The highlights of this three-day conference included Thursday's keynote speaker, Bill Goldston, of Universal Limited Art Editions, widely recognized as perhaps the most influential American fine-art master printer of his time. Mr. Goldston was the master printer for Tatyana Grosman, the inspiration behind ULAE, since 1969. Today he dedicates himself to modern technological experimentation. He and the ULAE studio have produced limited-edition prints for the likes of Jasper Johns, Bob Roschenberg, Barnett Newman, Jim Dine, Helen Frankenthaler and Elizabeth Murray. The ULAE studio is located on Long Island, New York.

Printmaker Emeritus

Karen Kunc was awarded the Printmaker Eneritus Award by the SGC organization for her prolific career as an educator and stylist of perhaps the most unique woodcut printmaking in the United States. Her work celebrates the lush beauty and texture of nature. Kunc creates a 'quasi-scientific' visual language that resonates with the cycles of the earth. Kunc is a professor of Art and Art History at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln where she has taught since 1983. She also chairs the printmaking department there. www.karenkunc.com

The Tatooo as Fine Art

Friday's keynote speaker was a departure from an expected academic inclination. The speaker, Don Ed Hardy had a childhood determination to become a tattoo artist and became a tattoo apprentice while simultaneously studying for a BFA in printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1967. Tattooing professionally since then, he developed the fine art potential of the medium with emphasis on its Asian heritage. He lived in Japan and studied with a traditional tattoo master and translated tattoo imagery and history into his own style of printmaking, writing and tattooing. Hardy has exhibited his work widely and in 2000 he completed a 500 foot long scroll painting of 2000 dragons in honor of the turn of the century and the Dragon year. He maintains the studio Tattoo City in San Francisco with younger artists continuing to evolve and carry on his unique working format.

Achievement Award to Xu Bing

That same morning a Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Xu Bing, one of the most significant artists to emerge from China in the years following the Cultural Revolution. He is a trained printmaker, a superb technician and has applied much of his energy to an exploration of the implications of language. Book from the Sky, his best known work, proved to be highly controversial when exhibited in China in 1988 and 1989, and became emblematic of the New Wave in Chinese art, a movement which was dealt a serious blow by the events of Tiananmen Square. Since his relocation to the United States in 1990, Xu Bing's art has continued to challenge our assumptions about language. He has received many distinguished awards including a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. On a personal note, I found his work amazing, conceptually challenging and at times, hilariously funny. www.xubing.com/

Impact 5 Next Fall

Saturday's speaker was Karin Laansoo, a representative from Estonia who brought us an invitation to the Impact 5 Conference, an international forum for printmakers, curators, critics, collectors and suppliers of art printing materials and presses. Previous Impact conferences have been held in Bristol, U.K.; Helsinki, Finland; Cape Town, South Africa; Berlin, Germany and Poznan, Poland. This year the conference will be in Tallinn, Estonia, at the same time as the 14th International Tallinn Print Triennial. The conference will take place on 17-20 October 2007. Info at www.estograph.ee, and www.triennial.ee.

The Teaching Excellence in Printmaking Award was given to Hugh Merrill. Since 1976, Hugh Merrill has taught in the printmaking program at the Kansas City Art Institute. Since the early 1990's, Merrill has been a seminal contributor to the revitalization of contemporary printmaking and pedagogy. He is widely credited with helping redefine printmaking as a more expansive cross-disciplinary set of artistic and educational practices. He is also a community activist and founder of Chameleon: Arts and Youth Development, a non-profit organization committed to inspiring and fostering an interdisciplinary artistic community of racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity to serve youth, artists and community. In essence, Chameleon is artists helping kids. www.hughmerrill.com

Discussions, Portfolios, Exhibits

Each day's lineup also included topical panel discussions about such things as International concerns in Printmaking, Community Conversation, Art & Spirituality, Intercultural Ploys, Exploitation and Entrepreneurism in Contemporary Printmaking and my personal favorite, International Artists Residency Programs.

Each afternoon there were demonstrations at the Art Institute and the University of Missouri in various printmaking techniques. I especially liked and learned something from the 'Orgy of Intaglio, Flock and Roll, Film Strip Plots, and Foam Printing. Energizing and exciting!

Thursday afternoon we were invited to display our portfolios, a 'show and tell. As usual, the fellow printmakers were forthcoming about their special way of making images.

The days ended with gallery exhibitions all over town each evening. There is a thriving contemporary art scene in Kansas City and no shortage of galleries, which all held receptions and printmaking shows that were fantastic. My favorite show is still up at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center titled Lyrical Legacy: the Prints of Karen Kunc. www.leedy-voulkos.com

Guiness Record, Cake and Beer

Finally, a huge celebration at Union Station where there was an all out undertaking to gain the Guinness Book of Records award for the world's longest linoleum block print. The plate had been carved by numerous community members for the last month or so and Saturday night there was massive rolling on of ink and then a test print, while the band played and everyone celebrated….and finally the beautiful, community manifested print was gingerly rubbed with wooden spoons and carefully removed. The crowd roared, the beer flowed…the children ate cake.

Next year's conference will be hosted by Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, in Richmond Virginia. www.sgc.vcu.edu

Yours in all good prints,
Ouida Touchón www.ouidatouchon.com