COD Faculty Member Chosen For Boston Printmakers Exhibit
College of DuPage art Professor Charles Boone is one of 100 artists selected to participate in the 2011 Boston Printmakers biennial exhibition, running through May 1 at the Danforth Museum of Art in Farmingham, Mass.
Founded by a group of senior students and faculty at the Boston Museum School and the Massachusetts College of Art, the Boston Printmakers regularly celebrate the rich history of printmaking through exhibits, seminars and other events. The group holds the North American Print Biennial, which is one of the most prestigious events in the printmaking world.
The exhibit includes prints created in lithography, woodcut, linocut, etching, mezzotint and screen printing, as well as new and experimental media.
For Boone, the opportunity to exhibit his work with such an esteemed group of artists is a continuation of the work he grew to love as a child.
“I enjoyed drawing and I like that printmaking is such an accessible medium,” he said. “It's good for those who don't have the money to get into the more expensive forms of art.”
Art became his focus, but teaching was a natural off-shoot when, as an undergrad, Boone's professor asked him if teaching was an interest. The Batavia resident said helping other artists fuels his own art and offers continued inspiration for his works. It also allows him to share his experiences as an artist with students who aspire to showcase their own creations.
Boone had three pieces selected for the juried exhibition, all taken from The Orchard Project, which he began in 2008. Inspired by his in-law's apple tree farm, Boone has been created prints of the gnarled, majestic trees, using the antiquated printmaking process of etching in his representations of the antiquated orchard.
“It feels good whenever you get a chance to show your work,” Boone said of being selected. “It keeps your work out there as an artist and, for me it also gives me a chance to share those successes with my students. They get to see what the process of getting a show is really like.”
For more information on the College's printmaking classes, visit: http://www.cod.edu/Academic/AcadProg/TranProg/Art_TR.htm. For more information on The Boston Printmakers Biennial, visit: www.bostonprintmakers.org/biennial.html.