Invitations and Artist Residencies

Invitations and Artist Residencies

2019

Visiting Professor, invited by Professor Rina Yoon to give laser engraving demo and project to class. Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design: Milwaukee, WI

2018

Guest Speaker, presentation of photogravure/prints to group of professionals, invited by Professor Christine Style. Salon Supper: Greenbay, WI

Visiting Lecturer/Artist/workshop, artist lecture/white-ground aquatint workshop, part of the UW Stout Visiting Speaker Series, invited by Professors Bryan Ritchie and Rachel Bruya University of Wisconsin-Stout: Menomonie, WI

Visiting Lecturer/Artist/workshop, artist lecture/2-day artist book workshop, invited by Professor Christine Style University of Wisconsin-Greenbay: Greenbay, WI

Visiting Lecturer/Artist/workshop, artist lecture/ artist book workshop. University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh: Oshkosh, WI

Visiting Artist, MonoPrint 2018, one week long event hosted by the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, organized by Professor Rina Yoon (MIAD) and Professor Emeritus Robert Erickson (Stevens Point, WI), visit also included a 3-hour student critique: Milwaukee, WI

Visiting Lecturer/Artist/workshop, artist lecture/ laser engraving workshop, invited by Professor Kristen Bartel, University of Wisconsin-Parkside: Appleton, WI

Visiting Lecturer/Artist/workshop, artist lecture/2-day photogravure workshop invited by Professor Benjamin Rinehart. Lawrence University: Appleton, WI

Artist in Residence, two week residency, invited by Claudia Loret and Jordi Roses, program directors, Art Print Residency at Murtra Edicions: Arenys de Munt, Barcelona, Spain

2016

Visiting Lecturer/Artist, artist talk in gallery, Galleries of Contemporary Art: Colorado Springs, CO

Visiting Lecturer/Artist, artist talk in gallery, Artisan Gallery: Paoli, WI

Visiting Lecturer/Artist, artist lecture/student critiques at various locations in India,

Potti Sree Ramulu Telugu University: Hyderabad, India
Government College of Fine Art: Kumbakonam, India
Banyan Hearts Artist Residency, as part of the “Drawing Space” project: Hyderabad, India

2015

Visiting Artist, lecture, workshop, invited by student organization, University of Arizona: Tucson, AZ

Visiting Artist, one-month residency, invited by Kristien van den Oever, director, Amsterdam Grafisch Atelier, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Visiting Artist, monoprint workshop, invited by Christina Nafziger, program coordinator, XICO Arte y Cultura: Phoenix, AZ

2014

Visiting Lecturer/Artist, gallery talk/student critiques, Eastern Tennessee State University; Johnson City, TN

Artist in Residence, two week residency, invited by Claudia Loret and Jordi Roses, program directors, Art Print Residency at Murtra Edicions: Arenys de Munt, Barcelona, Spain

2012

Visiting Lecturer, “Community Based Printmaking”, Mapa, Impresion de multiples Artistas, SegundoSimposio de Grafica, Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua: Chihuahua, Mexico

Visiting Artist, laser engraving workshop/lecture, Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua: Chihuahua, Mexico

2011

Guest Speaker, presentation of work/ArtPrize, Kendall College of Art: Grand Rapids. MI

Visiting Artist, one week, invited by Robert Peters, director, Seacourt Press: Bankor, Ireland

Artist in Residence, one month residency, selected by Pat Donlon, director, Tyrone Guthrie Center at Annaghmakerrig: Newbliss, Ireland

2009

Artist in Residence, one month residency, invited by Gianfranco Gorini, director, Venice International Printmaking Studio: Venice, Italy

Visiting Artist, MonoPrint 2009: A Gathering of Artists, one week long event hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, organized by Professor Robert Erickson: Stevens Point, WI

2007

Visiting Artist, spit-bite demonstration. Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design: Milwaukee, WI

Visiting Artist, artists’ books lecture, invited by Max Yela, special collections librarian, curator, University of Wisconsin: Milwaukee, WI

2006

Artist in Residence, residency for creative research, Stone House Residency: Miramonte, CA

Visiting Artist, MonoPrint 2006, one week long event hosted by the University of California-Chico, organized by Eileen McDonald, assistant professor: Chico, CA

2005

Visiting Artist, bookbinding workshop. Pont Aven School for Contemporary Art: Pont Aven, France

Visiting Artist, Egress Press and Research, invited by John Lysak, professor and director of Egress Press, to produce a collaborative print project with students, lecture and graduate studio visits. Edinboro University: Edinboro PA

Artist in Residence, June 2005, residency for creative research. Jentel Artist Residency: Banner, WY

2003

Visiting Assistant Professor, lecture, “The Silence of Time”, Visiting Artist Lecture Series, Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, PA

Artist in Residence, two-week residency to produce limited edition book and lecture. Center for Book and Paper Arts, Columbia College: Chicago, IL

Artist in Residence, one-week residency to produce site-specific outdoor installation. Stone Quarry Hill Sculpture Park, Rain Tree: Cazenovia, NY

Project Artist, a collaborative, lithography print project, Concerning Time series. Artist Image Resource, Foreland Street Studios: Pittsburgh, PA

Visiting Artist, lecture. University of Colorado-Colorado Springs: Colorado Springs, CO

