The artworks in Print Press Play! are drawn from Sonoma State University's exceptional collection of prints. Established in 1978, SSU's art collection originally held a few hundred artworks. Over the ensuing decades it has expanded to over 1,500 works, and the collection continues to grow through the generosity of individual and corporate donors. SSU's notable prints collection has also been established in part thanks to the impressive printmaking facilities of the SSU Art Department, which are unusual for their large size and range of specialized print media equipment. SSU's printmaking studios have attracted a roster of well-known print media faculty over the years, and trained many students who are now practicing artists. SSU's art collection holds prints by artists of national and international stature. On exhibit in Print Press Play! are works by famous 20th and 21st-century American and European artists including Salvador Dalí, Jean Dubuffet, Hung Liu, Sol LeWitt, Joan Miró, Andy Warhol, and others. SSU has been gifted several prints by important Mexican modernist masters including David Alfaro Siqueiros, a selection of which are on display. Also featured in the exhibition are Northern California favorites such as Roy de Forest, Squeak Carnwath, Robert Hudson, and Peter Voulkos. The exhibition additionally includes a few prints created by local artists, including the SSU Art Department's current printmaking faculty members. Print Press Play! is co-curated by Jennifer Bethke and Eileen Parent. Bethke is an independent curator and art historian; the former director of the Sonoma State University Art Gallery, she now manages the permanent collection at the Museum of Sonoma County. Parent is a Bay Area artist working in print media. She is a lecturer in studio art at Sonoma State University and Napa Valley College, where she teaches printmaking and drawing.
The artworks in Print Press Play! are drawn from Sonoma State University’s exceptional collection of prints. Established in 1978, SSU’s art collection originally held a few hundred artworks. Over the ensuing decades it has expanded to over 1,500 works, and the collection continues to grow through the generosity of individual and corporate donors. SSU’s notable prints collection has also been established in part thanks to the impressive printmaking facilities of the SSU Art Department, which are unusual for their large size and range of specialized print media equipment. SSU’s printmaking studios have attracted a roster of well-known print media faculty over the years, and trained many students who are now practicing artists. SSU’s art collection holds prints by artists of national and international stature. On exhibit in Print Press Play! are works by famous 20th and 21st-century American and European artists including Salvador Dalí, Jean Dubuffet, Hung Liu, Sol LeWitt, Joan Miró, Andy Warhol, and others. SSU has been gifted several prints by important Mexican modernist masters including David Alfaro Siqueiros, a selection of which are on display. Also featured in the exhibition are Northern California favorites such as Roy de Forest, Squeak Carnwath, Robert Hudson, and Peter Voulkos. The exhibition additionally includes a few prints created by local artists, including the SSU Art Department’s current printmaking faculty members. Print Press Play! is co-curated by Jennifer Bethke and Eileen Parent. Bethke is an independent curator and art historian; the former director of the Sonoma State University Art Gallery, she now manages the permanent collection at the Museum of Sonoma County. Parent is a Bay Area artist working in print media. She is a lecturer in studio art at Sonoma State University and Napa Valley College, where she teaches printmaking and drawing.
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