| Artist Detail |
Justin
|
Janet Marcavage
Artist Statement
My body of work addresses the properties of the body and current issues in genetics. I explore the interweaving of human corporeal ties through printmaking, papermaking and installation. Through expanding upon the visual display of molecular information encoded in our DNA, my intention is to reveal that growth in science changes the culture of how we look at ourselves.
My recent series of “molecular portraits” synthesize the languages of printmaking and genetics, using lithography and intaglio embossment. These portrait images of family and friends are constructed of printed, colored dots along with embossments of their clothing on Hahnemuhle copperplate rag paper. The color palette of the dots is borrowed from DNA testing. Working with dots traditionally found in halftone patterns for commercial and photographic printing processes, I re-present the dots as the four nucleotides that are found in DNA. These “likenesses” comment on how our current technology-based culture effects perception and visual language.
Biography
Janet Marcavage is a printmaker, educator, and mother of a curious young daughter. Marcavage creates lithographs, embossments, and screenprints in a 350 square foot print shop located behind her house in Tacoma, WA. Marcavage holds a BFA from the University of The Arts and an MFA from The University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is currently assistant professor of printmaking at The University of Puget Sound.
Marcavage’s work has recently been included in print surveys at MOMA-Wales, the Dedalo Center for Contemporary Art in Abruzzo, Italy, The Wuhan Art Museum in China, and The International Print Center New York. Solo exhibitions of her work will occur at The Gallery at Pacific Lutheran University in October 2009 and the Iron Gallery at UW-Tacoma in March 2010.
Marcavage is the recipient of a 2007-2008 Tacoma Artists Initiative Project Award and a 2009 University of Puget Sound Faculty Research Award. Her work is in several collections, including The University of Wales Print Collection, Aberystwyth, Wales, The Hubei Institute of Art, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, The Permanent Collection of Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, Christchurch, NZ, The Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND, The University of WI-Madison Kohler Library Book Arts Collection, Madison, WI and The Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper, New Brunswick, NJ.
Janet Marcavage's website is www.janetmarcavage.com.
|
|
|
|
|
