For more than 30 years, Hamilton College Professor of Art Bruce Muirhead has been sharing his love of printmaking with his students. On Monday, Jan. 17, an exhibition of his prints will open to a broader audience in the Emerson Gallery at Hamilton College. "Professor Printmaker," 50 Muirhead etchings from the Amity Art Foundation collection, includes many references to the local landscape including old houses and factories of Upstate New York. The exhibition, which is free and open to the public, will be open through April 10.
Special events associated with this exhibition include:
- an opening reception on Thursday, Jan. 27, 4 – 6 p.m., which will include a gallery tour presented by Muirhead, a presentation by Amity Foundation president John Stewart and live jazz music;
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a slide lecture by artist and City College of New York Professor of Art William Behnken on Thursday, March 31, at 4:30 p.m., in the Saunders Hall of Chemistry auditorium.
Titled "A Printmaker's Journey," the presentation will address how to start a career as a print artist today. Behnken, who teaches printmaking at the Art Students League and National Academy of Design, will also talk about his own development as an artist. A reception will follow the presentation.
Muirhead learned to make prints while studying painting at the Rhode Island School of Design and at Boston University. Later, while teaching at Middlebury College, he was inspired by a colleague to return to printmaking. He began teaching painting and printmaking at Kirkland College in 1972. Muirhead joined the Hamilton faculty when the two colleges merged.
Muirhead's work reflects his fascination with Upstate New York and New England landscape and architecture. He works from memory rather than photographs which gives his works a mysterious quality. This tension between vision and memory, past and present, is also found in his figurative pieces. For Muirhead, his prints are about different states of being, and they challenge us to explore notions of existence and identity.
The prints in this exhibition were loaned by The Amity Art Foundation, an organization that seeks to promote, encourage, and support the inclusive, accessible, and social nature of traditional printmaking. The foundation was established by Hamilton alumnus and parent John Stewart.
All Emerson Gallery events are free and open to the public. The gallery is located on the Hamilton College campus in Clinton, N.Y., in the Christian A. Johnson Hall, directly behind the Chapel. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 1 - 5 p.m. For further information, including information on parking and wheelchair accessibility, please contact the Emerson Gallery at 315-859-4396.
