Elizabeth Haidle, Poisonous 5” x 5”

“What a Relief,” a juried exhibition produced by the Philadelphia Print Collaborative

January 20, 6 pm - 9 pm

The artworks were chosen from an open call for artwork inspired by the tradition of woodcut, by juror Shelley Langdale, Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The resulting exhibition of 26 prints pays tribute to the bold graphic quality of this early form of printmaking while showing some new twists in the medium.

There are beautiful examples of the strength of one-color woodcut like the haunting forest scenes by German artist Eva Pietzker, while other artists use multiple processes integrating letterpress, collage and digital printmaking techniques. Several pieces reference woodcut’s roots in illuminated manuscripts and pamphlets including prints by Katie Baldwin, Patty Smith and Miriam Zegrer. And, don’t miss the sweet paper movie based on the myth of Iphigenia at Aules by Stella Ebner.

The artists include: Katie Baldwin, Elizabeth Core, Amanda D'Amico, Kip Deeds, Stella Ebner, Christopher Hartshorne, Daniel Heyman, Dave Hoke, Rosemary Lane, Anthony Lazorko, Sarah McEneaney, Richard Metz, Eva Pietzker, Melissa Rucker, Miriam Singer, Patty Smith, Hester Stinnett, April Vollmer, and Miriam Zegrer.

This exhibition is part of the public art project, the Big Block! and is made possible with the support of the Solutions for Progress, the National Endowment for the Arts, Stockton Rush Bartol and the Pennsylvania Humanities Council.

SPECTOR has spotlighted and bolstered a growing community of emerging local artists. The Philadelphia Inquirer called the gallery, “The offbeat outpost of the Philadelphia art scene.”

Behind the gallery is a studio/woodshop where Spector creates wooden sculptures that art critic Gerard Brown said, “…look as though they could be the offspring of a marriage between Giacometti and Pinocchio.”