Artist Reception: “Within Without”

The Anderson Center at Tower View presents Within Without, a printmaking exhibition exploring the human condition, looking at both interior human experiences and our interactions with each other and the wider world. A free artist reception featuring hors d’oeuvres and live music by The Nunnery is taking place Friday, March 10, 2023. The exhibition opened on February 11 and runs through Saturday, May 6.

Within Without showcases work by alumni of the Anderson Center’s flagship artist-in-residence program, ranging from 1997 to 2022. Featured artists include Betsy Bowen, Anna Carlson, Irene Chan (Ch’An Press), Wendy Fernstrum, Jonathan Herrera Soto, Cameron Jarvis, Ursula Lang, Youmee Lee, Kathryn Maxwell, Benjamin Merritt, Matt Quinn, Roberta Restaino, CB Sherlock, Richard Stephens (Super Session Press), and Tom Virgin (Extra Virgin Press). True to the interdisciplinary spirit of the Anderson Center, these works are in conversation with many other fields, including ecology, philosophy, music, astronomy, and more.

Making prints and binding books encourages a certain kind of working. Unlike the immediacy of drawing on paper, making prints is a multi-step process. Printmakers create plates, assemble type, or prepare a screen; they mix and apply ink; and then finally press an image. Some works of art go through this process many times to layer images or text.

Printmakers routinely re-mix things, changing an ink color or re-combining disparate images to create new works. It is a particular way of working that combines artistic vision with a need for technical skill, often followed by the repetitive manual labor of inking plates and running the press again and again to create an edition of prints.

Due to the possibility of creating multiples, printmaking is often considered a more accessible, less exclusive artform. Yet in a world where digital publishing is cheap and immediate, the choice to use the time-tested technology of a press is a meaningful one. From woodblocks to etching, monoprints to letterpress, prints have texture and an aesthetic – evidence of the human hand at work and the materials we use to communicate with each other.

Accessible and free to the public, the Main Gallery at the Anderson Center is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

About the Artists

Betsy Bowen makes woodblock prints from her studio in a former Lutheran church in Grand Marais, MN. Her art shows us a glimpse of life in the north woods, and her prints illustrate many books for children and adults. Betsy was a 1997 artist-in-residence at the Anderson Center and is the 2004 recipient of the A.P. Anderson Award for outstanding contributions to the arts in Minnesota.

Anna Carlson’s conceptual work explores dress and identity through the processes of dyeing and printmaking. She combines her interest in current issues with her practice by merging hand and digital processes. She is a 2018 alumna of the Anderson Center Artist Residency Program.

Irene Chan is a multidisciplinary artist who works conceptually in print media, papermaking, installation, storytelling, and book arts. A professor at the University of Maryland, Irene has self-published prints & 35 limited-edition artist books through Ch’An Press. She is a 2018 Anderson Center artist-in-residence.

Wendy Fernstrum is a writer and visual artist based in St. Paul, Minnesota. The artist books that she creates range from installations to small devotional books featuring poems by mystics. Wendy is a 2018 alumna of the Anderson Center Artist Residency Program.

Print-based artist Jonathan Herrera Soto curates installations and performances that explore parallels between the physical pain inflicted on politicized bodies and the consumption of art objects in the gallery. He was an artist-in-residence at the Anderson Center in 2018.

Cameron Jarvis traces the movement of Black People across land and water, and investigates the many environments we inhabit by collecting, archiving and recontextualizing images, objects and materials. He is a 2016 alumnus of the Anderson Center Artist Residency Program.

Ursula Lang is a geographer, writer, and artist that explores the interwoven natures of environment and society. Through ethnography and participatory mapping, Ursula’s work aims to contribute to more just, equitable, and inclusive places. Ursula was a 2022 Anderson Center artist-in-residence.

Youmee Lee, a Korean American storyteller, explores materials and weaves narrative illustrations into art. She recently created a 2D animated film about a deaf girl’s coming-of-age story and struggles with the soundscape, partly based on her and other mainstreamed deaf children’s experiences. She is a 2021 alumna of the Anderson Center Deaf Artist Residency Program.

Kathryn Maxwell‘s artwork explores the many forms of human connections to each other and the universe. Images from nature & the iconography of science and spirituality combine in her mixed media works, prints, & installations. Based in Tempe, she was a 2017 Anderson Center artist-in-residence.

Benjamin Merritt‘s ongoing body of work is a series of drawings, monoprints, and sculptural forms. He is specifically interested in the way language is used in context of chronic illness & pain, and how language complicates personal relationships. He was an artist-in-residence at the Anderson Center in 2021.

Matt Quinn is an artist and educator in Red Wing, MN. He was an artist-in-residence at the Anderson Center in 2006.

Originally from Italy, Roberta Restaino investigates what she calls the “disappearing” line between new technological processes and nature. Her artistic practice as a scientist, with microscopic observations of the natural world, leads her to new discoveries and platforms. She was an artist-in-residence at the Anderson Center in 2017.

CB Sherlock‘s work originates in themes of nature, community, belonging, and identity which is achieved through combining lettered images, nature, and unique book structures. As a letterpress printer, book artist and paper engineer, CB creates small edition books, prints, and one of a kind works of art. She was a 2011 and 2015 Anderson Center artist-in-residence.

Richard Stephens explores regional landmarks while combining linocut, letterpress and hand-tinting techniques to produce prints that retain an immediate, sketch-like quality. He publishes artist books under his Super Session Press imprint – often in collaboration with other artists and writers. Richard is a 2010 and 2015 alum of the Anderson Center Artist Residency Program.

Tom Virgin is the proprietor of Extra Virgin Press, where he collaborates with Miami’s rich community of artists and writers. A frequent guest at artist communities across the country, including 7 visits to the Anderson Center between 2009 and 2018, Tom’s practice has evolved from relief printmaking, to book arts, and collaborative projects as a result of spending each summer with artists and writers.

Live music at the Artist Reception

The Nunnery begins with one voice, layered upon itself becoming a lush soundscape. Sarah Elstran is an independent musician that bridges the gap between bright-eyed pop composition and hands-on atmospheric live layering of voice. Her vocal loops give us the kind of detail and wide multi-octave range that we might come to expect from a marquee pop star, while her production decisions continually keep us guessing as to what rabbit holes her tracks might fall into next.

This invitational show has been curated by Stephanie Lynn Rogers.

Featured images (L to R): artwork by Richard Stephens, Anna Carlson, and Ursula Lang.