Prints Frome the Permanent Collection

Printmaking is a way of making art. A composition or design is transferred through contact with a matrix- which could be a block, stone, plate or screen. The process can create multiples of the same piece of art, known as prints. Multiple prints from the same plate are known as an edition. Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art’s Permanent Collection contains 206 prints- both originals and editions. Only a third of The Square’s prints are framed and available to share with our visitors. Framed prints include 26 serigraphs of traditional tipi designs by the late artist Jessie Wilber as part of the “Blackfeet Portrait Project.” 12 prints were commissioned for an original exhibition at The Square, “The Caravan Project.” Within the Permanent Collection there are a handful of additional framed prints, 15 of which you see here in this exhibition.

The prints housed in our vault that are unframed are diverse and profound. These include 14 relief etchings by Betty LaDuke, 10 woodcuts by James Todd, 11 Branson Stevenson etchings, 10 beautiful figurative prints by Theodore Waddell and a separate series Waddell did with poet Paul Zarzyski. These are some of the 138 unframed pieces we care for but are unable to display. The Square is embarking on a framing campaign to bring some of these incredible works out of the vault. 

In this exhibition there are collographs by Terry Thall, Robert Rankin and Norman Dahl, a photo screen print/batik by Jean Price, Lithographs by Peter Volkous, and Daniel Beihl, etchings by Jack Fisher Jr., Branson Stevenson, a woodcut by McCollough, a monotype by Susan Stewart-Medicine Horse, an embossed print by King Kuka, Intaglio pieces by Jack Fisher Jr.