Special Editions Resident: Blane De St Croix

Blane De St. Croix is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY. He received his BFA from Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA, and his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI. De St. Croix's work has centered around environmental concerns, often represented in site specific installations that address the rigid boundaries of human encroachment on the natural world. These large-scale installations utilize architectural space in a powerful and imposing manner and are based on extensive research of actual sites.

The piece pictured above is titled Mountain Strip. Created for his residency at the Black and White Project Space in Brooklyn, NY, Mountain Strip is literally a mountain built upside down, a painstakingly reconstructed topography of a section of the Kayford Mountain Ridge top in West Virginia. De St Croix's massive sculpture cut through the exterior exhibition space and spilled into the interior gallery. Referencing the strip mining process of mountain top removal Mountain Strip addresses the social and political implications of mining.

De St Croix also uses drawing as an integral part of his research practice. Working from satellite imagery, google earth, topographical mapping and even interviews he collects information to better understand the layered implications of specific areas before beginning a rendering.

As he begins his residency here at the Printshop De St. Croix will continue his ongoing investigation into the geopolitical landscape. I think he has a new site he wishes to investigate. When he came by to see the studio and meet everyone face to face, he seemed excited about how the notion of the multiple would factor into his working progress. I think that one of the most exciting parts of the Special Editions residency is seeing what it is about printmaking that pulls artists in. For some its the impression the plate makes in the paper, a relationship with the actual printing press, while for others its the notion of the edition and the idea of creating a sequence of images. In terms of the these artists we will just have to wait and see.

Courtenay

Call For Artists: Keyholder Residency

Before I delve back into introducing our new Special Editions Artists in Residence, I wanted to take a minute and talk about our upcoming residency deadline. I know exactly what you are thinking, more mail for me! Applications are due March 1, 2010. This is a postmark deadline or drop off deadline depending on one's approach. 

The Keyholder Residency Program offers emerging artists free 24-hour access to our shared printmaking facilities, giving them a year of free studio space and access as a way to foster the production of new work. Keyholders work independently and are encouraged to experiment with a variety of different printmaking mediums. Artists from all disciplines are eligible to apply, as print-making skills are not required and basic instruction in printmaking techniques is part of the program. 

All of the information on how to apply is available on our website so I won't post it here, but what I will do is show a few images of past Keyholder work. A picture is worth a thousand words. 

Darina Karpov. Untitled. 2008. Etching, drypoint, aquatint.

 

Adam Frezza. Juke-Boy Hat. 2008. Solar plate etching.

Sophie Larrimore. Untitled. 2008. Screenprint and collage.

Please pass on information about the residency to anyone you think might be interested, its free to apply and an amazing opportunity. Or if you are feeling especially "residency friendly" buy a ticket to our upcoming Benefit on February 24, 2010 and contribute directly to emerging artists!


Courtenay

New Special Editions Artists In Residence

We officially have 4 new Special Editions Artists in Residence. I cannot tell you how excited I am. My excitement partly has to do with the fact that during the month before the deadline the mailman is my best friend. Every day he brings me stacks of applications, which I then open, sort, collate and upload. The week before the deadline our mailman is basically Santa Claus, with a giant sack of mail as my presents. This means that by the time the panel comes to the Printshop  I know most of the applicants names and have seen their work several times. This particular deadline brought in almost 600 applications from all over the country and I am proud to say that I processed each and every one. The picture below is not me, but I love the image.

That being said being so involved in the process makes the outcome even more fascinating and I can't wait to see what our new artists Saul Chernick, Blane De St. Croix, Chitra Ganesh, and Marie Jager will create. As we set about creating this blog, we talked a lot about its ability to be a forum for discussion, and a place where we could share our thoughts on everything from printmaking to contemporary art and collaboration. In this spirit I am going to introduce each of the Special Editions artists one by one. I think it will be a nice way to highlight their previous accomplishments and showcase their work. It will also be a nice record to look back on at the end of their residency, to see where they were before they began their collaboration with Doug and Jamie.

I am going to start with Saul Chernick. 1) because alphabetically this makes sense and 2) because he was the first one to come into the Printshop. He dropped by this afternoon to see the studio, meet everyone, and talk about what the residency entails.

Saul Chernick is based in Brooklyn, NY and works in primarily in drawing and sculpture. He received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, RI, and his MFA from the Mason Gross School of Arts at Rutgers University, NJ. His elaborate drawings display an exquisite use of line and are executed so that they mimic old engravings. Tied to the past through technique or reference, Chernick's drawings traverse this link, reinventing our perception of otherwordly beings, alternate realities, and supernatural phenomena.

As a draftsman you can see how each individual mark works together to create his imagery. There is also a clear fascination with the phastasmagoric and the metaphysical. It will be great to see how this continues when he delves into printmaking.

Courtenay