Marjorie Devon

     
Marjorie Devon
Director, Tamarind Institute
mdevon@unm.edu
tamarind@unm.edu


Biography

Marjorie Devon has been director of Tamarind Institute since 1985. During that time, she has made Tamarind’s presence felt around the world; she has lectured widely on topics related to American printmaking, curated exhibitions, and developed many special projects with artists that often integrate social and artistic goals. Devon has edited three books and is the author, with Bill Lagattuta and Rodney Hamon,  of Tamarind Techniques for Fine Art Lithography.

Illustrated Talk

“Vocabulary Lessons: The Artist and a New Language”
“Vocabulary Lessons: The Artist and A New Language” addresses how an artist’s ideological and practical approach to their work is affected by the investigation of a new expressive vocabulary, As they embrace a new medium, many artists find that it affects their creative process and influences their artistic practice in significant ways.

I will focus on the ways in which crossing the boundaries from familiar territory into another medium highlights artists’ thought process and, thus, the nature of their aesthetic engagement. Printmaking opens avenues for experimentation with color and requires the use of new drawing materials as well as a different way of constructing an image. These opportunities, in turn, cast a different light on content and composition as well as on the artist’s creative process. New aesthetic possibilities, as well as close collaboration with a master printer, often transform the level of engagement of the artist. As Terry Winters commented, “in printmaking, you have to be conscious of all of your decisions.” As this consciousness is raised, it illuminates, and often changes, many aspects of the creative process.

With examples of work by a range of contemporary artists, I will discuss the relationships between media and how one affects the development of another. What has drawn some of our most important artists to explore printmaking: what has it meant to them and their work, and to the world of printmaking?