50 years of printmaking from the MSU Department of Art, Art History, and Design teaching collection.
August 1 – October 21, 2022
This exhibition features a sampling of work held in a teaching collection maintained by esteemed Professor Emeriti James E. Fagan. Professor Fagan joined the MSU Department of Art, Art History and Design in 1967 where he taught undergraduate and graduate students in the areas fo printmaking, drawing, and painting until his retirement in 2018, Professor Fagan passed away at the age of 90 in 2020. One of the ways his 51 years of service to MSU lives on is through the expansive teaching collection he maintained featuring etching, dry point, collagraph, screen prints, mono prints, and lithographs. This collection which includes students, faculty, alumni, and campus visitors provides us with a peek into the years of making taking place within the walls of the Kresge Art Center printmaking studios.
A printmaking teaching collection provides students with the opportunity to see first-hand pieces that are working prints, that may still be building compositions, early and end stages of a process, and artist proofs highlighting the development of a whole body of work. Specifically in printmaking, examples like this are shown to help students unpack how to develop texture, color, line, and value using the wide range of processes employed by printmakers. The examples of works shared in this show may have been finished pieces or may represent a step in the process of developing artwork. This exhibition represents a wide range of concepts, techniques, and processes explored through the medium of printmaking over the past 6 decades at MSU. What you see in this space is just a small part of this collection.
The work in this show was selected and laid out by Abby Behan, an MSU senior pursuing degrees in Studio Art and Packaging. Behan served as a guest curator for this exhibition and has been a member of the Department of Art, Art History, and Design Galleries team since the spring of 2022. Additionally, we would like to acknowledge Professor d’Anne de Simone, Walt Peebles, Rebecca Casement, Jordyn Sayther, Phoebe Schorer, Emila (Emme) Rush and Adrienne Willis who helped organize this exhibition.
