From the brightly colored to the naturally muted, Mesh offers a wide range of art that celebrates the possibilities of screenprinting. Thirty-four works and the same number of artists are featured in this exhibition. Selected from nearly 300 submissions, included artworks showcase both conventional and unconventional applications of the art practice.
The public opening for Mesh takes place on Friday, March 15th from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm (free, RSVP required). The exhibition runs through April 28, 2024 in Pyramid’s Helen C. Frederick Gallery.
Gallery hours are Wed–Thu, 10–8 pm and Fri–Sun, 10–6 pm. Pyramid is located at 4318 Gallatin Street, Hyattsville, Maryland 20781. For more information and an RSVP link, visit pyramidatlantic.org or call 301-608-9101.
Pyramid is pleased to partner with Washington Print Club and The Washington Print Foundation for Mesh. Through these partnerships, the exhibition will offer three $1,000 awards recognizing excellence among the entries: Best Overall Entry, Best Work on Paper, and Most Innovative Entry.
Mesh asked artists to consider the history of screenprinting, its technical contexts, and its diverse applications when submitting their work. The fine art of screenprinting has primitive antecedents as evidenced in the stenciled imagery on prehistoric cave wall. In modern times, artists such as Warhol and Lichtenstein have used stencil material attached to or embedded in a mesh of fiber, metal, or synthetic plastic filaments. The process has been applied in decorative arts, textile printing, advertising posters, as well as street and political art. Today, sreenprinting has a widespread current presence in commercial signage, t-shirts, ceramics, furniture, and packaging
The resulting submissions were varied and exciting. “The jurors had their work cut out for them with so many entries. I am thrilled by the show they assembled, which will showcase traditionally executed screenprints as well as work that incorporates screenprinting in unusual ways. I can’t wait to see how these pieces talk to each other in the gallery and how audiences will react to the variety of works,” says Executive Director Kate Taylor Davis.
The jurors—Joshua Gamma, Gallery Director at BlackRock Center for the Arts; Michael Hagan, Artist and Washington Print Club Board Member; and Zoma Wallace, Ph.D. candidate in Art Theory & Philosophy at the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (IDSVA)—considered the nearly 300 pieces submitted by artists from across the United States and finalized an incredible roster for the Mesh.
Exhibiting Artists: Chloe Alexander (GA), Byron Ashley (TX), Aaron Bass (NM), Wes Beeler (IL), Andrew Blanchard (SC), Myles Calvert (SC), Casey Connelly (PA), Stephanie Damoff (NY), Lori Gann-Smith (TN), Kate Goodvin (IA), Jay Howley (MD), Imar Hutchins (DC), Lauren Jackson (MD), Grace Johnson (IN), Sue Johnson (VA), Nilou Kazemzadeh (PA), Selene LaMarca (DC), Cynthis Lollis/ETC Press (GA), Clay McGlamory (VA), Terence Nicholson (DC), Christina Osheim (MD), Manuel Paucar (MD), Serena Perrone (GA), Trinity Pote (MO), Philippe Ricard (MD), Henry Rosenberg (NY), K Sarrantonio (NY), Adi Segal (DC), Heather Swenson (PA), R.L. Tillman (MD), Varvara Tokareva (MD), Chadwick Tolley (GA), Cornelia Walworth (ME), and Connie Wolfe (IL).
