The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse University Art Gallery opened a new exhibition, “Art in Tandem”, on Jan. 27. Set to be on display through March 2, this exhibition highlights printmaking and printed art–with a twist.
Organized by Assistant Professors of Art Zachary Stensen and Marc Manke, “Art in Tandem” highlights the work of six artists from around the world: Gina Hunt (United States), Solveig Landa (Norway), Landon Sheely (La Crosse, WI), Reham Mohamed (Qatar), Richard Blackwell (Australia) and Zainab AlShibani (Qatar). UWL students worked with the selected artists to produce new pieces of printed artwork.
“The idea behind this show is to demystify the creative process,” said Stensen. “When you go to an art exhibition and you see artwork in a gallery…you don’t see the experimentation, the process, the research that goes behind the scenes to make that work.”
In terms of the selection process for the artists, Stensen explained that he already had prior connections and experience with all of the artists involved in the new exhibition. However, his choice was more than simply being acquainted with the artists: he purposefully chose to diversify the exhibition on two fronts.
“I thought about things like nationality and race, and also the style people normally work with,” explained Stensen. “I didn’t want to choose artists that all look the same…I thought about the diversity of their actual artistic practices, too.”
Stensen continued, “A lot of the artists in the show aren’t necessarily people who normally make prints…[there was] an educational opportunity that was posed to us.”
“Art in Tandem” is the product of nearly a year and a half of work. Stensen and Manke worked to bring the six artists to campus, in-person or digitally, to collaborate with printmaking students in the master printing capacity.
“The students [at UWL] were making the ideas and the work of these professional artists happen in the studio,” said Manke. “What you see in the gallery is all of the work our students did and documentation of it.”
Stensen and Manke’s goal was to show the creative process of the artwork, from the initial idea down to the completed work. “In the exhibition, you’ll see the six different works that were created. We have information about the artist and their personal practice, and then we have an entire explanation…of how that project happen[ed],” said Manke.
Maddy Atkinson and Elisa Engman are former UWL students who were in Stensen’s printmaking class last spring. They explained that this class’s scope was a more in-depth continuation of the artistic process they had gotten a look at last fall in their graduate program research.
Because Atkinson and Engman had over four semesters of experience, they were assigned as leads for a project, with less experienced students being assigned assistant roles. Stensen also considered what their art already looked like to help decide what artist to assign them to.
Engman, who worked with Gina Hunt, described herself as having done “a lot of random things” with the project. Hunt’s idea, inspired by the inside of an envelope, required the use of a laser cutter to cut the stencil into the paper, among other tasks.
“The previous semester, I had been a print assistant for [Stensen]…he was doing a print trade…making prints, sending them all to a certain location,” said Engman. “I’ve done something similar [to “Art in Tandem”], but I had more input in the creative process during the project with Gina [Hunt].”
Atkinson, however, had never done anything like “Art in Tandem” before.
“With Solveig [Landa], she’s…in Norway…none of us could speak any Norwegian; she [spoke] really good English…but there were a lot of ideas she couldn’t explain in English,” said Atkinson.
When asked if it was rewarding to see an exhibition that contained their work go up, the pair responded enthusiastically.
“Oh my god, yeah,” said Atkinson. “You’re finally seeing all your work put together, and oh my gosh, I could not imagine how gorgeous this gallery was going to look…with everybody’s work finally in the same room together on display. It’s amazing, and I’m so excited that it’s finally up.”
“It’s so phenomenal, it’s always good to see a gallery go up with all your work in it,” said Engman. “I’ve loved every single gallery I’ve been a part of at this studio. It’s always rewarding.”
“Art in Tandem” is on display until March 2. You can visit the University Art Gallery from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Thursday and from 1-5 p.m. Friday-Sunday. Additionally, the University Art Gallery is holding an open print session and drop-in workshop that is open to the public from noon to 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7.
The next installation in the gallery will be the All Student Juried Art Exhibition (ASJAE), which will run from March 7 to April 17. This year marks the 65th year the ASJAE will be held at UWL, and all students are encouraged to submit art for this exhibition, regardless of major. More information can be found on the art department website or by contacting Art Gallery Director Deborah-Eve Lombard ([email protected]).
