This article appeared in the Oct. 30, 2003 Jewish Advocate.

Printmaker group showcases art on a small scale

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

In April 2001 and March 2002, exhibitions of humble-sized works of the Blacksmith House Printmakers were displayed at a Vancouver, British Columbia gallery. The shows brought together, for the first time, students from Cambridge Center for Adult Education faculty member Selma Bromberg’s printmaking classes, and inspired a cultural exchange program when CCAE displayed Dunderave Print Workshop miniature works in April 2002 and 2003.

“The two studios hope to foster links and inspiration between distant communities as well as demonstrate the wealth of imagery and approaches that printmaking can encompass,” said CCAE spokesperson Paula Grasdal. "We sent the show to Canada, but nobody around here had seen it," added Bromberg, who said the exchange was to be ongoing.

A current show featuring the work that was sent to Vancouver,

plus works by several new advanced students, will be shown at the Stebbins

Gallery on Church Street in Harvard Square, from November 1-23. Dunderave Print Workshop reproductions and information will be included.

Participants include Sheila Rice, who also teaches drawing and painting at CCAE. “Sheila has been in my printmaking classes, lighting creative fires for many years,” said Bromberg. Other contributing printmakers include Jason Denault, David Dunne, Charles Stillman, Amy Meltzer, Laura Sheffield, Annie Geohagen and Nyia Yannatos.

“What is special about this show is that the artists are exploring many printmaking techniques, and each person is pursuing their own vision,” said Meltzer. “The show is beautiful and fascinating in its variety.”

The printmakers individually create their work, which utilizes non-toxic methods that include monotypes using found objects and stencils on the printing plate. Collographs, highly textured plates which reveal complex printing surfaces, are also featured, as well as traditional woodcut and dry point techniques. Over the past ten years, students have utilized the workshop’s two 12-by-24 inch Charles Brandt presses and one 24-by-42 inch Praga press.

“Many people say they feel like should have been born in another time,” said Dunne, who has been studying printmaking with Bromberg for the past year and whose 5x7 woodcut Waterfall is in the show. “When I am cutting the blocks for these prints, I can imagine myself back in the days of Albrecht Durer and the master woodcutters and engravers of the late medieval period.”

Bromberg, who holds a bachelor’s degree from Smith College and a master’s in fine arts degree from Tufts University and the Musuem School of the MFA, has a home studio in Weston which includes a printing press. She is a member of the Experimental Etching Studio of Boston, the Women's Caucus of the Arts, the Monotype Guild of New England and the DeCordova Museum Loan Program. During the summers of 1995 and 1996, she was a Resident Artist at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and in the summer of 1993 and winter of 1997, a Resident Artist at the Vermont Studio Center.

A member of B'nai Or of Watertown, Bromberg recently completed a series of images for a future showing of ancient tombstones in a Jewish cemetery in Prague.

“The Blacksmith Printmakers, and the entire CCAE student population, for that matter, is a diverse international group which includes many Jewish members,” she said.

Her solo exhibitions have been held at The Arnold Arboretum, Habitat Institute for the Environment in Belmont, Waltham Public Library, Lexington Public Library, Harvard Law School and the Walters Gallery at Regis College in Weston. Recent shows include "Shifting Grounds: The Dialogue of Print" at Boston University’s Fuller Gallery, "EES Showcase: Open Portfolio for New England Printmaker's Symposium" at the Massachusetts College of Art, "Boston Museum School Alumni" at the South Shore Arts Center in Cohasset, "Monotype Guild Show" at the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston, "Experimental Etching Studio: Current Works" at the Clark University Gallery in Worcester, and "Wildlife Art" at the Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences in Woodstock, Vermont.

She has participated in exhibits of the Cambridge Art Association, where she was a First Prize Winner in 1997, The Fuller Art Museum’s "MGNE Monotype Celebration,” The Cambridge Artists Cooperative’s "Art from the Press," the Boston Public Library’s "Working Proof: The Experimental Etching Studio," and the Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences in Woodstock, Vermont’s "Wildlife Art."

Bromberg's work can be viewed at http://www.sbrombergartist.com.

The Blacksmith House Printmakers present “Exchanges: A Miniature Print Exhibition,” at the The Stebbins Gallery, Zero Church St. (corner of Mass. Ave.), Harvard Square, Cambridge, from Nov. 1-23, with a reception on Sunday, Nov. 2. For information, please call 617-547-6789, email will@ccae.com, or visit www.ccae.org.