2002

Visiting Artist, site-specific installation of The Labyrinth of Chaos and Order, lecture, and student critiques. Oklahoma Christian University: Oklahoma City, OK

2001

Visiting Artist, site-specific installation of The Labyrinth of Chaos and Order, lecture, and student critiques. Ringling School of Art and Design: Sarasota, FL

2000

Artist in Residence, two-week residency to produce limited edition book and lecture. Center for Book and Paper Arts, Columbia College: Chicago, IL

1999

Visiting Artist, printmaking demonstration, lecture and exhibition at Catherine Smith Gallery. Appalachian State University: Boone, NC

Visiting Artist, graduate critiques, lecture and exhibition. Texas A&M University: Commerce, TX

1998

Visiting Artist, lecture. North Lake Community College: Irving, TX

Visiting Artist, lecture, binding workshops. Samuel Houston University: Huntsville, TX

1997

Visiting Artist, lecture and exhibition in library. Texas A&M University: Commerce, TX

Visiting Artist, outdoor installation White Noise, lecture, and book arts workshop. Sponsored by the Appalachian Summer Arts Festival. Appalachian State Univ: Boone, NC

Artist in Residence, two month residency; limited edition artist book, lecture and printing workshop. Sitka Center for Arts and Ecology: Otis, OR

Visiting Artist, participation in four-day retreat with thesis students and lecture. Ringling School of Art and Design, Chinsegut Retreat: Sarasota, FL

The Role of Printmaking and Expanding Boundaries

Printmaking is a valued artistic medium with unique technical and aesthetic qualities that range from simple to complex processes: it is a graphic language with remarkable inter-changeability. Mastering a technical facility with intaglio (etching) has given me the creative freedom to experiment with process and to explore ideas that delve to a broader dialog within contemporary art making. In my creative practice, I incorporate a multi-faceted approach using drawing, printmaking, painting, sculpture, artists’ book, installation, sound, photography and digital technologies in all manner of applications. Using multiple processes and techniques I build layered images and installations that address utopian and dystopian constructions; exploring the boundaries between the idealized and abstracted spaces of an immaterial world. My narratives allude to themes within contemporary culture that express a political or social point of view, using animals as a metaphor for human behaviors and contemporary events. Birds that fly into invisible fences, dogs sleep while on guard, bunnies who are unwillingly displaced, and eagles that run through forests trying to escape world scrutiny. The act of rendering visible the difficult, the uncertain, and the unconscious helps me to understand how the precarious nature of life can be examined.

The introduction of traditional dust-grain photogravure and laser engraving/cutting has had a significant impact on my creative practice. The photogravure process is a 19^th c. process that is unique in its aesthetic and process. What might be seen as an obsolete intaglio process by current digital trends, this process can also be seen as a contemporary way to reconsider the hyper-reality of postmodernism and a method of incorporating digital technologies and hand-printed techniques. My process begins with creating a high-resolution image by using digital composing that include both photographic resources, such as spider webs and fishing nets, to drawn elements imported from Illustrator. The digital file is then printed as an inkjet film positive onto a transparency film and exposed to a sensitized piece of gelatin, or carbon tissue, that has been sensitized with potassium dichromate. The exposed gelatin is then adhered to a piece of copper and placed into a bath to wash away any unexposed gelatin. A rosin layer is applied and the copper is then etched in a series of five ferric chloride baths of different baumes to attain a full value range in the print. (Process images are in the creative research pub.)

The result is a continuous tone image etched into a copper plate that is inked, layered, and/or altered with any other intaglio process, of which there are many. I use color in a purposeful manner to fully express the intention behind each piece. Working with full color in intaglio has its challenges due to chemical reactions of the ink with the copper. However, the development of color plays an important role in establishing and enhancing the type of atmospheric qualities that the photogravure delivers and the images exploit. For each color image represented in my creative research publication, there are two plates that are inked ala poupee in various colors and printed directly on top of each other wet into wet.

Similarly, I use laser engraved relief prints to explore the digital analog relationship within printmaking. With the relief prints I often make my own paper for the specific images, and/or use colle techniques to build in value, which is them printed on in multiple colors. This technique is similar to the well-established chiaroscuro technique used widely in the 15^th c, Germany. Again, my interest in exploring seemingly obsolete technologies with current technologies is at play here. Digital processes in some manner have mediated nearly all the work I have done in the past twenty years yet I feel none of it reads as “digital” art. This is very important to me as it is my hope that the work transcend process and be considered primarily by the image, its’ meaning and conceptual intention. While my practice is rooted in idea generation, executed on an intuitive level, and informed by applied research, it is most centrally informed through personal experience and observations. I continue to develop new content, expand my visual language, explore new technical processes, and seek fresh strategies for distributing my work to the public.

In the last several years I have become interested in working on a much larger scale for intaglio prints, which traditionally have been more modest in scale due to etching bath and rosin box size restrictions. Since I am limited in my capacity to etch large in the studio at ASU I have turned to international residencies where I can work significantly larger with aquatint etching. This has been a great opportunity for me to explore intaglio in combination with collage, screenprint, and painted elements. The large-scale etchings also focus on the mark of the hand using the white ground etching technique a more painterly approach to mark and aesthetics; while the photogravure is generally small(er) is scale and focuses on the digital/photographic element. In some works, such as “Swimming”, these two techniques are combined together using multiple plates tiled when printed to attain the larger scale I am interested in. ~ Mary Hood

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