Teaching and Professional Experience

Professional Experience

2022

Panel Presenter,” Artist Proofs: Narratives on Civic Engagement, Ecology, and Collective Healing”, organized by J. Meuninck Granger; SCGI International Conference: Madison, WI

2019

Panel Presenter, “The Necessity of Slowness; Slowness Portfolio Exchange” at “Slow: A Symposium in Praxis & Theory”, presented by The Mind’s Eye online journal and hosted by MASS MoCA: North Adams, MA

2018

Panel Presenter, “The Necessity of Slowness in Art”, Impact 10, International Printmaking Conference: Centro de Acción Social y Cultural de Caja Cantabria: Santander, Spain

2017

Community Project Coordinator, “Map(ing) 2017” Multiple Artists Printing, biennial community based print project, Arizona State University, School of Art: Tempe, AZ

2016

Panelist, “When Push Comes to Shove: Women in Power Symposium”, moderated by Sara Cochran: director of SMoCA: Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ

Panel Chair, Presenter and Organizer, “Appropriation in Post Digital Culture”, Rocky Mountain Print Alliance (RMPA), regional printmaking conference: Boise, Idaho

Panelist, “Map(ing) Indigenous Ways of Being Symposium”, hosted by the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and the Women’s and Ethnic Studies program: Colorado Springs, CO

2015

Panel Presenter and Organizer, “Appropriation in Post Digital Practices”, Impact 9, International Printmaking Conference, China Academy of the Arts: Hangzhou, China

Community Project Coordinator, “Map(ing) 2015” Multiple Artists Printing, biennial communitybased print project, Arizona State University, School of Art: Tempe, AZ

2014

Symposium Presenter: “MOMENTUM: Women, Art & Technology”, curated by Muriel Magenta, professor ASU School of Art: Night Gallery Tempe, AZ

2013

Panel Presenter and Organizer, “Appropriation is Post Digital Culture”, Impact 8, International Printmaking Conference, University of Dundee: Dundee, Scotland

Project Coordinator, “Map(ing) 2013” Multiple Artists Printing, biennial community based print project, Arizona State University, School of Art: Tempe, AZ

2012

Presenter, “ Service Learning and Collaboration, Map(ing)”, El Segundo Simposio de Grafica: Carpetas de Artistas y Formatos Tridimensionales, Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua: Chihuahua, Mexico

Presenter, “Conversant Appropriation in Art and Culture”, Hawaii University International Conference on Fine Arts: Honolulu, HI

2011

Panel Presenter and Organizer, “Conversant Appropriation in Art and Culture”, International Fine and Performing Arts Conference, Athens Institute for Education and Research: Athens, Greece

Community Project Coordinator, “Map(ing) 2011” Multiple Artists Printing, biennial community based print project, Arizona State University, School of Art: Tempe, AZ

2010

Panel Presenter and Organizer, “Bona Fide: The Notion of Authenticity in Images and Objects”, International Fine and Performing Arts Conference, Athens Institute for Education and Research: Athens, Greece

2009

Editor, MAPC Journal, co-editor with Erik Waterkotte for Mid America Print Council Journal, a national art publication focusing on current themes within the printmaking community.

Community Project Coordinator, “Map(ing) 2009” Multiple Artists Printing, biennial community based print project, Arizona State University, School of Art: Tempe, AZ

2008

Panel Presenter and Organizer, “Printmaking as a System of Language”, Mid America Print Council, Annual Conference: Fargo, ND

2007

Panel Presenter and Organizer, “The Social Agency of Printmaking”, Southern Graphic Council, Annual Conference: Kansas City, MO.

2005

Community Project Coordinator, “Ripple – Respond: Relieve: Rebuild”, benefit art auction, Scottsdale Center for the Arts: Scottsdale, AZ

2001-2

Graphic Designer/Artist, graphics and spatial design for theatrical applications. DS Arts: Dallas, TX

Gallery Director, curator, installation and promotion of gallery. Cedar Valley College: Dallas, TX

Freelance Artist, custom fabrication of theatrical props. Winn Morton Designs: Langcaster, TX

Freelance Artist, custom fabrication of theatrical props. Peter Wolf Productions: Dallas, TX

2000

Freelance Designer, print advertising graphics. Trumeau: Dallas, TX

Curator, “Books As Art”, Dallas Public Library: Dallas, TX

Director, “Affinity Program”, community based networking program for artists. DVAC: Dallas, TX

1999

Group Leader, Affinity Program. Dallas Visual Art Center: Dallas, TX

1998

Designer/Artist, graphics for web site, print publications, theatrical set illustrations and custom fabrication of theatrical props. CommuniLux Productions: Dallas, TX

1997

Printmaking Assistant, assisted with fine art print production. Graphics Studio: Tampa, FL

1996-8

Freelance Illustrator, digital illustrations for university publication. University of Dallas: Irving, TX

1996

Author, “Debossed Printing”, Inksmith, November-January, 1996 issue. Daniel Smith Catalog: Seattle, WA

1995

Freelance Designer, presentation portfolio designs. Storm Productions: Denver, CO

1994

Freelance Illustrator, design, illustration, and color separations. Wildwood Productions: Madison, WI

Printmaking Assistant, assisted with fine art print production. Tandem Press: Madison, WI

Conservation Technician, repair for library books. Memorial Library: Madison, WI

1993

Graphic Designer, conceptual designs and film separations for silkscreen applications. Clients included Harley Davidson, Budweiser, and Miller Breweries. Holoubek, Inc.: Waukesha, WI

Teaching Experience

2013-15 Assistant Director for Recruitment and Retention, School of Art, Arizona State University: Tempe, AZ

2010- Associate Professor, Printmaking, intaglio and digital processes for printmaking; introductory through graduate level courses. Herberger Institute of Design and the Arts, School of Art,Arizona State University: Tempe, AZ

2010- Honors Faculty Advisor, representative faculty advisor in the School of Art for the Barrett’s Honors College, Arizona State University: Tempe, AZ

2010-11 Interim artCORE Director, oversee Teaching Associates in the artCORE foundations program. Herberger Institute of Design and the Arts, School of Art, Arizona State University: Tempe, AZ

2004-10 Assistant Professor, Printmaking, intaglio and digital processes for printmaking; introductory through graduate level courses. Herberger Institute of Design and the Arts, School of Art, Arizona State University: Tempe, AZ

2002-4 Visiting Assistant Professor, Printmaking, intaglio and artists’ books courses for introductory through advanced levels. Concept Studio-Systems and Processes, conceptual development course that is part of the foundations program. Carnegie Mellon University, School of Art: Pittsburgh, PA

2000-1 Visiting Assistant Professor, Printmaking, intaglio and artists’ books courses for introductory through graduate levels. University of North Texas, School of Art and Design: Denton, TX

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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