January 29, 2016 – april 8, 2016
ATRIUM GALLERY – MARSHALL FINE ARTS CENTER
HOURS:
Weekdays: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Weekends: 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The American Print Society members exhibition is juried by Andrea Packard, the director of the List Gallery at Swarthmore College.
The American Color Print Society, founded in Philadelphia, is a national organization of professional artists. Although most members live in the immediate Philadelphia area, our exhibiting printmakers participate from other areas of Pennsylvania, as well as nineteen additional states across the country—as far away as California, Washington, Oregon, Texas, Mississippi, and as close as New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maine.
ACPS member artists are recognized locally and nationally, and have won awards from art centers, galleries and museums when they participate in exhibitions in their regional areas. Some of the prominent ACPS members include Selma Bortner, Michael Kuncevich, Idaherma Williams, Victor Lasuchin, Merle Spandorfer, Mili Dunn Weiss, Lois Johnson, Anthony Lazorko, Herb Appelson, Alan Klawans, Jack Gerber, Ron Wyfells, Sheila Letven, Mary Blackey, Richard Redd and Florence Putterman, among others.
As a way of promoting the art of printmaking within the educational process, ACPS has a relationship with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and each year awards ACPS membership to top printmaking students, giving them an opportunity to participate in ACPS and exhibit their work in significant exhibitions as they begin their careers.
In recent years the American Color Print Society has exhibited prints at Villanova University (Connelly Center), The Print Department of the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Cheltenham Center for the Arts, along with annual shows at Chestnut Hill Gallery, and The Plastic Club (Philadelphia). In addition, ACPS was an organization member and exhibitor in the international print festival, Philagrafika.
Today ACPS is dedicated to creating, exhibiting and developing the techniques and media that enhance the art form of printmaking. Our members work in all of the traditional printmaking modes, as well as incorporating and expanding the use of new technical approaches. Mylar®, film, fabric, metal, glass, photo paper and digitally generated original prints are all part of our creative processes.
For more than 70 years, ACPS has explored and advanced the art of printmaking. We are proud of our achievements and it is our mission to continue this work.
History
The American Color Print Society was founded in 1939 in Philadelphia, PA. At that time the typical print was a black and white etching with very little chance of a color print passing a jury. In 1940, 85 artists held the First National Color Print exhibition at the Philadelphia Print Club (now call the Print Center) on Latimer Street. This opened printmaking to color and allowed for the experimentation that is part of our tradition today.
Quote from former President Richard Hood: “The all-juried show and the prints increased in size so that in 1970 ACPS moved to the Philadelphia Art Alliance. There were traveling exhibitions and exchange shows, one in Japan at the invitation of the Japan Print Association.”
The American Color Print Society has presented its Annual Members Show at the historic Plastic Club in Philadelphia for the past eight years. In addition, we have shows open to non-members approximately every two years. June 2007 saw the 63rd Open Exhibition at the Cheltenham Art Center in Cheltenham PA. We are seeing great changes in Printmaking with the arrival of the digital print. In 2001, a decision was made to accept the digital print. There was a disagreement as to what is an original print. An original was defined as an artist-generated print regardless of media.
Richard Hood: “The American Color Print Society has a collection of prize-winning prints which automatically become part of the Philadelphia Museum of Art as well as the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.” We hope that the Museum will continue this tradition.
On July 5, 1978 the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania approved the ACPS as a nonprofit domestic corporation:
To promote and foster the original graphic arts, to encourage and promote exhibitions of original color prints. To educate the art student and public in the various techniques of original color printmaking.
Noted artists of the past included: Florence V. Cannon, our first president; John Taylor Arms, our first vice-president; Benton Spruance, Abraham Hankins, Francois Gillot, Samuel Martin, Stella Drabkin and many others. In 2001, member Victor Lasuchin designed our distinctive logo. We have also revived the presentation print given to members. Each year we hope to enclose a member’s print with The Color Proof, our newsletter.