We are in the sweltering midst of another lush New England summer, with the natural world at full throttle. Life is pulsing all around us, voraciously consuming and vigorously replicating. Nature, in full-on, in-your-face exhibition mode. At the same time, crucial aspects of our natural world are changing, under threat, being eradicated.

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Fitting this moment in time, Nature, Tamed and Wild explores, through the works of fifteen printmakers, the ways in which we interact with and interpret nature, from the cultivated and controlled to the raw and unbridled. Some of the artworks depict life we have invited into our own homes and gardens: the flowers, fruits, birds and others who 'play nice' and behave politely (more or less) and companionably therein. Others explore the wild side of life existing outside the parameters of human oversight - conveying the tangled beauty of the vines, trees, marshes and weeds around us, or portraying creatures, real and fantastical, in all their beauty, strength, terribleness, or vulnerability. And many explore the interwoven relationship of the natural world to humanity: the deep meanings that animals (and their symbolic stand-ins) hold for us; our impact on and interdependence with our planet’s ecosystem; the fragile and faltering balance between the two. Through diverse mediums, styles, and perspectives, these works invite you to contemplate your own connections with the living world, and its personal meanings for you.  

 

About the Artworks

This show presents a curated selection of original, hand-pulled prints from the Zea Mays Flat File Project, which houses over 50 portfolios of prints by artist members of the studio. Collectively, the featured works display a wide range of printmaking techniques, including etching, wood- & linocut relief, mokuhanga, lithography, photopolymer and drypoint intaglio, and monotype processes. They also give a sense of the remarkable breadth of artistic styles embraced by today’s printmakers.

 

About Zea Mays Printmaking Studio

Zea Mays Printmaking Studio, located in Northampton MA, is renown for its mission of developing and promoting greener approaches to printmaking that protect both people and planet from the acids, solvents and other ecologically harmful chemicals used in traditional printmaking practices. For a quarter century Zea Mays Printmaking, founded and led by pioneering artist Liz Chalfin, has conducted extensive research into identifying and developing new and safer materials & techniques that achieve results of comparable (or higher) quality to traditional printmaking methods. The studio shares these innovations with artists, schools and studios around the world through its extensive publications, workshops, training visits and outreach.