Heavy IS a Heavy Thing is a print exchange that asks us to address the topics of contention we routinely experience through media, institutional powers, and society at large. From the attacks on the universal human rights of our communities’ members and loved ones, the destruction and neglect of our sacred landscape and resources, and the instances personal of loss and tribulations, how do we carry this weight? We are interested in shining a light on these issues to strengthen our resolve, not allowing these issues to become drowned to the immense volume of weight we carry each day.
As visual makers we sit between the line of call and response, we observe, we report, but we can also act. This exchange asks us to act, to make work that brings awareness to the universal and personal issues we experience, to make them larger than bite sized bits or 24-hour segments on the news. As artists and printmakers, we us our chosen medium to disseminate information to the masses, to ask questions, and to create something physical, eternal, and multiple, making it harder to ignore. We fight the heavy with our visual vocabulary, raising to the surface our history, culture, and allyship making our many identities undeniable and uncrushable under this weight. We ask.
What are the catalysts for the weight you carry,
Where does the head of the beast lie?
How do you stand firm under this weight,
Should we carry one thing at a time?
How do we stand thick on the ground,
To disrupt this flood of strife.
Each artist has been asked to make an edition of 18 prints using traditional methods of printmaking (relief, intaglio, lithography, silkscreen, letterpress) with the paper size being 18”x24”.
Artists include:
-Ron Abram (http://www.ronabram.com)
-Miguel Aragón (http://aragonmiguel.com/)
-Stephanie Berrie (https://www.stephanieraeberrie.com/)
-Dustin Brinkman (https://art.osu.edu/people/brinkman.230)
-Christa Carleton (https://www.matrixpress.org/christa-carleton.html)
-Zoë Couvillion (http://www.zoecouvillion.com/)
-Jacob Crook (https://crookstudio.net/home.html)
-Kobe Elixson (https://kobeelixson.com/)
-Zach Fitchner (https://zachfitchner.com/)
-Jacob Taylor Gibson (https://www.jacobtaylorgibson.com/)
-Felicity Gunn (https://lastdraftstudio.tumblr.com/)
-Matt Hopson-Walker (https://matthewhopsonwalker.com/home.html)
-Joshua Jay Johnson (http://www.joshuajayjohnson.com/)
-Edie Overturf (https://www.edieoverturf.com/)
-Alexander Quinones (https://alexander-quinones.format.com/)
-Marco Sánchez (https://www.marcoprintsanchez.com/)
-Gloria Shows (https://www.gloriashows.com/)
-Michael Weigman (https://michaelweigman.com/home.html)
Exhibition curated by Michael Weigman and Dustin Brinkman.
Opening reception: March 1, 6-8pm.