HP will also feature thirty intaglio prints from Kentridge’s upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The MOMA show surveys nearly three decades of work by Kentridge, a remarkably versatile artist whose work charts a poetic course through colonialism, totalitarianism and apartheid. Included are works related to the artist’s staging and design of Dmitri Shostakovich’s The Nose, which premieres at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in March 2010.

Keywords: Painting, History, Arts-and-Culture, Design, monograph, Photography, Art, South-African, International, Bookstore