News and Media

Article By: E. Christina Spitz
Published: Aug 3, 2011

On Wednesday, July 13, renowned artists Kiki Smith and Valerie Hammond and internationally recognized writer, curator, photographer, historian and filmmaker Crista Cloutier traveled to SCAD Atlanta to begin a five-day collaborative project with students from the printmaking department.

In December, these art-world luminaries approached the Southeastern Center for Printmaking with an idea for a collaborative venture with SCAD students. These discussions led to the group visiting SCAD in July to create a series of prints relating loosely to spirit photography, a 19th century practice of making images that allude to supernatural phenomena.

Smith brought to the project her outstanding reputation as a sculptor, painter, photographer, printmaker and installation artist. Hammond contributed her expertise and stature as a printmaker and photographer. Cloutier, who has had work featured in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and won the top award at the San Francisco International Film Festival, documented the collaborative process, in both the printed word and on film.

Over the course of the visit, graduate students Nate Kamp, Laura Cleary, Shaun McCallum, Ashley L. Schick, Carla Aaron-Lopez and Alison Batley and undergraduate student Sara Hemingway assisted these artists and were able to spend one-on-one time with each of them, learning intimate details about their process of art making and professional discipline.

"It's an excellent line on the résumé," said Robert Brown, chair of the printmaking department. "Students gain invaluable experience in what it means to be a professional artist."

The project created a stir throughout the Atlanta arts community, spurring a line of visitors including local gallery owners and arts organizers. On that Saturday night, the High Museum's David Brenneman, director of collections and exhibitions, and Michael Rooks, Wieland family curator of modern and contemporary art, came to the printmaking shop to spend time with the students and the artists.

"This project opens the lines of collaboration between the High Museum and SCAD," Brown said. Noting that the museum is one of the country's largest collectors of Smith's work, with 56 items, "the work we're creating at SCAD is attracting the attention of a nationally known museum," he said.

Brown noted that the partnership will also be an excellent recruiting tool. Smith and Hammond, professors at New York University and Columbia, expressed excitement about sending their undergraduate students to graduate school at SCAD.

In the end, seven images were initiated and will be color proofed and editioned over the course of the following year. Students will receive a printer's proof of each image in the project as well as an extraordinary experience with some of the most revered printmakers living today.

"I was able to see a group of artists' approach to process, how they develop imagery and how they talk to each other," said Schick (M.F.A., printmaking, 2011). "SCAD Atlanta is a fantastic facility, and the fact that we get to host such prominent artists is a testament to how wonderful the print shop at SCAD is."

The collaboration is part of a visiting artists series coordinated between the exhibitions and printmaking departments and has included projects with celebrated artists Chakaia Booker, Alexandre Arrechea and others.