EXHIBITION ON VIEW: June 21 - July 20, 2024
OPENING RECEPTION (with artist remarks): FRIDAY, June 21; 6:30 - 9 PM
Left to Right: Mei Lam So, Izzy Shinn, and Gidinatiy Hartman
Please join Highpoint Center for Printmaking in celebrating the 2023-2024 Jerome Early Career Printmakers at their culminating exhibition. Artists Mei Lam So, Izzy Shinn, and Gidinatiy Hartman will present a new work created during their residency, including a collection of intaglio, relief, and lithographic prints.
Mei, Gidinatiy, and Izzy each investigate identity and personal experience through their distinctive styles of figuration. The work is remarkable, thoughtfully imaginative, and skillfully executed.
Fundamentally, a print is an image transferred from a matrix onto a substrate, and in that sense, much of the work featured in this exhibition employs traditional printmaking techniques. However, this work was not made without risk and discovery – Gidinaitiy learned stone lithography, arguably one of the most challenging printmaking techniques, Mei eschewed the customary copper or zinc plate in favor of a material called Cintra for her series of drypoint prints, and Izzy incorporated carefully cut, colored paper additions into their intaglio prints.
Read on to learn more about each artist and their work:
Mei Lam So
Mei is excited to share a new series of work that represents a directional change in both style and technique. While drypoint is not new to Mei, this series she presents utilizes a different material as the matrix. By incorporating monotype layers into the background, Mei’s work features a dynamic application of color, directing the viewer’s attention throughout the print. Mei will also showcase lithography, ceramics, and a print installation in the exhibition. Mei says the residency, especially the past few months, “have gone by fast. I’ve gained valuable feedback from co-op members through community critiques and short catch-ups in the studio and have incorporated them into my practice.”
Mei Lam So (she/her) is a Minneapolis-based visual artist whose medium includes printmaking, textile printing, and ceramics. She received her MFA in Printmaking and Ceramics from the University of Iowa and her BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Originally from Hong Kong, Mei examines the acculturation process of bicultural Asian immigrants, covering topics such as memory, identity, separation, and time.
Izzy Shinn
Izzy has been busy finishing prints while simultaneously fleshing out the concepts behind their work. Izzy said that throughout the residency, they often found themself occupied with ideating, planning, and potential, “I've been keeping to what I know concerning printing technique and processes, but utilizing that knowledge to the best of my ability, especially amongst such amazing resources and community found at Highpoint."
Izzy Shinn (they/he/she) is a butch Twin Cities-based printmaker and comic artist specializing in intaglio etching and ink illustration, having earned their BFA from the University of Minnesota. With a focus on butchness, lesbian life, and history, their work is tied intimately with themself and their own experiences, showcased through characters and archetypes, exploring the sexual and social stigmatization of women, the body, and the queer subject.
Gidinatiy Hartman
Gidinatiy will be presenting multi-block color relief prints that depict words from Deg Xinag (their Native language), including images from an ongoing series of “bug prints”. In another work, Gidinatiy recreates the visual effect of Athabascan beadwork by meticulously carving hundreds upon hundreds of individual dots onto a linoleum block. The effect is incredible, and it needs to be seen firsthand.
Gidinatiy Hartman (they/them) has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in printmaking from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Their artwork creates visual representations of Deg Xinag and other Native languages. It is centered around a desire to reclaim their family’s Athabascan language, which was taken from them due to colonization. United by a sense of whimsy and wordplay, their art seeks to make it easier for people to learn Deg Xinag and other Native languages. They aspire to have multiple modes of representation, including visual art, making language revitalization more accessible to people.
About the Jerome Early Career Printmakers Residency – Highpoint’s Jerome Residency was established in 2003 with generous funding from the Jerome Foundation. The program serves early-career Minnesota printmakers who show significant potential yet have not received a commensurate amount of professional accomplishment or recognition in the field. Jerome artists are selected based on their dedication, interest, and potential in printmaking, as well as the artistic merit of their work.
Highpoint would like to thank this year’s panelists Tamara Aupumaut and Heidi Goldberg.
Tamara Aupaumut is a multidisciplinary artist and independent curator living on Mni Sota Makoce, also known as Minneapolis. She works in a variety of media, including printmaking.
Heidi Goldberg earned her BA from Hamline University and MFA in printmaking and works on paper at The University of Michigan. She taught studio art at Concordia from 1995-2022. Her works have been exhibited in local, regional, national, and international juried exhibitions. She lives and works in the sand hills near the National Sheyenne Grasslands in North Dakota.
Special thanks to guest critics Suyao Tian, Regan Golden McNerney, Tamara Aupaumat, and Hedi Goldberg for visiting with the artist and providing feedback at various intervals during the residency.
The Jerome Early Career Residency is in its 21st year of programming and is funded with a generous grant from the Jerome Foundation. The program is open to early-career Minnesota printmakers — defined here as artists who show significant potential yet have not received a commensurate amount of professional accomplishment or recognition, regardless of age or recognition in other fields. You can find details about the program, application process, and creative benefits on our website.
About the Jerome Foundation – Created by artist and philanthropist Jerome Hill (1905-1972), The Jerome Foundation seeks to contribute to a dynamic and evolving culture by supporting the creation, development, and production of new works by emerging artists. Based in St. Paul, MN, the Foundation makes grants to not-for-profit arts organizations and artists in Minnesota and New York City.