Student Perspective, Printmaking »
By Madison Conklin, BA Candidate, Fine Art | Printmaking Club President »
This past October 3-7 ten UCA Print Club members along with two faculty members took a 1,055 mile trek west to Laramie, Wyoming. Printmaking Professor, Jessie Hornbrook, accompanied by Lab Technician, Robbie Burton, introduced students to their first Mid-American Print Conference. This is a bi-annual conference held on changing college campuses throughout Mid-America allow printmakers to network and present portfolios, as well as learn from others. Over this two day conference, printmakers are immersed into a large printmaking community. Students, professors, and printers attend various seminars and demos over the course of the conference. The seminars cover topics that range from what it is like to be a mother and an artist, to how politics affects art-making. Attendees are also invited to attend and even participate in demos where printers introduce new forms of printmaking to each other.
Bobby Miller, the Print Club’s treasurer said this about the experience. “I had a chance to go to MAPC for the first time last year, it was my first time going to an art conference and leaving the state without my family. The experience was great! I was able to see another college that I could potentially go to for graduate school and the conference was full of professional artists, college professors, and students of all ages. They all shared their talents with each other. Each day had demos showing us how to do use different materials like learning how to use sharpie on stone lithography or how to use pronto plates. The best part overall was either being able to see other students art work and/or being able to meet graduate school professors and talk one on one. I learned so much from this experience and hope I can use all of the techniques I’ve seen and learned in my own art process. I just hope I can go again”.