Exhibition ON VIEW: JANUARY 14 - FEBRUARY 12, 2021
Since February 2021, McKnight Printmaking Fellows Josh Winkler and Gaylord Schanilec have been busily translating ideas into prints for this exhibition. Despite never having met prior to this fellowship, their work is remarkably congruous. Each artist is an admirer and advocate of the natural world with a particular appreciation for trees. Not only do trees inform some of the content in their work, historically both artists have used wood as their printing matrix of choice; woodcut for Josh and wood engraving for Gaylord.
Originally from Indiana, Winkler is currently an Associate Professor of Printmaking at Minnesota State University Mankato. He primarily works from his home studio (SKS Press) in rural Nicollet County where he and his partner are rewilding a few acres. He offered the following thoughts about his artistic practice:
Direct experience and research feed the content and connections that are important to me as an artist. The environmental and cultural tragedies of the past must engage the high stakes of the present. Ecosystems are rapidly changing. So much has been lost, and there is much more to lose.
Recent research has taken me to the Grand Tetons and Crater Lake to study the plight of a dying keystone species, the whitebark pine. Camping in drought-stricken landscapes of northern California, I walked through burned forests and the dried-up arms of massive reservoirs. In Minnesota, I visited the last northern remnants of old-growth eastern white pine, and explored beaver habitat in southern Minnesota.
These trips generated the experiences and imagery presented in this work. Half of the projects reflect on environmental conflict and destruction. The other half focus on positivity, and the potency of personal connection to the land. These parallel forces of hope and despair are emblematic of the present. We must look at Nature as a cultural force that can foster unity over division.
* * *
In 1980, Gaylord Schanilec established his own press, Midnight Paper Sales. Since then he has published more than 25 books under his imprint, and has accepted numerous commissions including works for The Gregynog Press in Wales and the Grolier Club of New York. His work is represented in most major book arts collections in the United States and in the United Kingdom, and the archive of his working materials is held at the University of Minnesota.
Gaylord writes:
Consider the tree turned upside down roots to the sky trunk to the ground.
Highpoint would like to thank the McKnight Foundation for their generous support of this program as well as this years panelists Tanekeya Word (artist, printmaker, scholar, and founder of Black Women of Print) and Lyndel King (Director Emeritus, Frederick R. Weisman Art Msuem). We would also like to express our gratitude to Dennis Michael Jon (Curator of Prints and Drawings at Mia) and Jerry Saltz (Author, Senior Art Critic at New York Magazine) for conducting studio visits with the fellows. Finally, thank you to Kim Todd for preparing questions and leading a discussion with the fellows during their exhibition.