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ECHO: A portfolio of prints by Grafisch Atelier Alkmaar
Artist Proof Gallery
Thursday, October 23 - Sunday, November 23

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Alberta Printmakers Society

A neat portfolio box about the size of this newspaper lies on the table before me, containing the work of a community of artists from across the Atlantic. Eveline Kolijne of the Alberta Printmakers Society (APS) takes me through the collection of prints on paper, translating the Dutch text from the accompanying catalogue. This is APS's new show, Echo, an international exchange featuring the works of 20 printmakers from the Grafisch Atelier Alkmaar artist-run centre in the Netherlands.

Dutch artist Madelein Leddy’s piece begins with a gable stone depicting the wheel of fortune, and continues with a string of associations including a ring of blood, a wheel of cheese and the text “say cheese,” all relating to the history of Alkmaar, to create her whimsical abstraction Echo. Similar in its use of floating forms and smudgy atmosphere, but far more directed, Joyce Ennik’s silkscreen print Scipio plays off Dutch baroque portraiture and its emphasis on the depiction of rich materials rather than personal identity. The piece removes all identity by featuring only the outline of a child in fancy dress, repeated across the paper.

Hanneke Saaltink’s lithograph Graapje depicts a pot, salvaged by a child in 1975 and later recognized as an important archeological object. The print features the form of the pottery with hands passing fleetingly across it. The pot was used to hold flowers before it was placed in a museum. This information, along with images of the works that inspired the artists, is presented in the catalogue.

These images point out a distinct difference in the perception and criticisms of European art history from that of a North American audience, whose discourse with that history is often framed by post-colonial concerns. I wonder what Canadian perspectives will surprise the Alkmaar community when the reciprocating display of Alberta printmakers’ work is shown in Holland?

APS is a small-budget artist-run centre and this exhibition is made possible in part due to the communal nature of printmaking. Artist-run centres like Grafisch Atelier and APS embody the ideals of community.

Under the new funding reality for Canadian arts exports, it seems that printmaking, with its neat and easily shipped portfolio boxes, may find itself at less of a disadvantage than some bulkier art forms when it comes to participating in the global art community.