Printmaking in 3D: Crystal Wagner and Katherine Nanfro

It is thesis exhibit time again at the University of Tennessee, and two of the most inventive MFA thesis exhibits will be shown consecutively at the UT Downtown Gallery in April.  Both exhibits feature work by printmaking majors that transcend the traditional flat image into large sculptural installations.

“Fabrication,” an exhibit of sculptural paper and printmaking by Crystal Wagner, will open April 4. The show is comprised of four large sculptural forms made of foam core board, Mylar, quilting pins, graphite and intaglio printing.  There are also five two-dimensional pieces in rectangular format that are more technical explorations of Wagner’s materials. The manipulation of the environment that the three-dimensional work is being shown in is critical to its optimum display, so Wagner has built several additional walls within the fishbowl shaped gallery and painted everything pale gray. The wall configuration forms a sort of labyrinth, eliminating possible corners where the art might seem to be trapped.  The two-directional lighting in the free flowing areas hits the sculpture in such a way that the shadows they create become an extension of their amorphism.

The weightless nature of the sculptures is intended to give them an ephemeral quality. The many layers of pale color paper and translucent Mylar are held together with everything from grommets, bolts and popsicle sticks.  The Mylar layers are patterned with intricate cutouts that reveal or diffuse the imagery beneath them.  The delicate intaglio prints that cover much of the surface reference biological and schematic illustrations.  The draftsmanship of the non-specific but familiar looking forms is exquisite.

Currently a third-year graduate student and Teaching Associate in the MFA program at The University of Tennessee, Crystal Wagner received first her AFA degree from Keystone College in La Plume, Pa., in 2002 and then her BFA from the Atlanta College of Art, in 2004.  While attending Keystone College, she was awarded Best Prose/Fiction writer for her work in creative writing.  During her time in Atlanta, she majored in sculpture and switched majors to printmaking in her senior year.  In 2004, she was awarded the Southern Graphics Council Fellowship for her work in intaglio etching.  In May of 2005, she spent a month in Poznañ, Poland working at the Academy of Fine Art and presenting an exhibition of her work.  She has also been awarded the 2007 Terry Burnett Scholarship for graduate students.

“The Journey to Shark Island” is Katherine Nanfro’s latest installation of screen- printed animals, opening April 16. Nanfro invents imaginary worlds populated by animals that may or may not be hostile to each other.  Dangerous carnivores co-exist with commercially popular “cutesy” animals, such as baby seals and deer that resemble Bambi, creating a tension due to their close proximity to one another. Any thread of a possible narrative Nanfro wishes to disclose to the viewer is contained in an accompanying large-scale pop-up book.

Nanfro develops her characters from small, linear sketches that are enlarged to full-scale and printed using the largest possible hand-built silk screens UT’s printing lab can facilitate. The material on which she prints is a commercial product available in office supply stores, made of a type of rip-stop nylon textured like a cross between paper and fabric. Since Nanfro sews her finished prints onto a matching back piece with narrow side insets, in the manner of upholstery coverings, the material is well-suited. The light-weight material is also ideal for her installation methods, which require suspending work from the ceiling by monofilament lines. She has upped that method a notch for this latest exhibit, by adding ceiling fan motors. The birds that accompany the sharks and dolphins in her aquarium-type setting are attached to the motors and whirl madly around in circles.

Nanfro came to UT after receiving her BFA from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla. She has recently exhibited at FLUXspace in Philadelphia, in collaboration with her husband, musician Shawn Gallagher.  In May 2006, she spent a month in Poznañ, Poland, with UT's Student Artist-in-Residence Program.

The printmaking department at UT is considered to be one of the best nationwide, and the students it attracts, and the work they produce while there, are exceptional.  Both Nanfro and Wagner have plans to leave Knoxville soon after graduating, and this may be one of the last times to view their work locally.

“Fabrication,” by Crystal Wagner, will exhibit April 4 through 9; reception April 4, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
“The Journey to Shark Island,” by Katherine Nanfro, will exhibit April 16 through 22; reception April 18, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
UT Downtown Gallery (106 S. Gay St.)
Gallery Hours are Wednesday — Friday, 11a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.