Friday reception for printmaking show at Creative Arts Workshop

Creative Arts Workshop Hilles Gallery
80 Audubon St., New Haven, (203) 562-4927
Chad Erpelding & Megan Moore—Prizewinners of the 2012 National Juried Exhibition Boundless: New Works In Contemporary Printmaking
Apr. 1—22, 2013.
Opening reception: Fri., Apr. 5, 5—7 p.m.

Press release from Creative Arts Workshop

Creative Arts Workshop (CAW) features new work by Chad Erpelding (Boise, ID) and Megan Moore (Chico, CA), prizewinners of the 2012 exhibition Boundless: New Works in Contemporary Printmaking, juried by Anne Coffin, founder and director of International Print Center New York. The exhibition will be on view in CAW’s Hilles Gallery from Apr. 1—22, 2013. An opening reception is scheduled for Fri., Apr. 5, from 5—7 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

While the core techniques of printmaking are centuries old, this medium continues to evolve and offer artists a wealth of opportunities for imagination, innovation and experimentation. The jurying process for Boundless was highly selective, with nearly 400 entries submitted by over 125 artists. From the forty-five artists featured in the show, Erpelding and Moore were chosen for the depth of concept and strength of technique in their work, ideal examples of contemporary printmaking.

In this exhibition, Chad Erpelding presents a selection of work from his series Sister Cities, a project that explores the complexity of communication and connectivity in our increasingly globalized world. The artist collects information from maps and satellite images and places the visual material regarding one city in the form of the respective sister city. For instance, a satellite image of Villa Carlos Fonseca, Nicaragua is cut into the shape of Moscow, Idaho. These images are then stacked between thick layers of resin, emphasizing a separation of place that is countered by the overlap of information. Erpelding describes his work as an investigation of "the physical and mental spread of culture on a global scale through references to maps and charts. I am interested in the movement of people, business, and organizations, and the effect this has on contemporary perceptions of place."

Chad Erpelding: "Sister Cities: Port Townsend, Ichikawa"

Work in the exhibition by Megan Moore uses the technique of collage to re-examine and reconstruct images of plant material that has been visually distorted by the artist. Drawing on a small library of botanical images she has collected from various landscapes, Moore assembles micro images of plants into gorgeous abstract constructions that speak to the ephemeral nature of dreams and memory. She explains, "In some sense my process is an attempt to re- organize and contextualize the world while the conglomeration of images I use are the pieces of an unconscious narrative. In putting them together I seek to create an environment that is beautiful, richly layered and intricately woven."

Megan Moore: "Garland"

Concurrent with Prizewinners: Chad Erpelding | Megan Moore, photographs by Bart Connors Szczarba will be exhibited in the Creative Works Gallery. Box Shots! features photographs from Box 4A at the New Haven Open, capturing an instant in time when form and athletic elegance intersect.