Gustavus Adolphus College is collaborating with Minnesota State University in Mankato to create an exhibit on prints, titled MSU Prints: Josh Winkler and Students. This exhibit will be open to the public from February 27 to March 31 in the Schaefer Art Gallery. An opening reception will be held on Monday, February 27, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m..
Nicolas Darcourt, a visual arts professor in Gustavus Art and Art History Department, has played a large role in orchestrating this collaboration and ensuring that everything runs smoothly. He is joined by Josh Winkler, an associate professor at MSU Mankato, who focuses on the art of printmaking. The works of both Winkler and his students will be featured in this exhibit.
“The first floor of the gallery highlights the work of two current Master of Arts Candidates in printmaking, Mai Tran and Taryn Sakry” said Winkler. “The second floor showcases a large collaborative project alongside individual works created by BFA printmaking students, and the third floor shows a collection of my recent work.”
Darcourt envisions the exhibit as a common meeting ground for different artists to come together with one another and the community, using the exhibit as a point of reference for conversation and sharing.
“When it comes to using this network as a resource regarding Schaefer Art Gallery exhibition programming, artists of the community have the opportunity to not only share their view points, but share their artworks as well” said Darcourt. “In this case, I invited Josh Winkler to share his work and to curate a group of students from the MSU Department of Art and Design to have a group exhibition based in the process of Printmaking.”
Discussing the combined effort of his undergraduate and graduate students, Winkler says, “all of the work utilizes print media to tell a range of narrative stories developed by the artists. We hope that viewers spend time engaging with the content, the scale, the mark making, the human hand, and the wide-ranging aesthetics spread throughout the exhibition.”
Both Darcourt and Winkler express that while the artistry and effort that has been put into creating these prints is essential, the collaboration between students, professors, and schools adds another layer to this exhibit.
“This collaboration is important because it encourages the students of our department to see, first hand, the quality of graduate student work coming out of a program right next door to us” said Darcourt. “There are a lot of talented students and image makers in our department who will benefit from this, and I don’t think this would or could happen so readily if it weren’t for an organized exhibition.”
Winkler emphasized his agreement of Darcourt’s statement, speaking of the impact that this work and this collaboration has had on him as well.
“I appreciate the opportunity to show work alongside my students,” said Winkler. “Their creative energy and impulses add fuel to my creative energy, and I hope that my instruction helps them to develop their language and ideas. I like to think that we are all learning from each other and growing as artists and individuals.”
The collaboration between Gustavus Adolphus College and Minnesota State University Mankato in developing MSU Prints: Josh Winkler and Students highlights how art functions to bring people together in collaboration and community. The exhibit will be on display from until Friday, March 31st. Entrance is free and open to the public. Mondays through Fridays it will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on the weekends it will be open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m..