Works by award-winning printmaker on display at River Campus

Work by an artist recently recognized as one of the best in his genre is being exhibited this month at the Southeast Missouri State University River Campus.

The Mid America Print Council chose James D. Butler as its 2012 Outstanding Printmaker, and his work is featured in the River Campus Art Gallery.

The MAPC is an educational organization that promotes the appreciation of making original prints, books, drawings and hand-made paper as well as providing information on the art of printmaking.

The 2012 MAPC Biennial Conference, "Pressing Prints/Pressing Palms: The Entrepreneurial Printmaker," will be Nov. 1 to 3 at Southeast.

As a part of the conference, Butler will have 30 of his lithographies, oil paintings and drawings on display in the art gallery. He also will give an artist lecture from 6 to 7 p.m. Nov. 1 at the Bedell Performance Hall.

A collection of lithographs, oil paintings and graphite drawings by James D. Butler is on display at the River Campus Art Gallery of Southeast Missouri State University.LAURA SIMONlsimon@semissourian.com

Butler said his lecture, "Extending Traditions: Projects, Means and Values," "will look at my work in a kind of brief survey of about 40 some years of work, and we'll be looking at work from my undergraduate days to work that I'm doing currently. The lecture will be about 40, 45 minutes long, and we'll hit some of the high points."

Butler, who has work on display in 175 galleries including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and Chicago Art Institute, said being chosen as the Outstanding Printmaker was a big honor and that he was surprised by the recognition.

Butler retired as a professor emeritus at Illinois State University and chose the pieces to be featured in the River Campus show. The collection went up Monday and will hang in the gallery until Nov. 16. It displays Butler's work from his 40-year career as an artist.

"It's a sort of summary of my work in printmaking, painting and drawing since 1971, and so it's sort of a sum of the parts you know," Butler said. "I do all kinds of different things in my studio, and so I wanted to make sure that all of those facets of my work output are contained in the exhibition in one way or the other."

Assistant professor of art Justin Miller took his drawing class to the gallery to show them the display on the day it opened. He said the work was amazing in that it still looked modern despite being 40 years old. Miller had gallery coordinator Kristin Powers Nowlin, who has been on the MAPC board for six years, explain the complex process of lithography to his class and she also discussed the variety of work in the exhibit.

A collection of lithographs, oil paintings and graphite drawings by James D. Butler on display in the River Campus Art Gallery of Southeast Missouri State University. (Laura Simon)

"I'm an artist who works in a representational manner, some people might call it realism, so the work is drawn from my environment," Butler said. "In the early days there was a lot of still life work, and recently I've been working with the landscape."

Nowlin said Butler's work fits in well at Southeast because much of it, some of which is included in the exhibit, focuses on the Mississippi River. Printmaking has a strong presence in the Midwest, Nowlin said.

The MAPC conference also will include printmaking demonstrations, panel discussions, two other speakers, open portfolio sessions, First Friday receptions, vendor fairs and a publishers fair with original artwork on sale. A members' exhibition begins Nov. 2 at the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri. Many events are open to the public and Southeast students can attend for free.

"On Friday afternoon we have something called open portfolio sessions where about 150 artists will put their work out on tables for people to look at," Nowlin said. "That's one of my favorite things at the conference because it's so overwhelming; there's so much art and you get a really good glimpse of what contemporary printmaking is like around the country."

Students, faculty and professionals will show their work at the event.

To find more information on the MAPC Biennial conference and the 2012 Outstanding Printmaker, visit the organization's website at www.midamericaprintcouncil.org.

Pertinent address:

A collection of lithographs by James D. Butler on display in the River Campus Art Gallery of Southeast Missouri State University. (Laura Simon)

518 S. Fountain St., Cape Girardeau, MO