Reception and Artist Talk: Friday, January 18, 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. Artist talk begins at 7:30 p.m.

Saskatchewan Craft Council is pleased to present Connections — an exhibition of works from Saskatchewan and South Korean artists. This show was in part organized by the Print Art Research Centre (PARC) in Seoul, Korea.

The exhibition came to fruition due to two chance happenings. In 2014, Saskatoon-based artist Monique Martin created a print at Zea Mays Printmaking in Florence, Massachusetts. The print was then curated into an exhibition at the Seoul Museum of Art in South Korea.

While her print was on display, Martin was preparing to go to Korea for the International Design Conference to present one of her pieces to the Mayor of Suncheon City. On that trip, Martin discovered PARC and became friends with several Korean printmakers.
 
Thanks to these friendships, Martin had an exhibition of her work at PARC in the spring of 2017. While on that trip that she proposed the idea for Connections, a joint printmaking exhibition at the Saskatchewan Craft Council Gallery in Saskatoon.

To help her coordinate Connections, Martin called on Michael Peterson, Director of Saskatoon printmaking studio Void Gallery. Peterson sought out work by Saskatoon printmakers he had worked with at Void and contacted artists through the printmaking studio Articulate Ink in Regina.
 
Artists in this exhibition use historical and contemporary printing processes to create their original pieces. While today a "print" can simply mean a "copy" or "reproduction," printmaking is a tradition dominated by meticulous attention using hand and eye to produce consistency in works of high skill and varying content. Works created through silkscreen, mezzotint, etching and chine-collé, linocut, lithography, waterless lithography, and other techniques will be displayed.
 
Martin is sure the story of Connections will continue. She will be documenting this exhibition and hopes to have it tour to other venues in Canada before going back to Korea for an exhibition there.

"Bus" by Sohee Kim, ink on paper, etching and chine-colle, 38x50”

Ryn Lim, South Korea, “African Ivory”, ink on paper, 22.4x14.5”, 2015