Printmaker Art Werger to be Clayton Center's first artist-in-residence

April 1, 2010
Contact: Annie Standridge, Communications Assistant
865.981.8085; annie.standridge@my.maryvillecollege.edu

World-renowned printmaker Art Werger will be the first Sarah Jane Hardrath Kramer Artist-In-Residence in the new Clayton Center for the Arts on the Maryville College campus.

Werger will be at the Clayton Center April 7-9, lecturing and conducting workshops, and approximately 20 of his mezzotints and etchings will be on exhibit in the Blackberry Farm Gallery and student gallery in the Art & Recital Hall April 7 through April 30.

He will give a gallery talk at 7:30 p.m., April 9, in the Harold and Jean Lambert Recital Hall adjacent to the Blackberry Farm Gallery. It is free and open to the public.

"We want to have many artists-in-residence over the next several years," said Mark Hall, associate professor of art at Maryville College. "We wanted to set standards high, and Werger fits in that category."

As an artist-in-residence, Werger will talk to students and the community about his artwork and techniques. He will also teach a private workshop to Maryville College students and local high school art teachers. The workshop will coincide with Hall's lesson on intaglio printmaking in his course, ART 126: Introduction to Printmaking. Students taking Hall's course will be required to create a small mezzotint in the CCA's new printmaking studio.

Werger will be showing a variety of approaches to intaglio printing including etching, engraving and mezzotint.

"The emphasis will be on tonal approaches, working both additively and subtractively," Werger explained.

Werger's printmaking styles are very labor intensive. Images are created on copper plates after the artist hand-rocks the surface with a special tool and draws the image with scrapers, burnishers and scribes. After the plate is smoothed, the indentions are filled with ink and stamped on printing paper.

"My inspirations come mostly from experiences and phobias," said Werger. "I am attracted to ideas and images that are attractive yet simultaneously make me uncomfortable. The tensions of these opposing forces keep me interested."

During the spring of 2008, Hall and Dr. Carl Gombert, professor of art at MC, were introduced to Werger at a workshop in Huntington, W. Va. Hall and Gombert believed the printmaker and his work would have wide appeal among the College community and larger East Tennessee region.

"I wanted to expose him to the community in Maryville," Hall of Werger. "His artwork is unusual, teachable and usable."

Werger said it was "a great honor" to be the first visual visiting artist in the Clayton Center.

"I worked with Carl and Mark at the Huntington Museum, when I gave a workshop two years ago, so their invitation is a reflection of that experience," the printmaker said.

Hall said he believes that the Fine Arts Division has a responsibility to bring in quality artists for the benefit of the community.

"We have a responsibility to educate the community, and [Werger's artwork] will relate well to the community," said Hall. "Werger's work has a combination of vision and technique that shows he is a talented artist."

Currently, Werger lives in Athens, Ohio, with his wife and two children, and teaches at Ohio University. In 1982, he received an M.F.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with a focus in graphics.

Werger's visit to the Clayton Center is funded by the College's Fine Arts Division, as well as a gift from MC Board member and alumnus Wayne Kramer, in honor of his late wife, Sarah, who graduated from the College in 1974 and taught in the College's Fine Arts Division until her death in 2006.

Maryville College is ideally situated in Maryville, Tenn., between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Knoxville, the state‘s third largest city. Founded in 1819, it is the 12th oldest institution of higher learning in the South and maintains an affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Known for its academic rigor and its focus on the liberal arts, Maryville is where students come to stretch their minds, stretch themselves and learn how to make a difference in the world. Total enrollment for the fall 2011 semester was 1,078.