Kent State University’s School of Art is hosting the 2022 Mid America Print Council Conference—The Power of Print Resistance, Revolution, & Resilience—from October 13 to 16. The conference’s theme affirms printmaking’s power to promote social change and engage with the political landscape.

The Mid America Print Council (MAPC) is an educational and community-based organization that focuses on all print-related arts and holds a conference in a new location biennially. Each conference features speakers, workshops, panels, shows, and exchanges.

2022 Biennial Conference co-chairs and Kent State studio art professors Taryn McMahon and J. Leigh Garcia partnered with regional institutions including The University of Akron Myers School of Art, the Cleveland Institute of Art, Zygote Press, and The Morgan Conservatory to offer an array of programming. Over twenty exhibitions, multiple themed portfolio print exchanges, several invited speakers, and many technical demonstrations and panels will be featured on location at all partner institutions. Much of the conference’s programming, as well as a vendor and publisher fair with products and prints for sale, and an open portfolio session for artists and students will be hosted at Kent State University’s Center for the Visual Arts.

Highlights of the conference include lectures by keynote speaker Claudia E. Zapata, PhD and American printer, book artist, and papermaker Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. During the conference, Kennedy will receive the Outstanding Printmaker Award and his solo exhibition Amos Kennedy – Outstanding Printmaker will be on display in the Kent State Center for the Visual Arts’ Payto and Crawford Galleries. At The University of Akron, featured artist Jennifer Mack-Watkins will demonstrate the process of Japanese woodblock prints at the Myers School of Art, and the Emily Davis Gallery will present the group exhibition Mark of Empowerment,curated by artist Roberto Torres Mata. The Cleveland Institute of Art will present a lecture and exhibition by featured speaker Josh MacPhee, and Zygote Press will present Ideal, a group exhibition of artists and publishers using Risograph duplicators to produce fine art editions and artist books. Sustain, Innovate, Transform, a group exhibition of prints by the Pittsburgh Print Group, will be on display at the Morgan Conservatory.

The full conference schedule and registration information is available at mapc2022.com. Pre-registration runs online through September 1 for a discounted rate. Registration will also be available on-site.

The conference is supported in part by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and McClain’s Printmaking Supplies.

KENT STATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ART COLLECTIONS AND GALLERIES
CENTER FOR THE VISUAL ARTS
325 Terrace Drive
Kent, Ohio 44242
galleries.kent.edu
330.672.1369