The exhibition displayed in the Barr Gallery at Indiana University Southeast features the work of Deborah Maris Lader, who was named the Most Outstanding Printmaker at the 2016 Mid-American Print Council Conference. The work is incredible, and the exhibit is definitely a must-see. The art is pleasant and lingers with the viewer, and conveys a sense of bittersweet nostalgia within the walls of this gallery. Childlike wonder and nostalgia are common themes in Lader’s work, and this exhibit showcases these seamlessly with the aid of a Mother Goose-like bird figure as the thread connecting all the work into a narrative for the viewer. This crane, swan, or goose figure appears in almost every single piece in this exhibit in one way or another. Although the artwork is pleasant, there is a sense of sadness or a sense of being lost--like being a child lost in a beautiful place.
One piece that is especially curious is a small screen printed work that is titled It’s All An Illusion. As a screen printer, it is impressive all the detail that Lader has put into this piece. It’s hard to tell if the piece includes one layer or several layers of black because this piece does not have any color. The strings that make up the tent like cage around the bird are held up by puppeteer hands which expressively curl around like thread in the shape of a human form encompassing the cage and the caged bird. Although the bird is inside of the cage, his feet are loose and his head pokes through the thread bars and sings in cursive, and printed backwards intentionally, the words “it’s all an illusion” connecting to the threads that create the cage around it. The bird is also wearing a crown upon its head, implying that he is the main character of this illusion.
Another piece in this exhibit that is interesting is a small color lithograph called The Girl Gets Away. It is located next to a large piece and is easy to overlook. The composition depicts young girl in the upper right corner, with her long flowing hair taking up the remaining top half of the piece. It is an underwater scene with a shark and a jellyfish in the bottom half of the composition eyeballing the young girl swimming away. The expressive lines of the hair remind me of the thread like lines in the other piece discussed, and provide an implied C shape within the composition. The lines tangle up around the shark and eventually turn into the delicate tentacles coming off of the jellyfish. The figures in this piece are very illustrative and create a narrative of the young girl swimming away from danger.
Another praise to this exhibit is Lader’s use of so many different tools in printmaking. As a printmaker, it is easy to get stuck or lost in one method of creation that is giving the best results. Deborah Maris Lader explores methods ranging from etching to silkscreen, color lithography to a combination of several at once. Lader is also an educator and a musician, and founded and directs the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative (CPC), an independently owned print shop. She has dipped her toes in a variety of different methods of printmaking, and teaches them all in an academic setting as well as working side by side with artists at her print shop. Each of her pieces have their own unique beauty, yet remain incredibly similar, while she is using completely different methods of printmaking methods to get impressive results. There are several very large pieces showcased but there are many small surprises that are hidden within this exhibit as well. Deborah Maris Lader successfully creates an atmosphere with her work as the viewer gets lost in this wonderful narrative.
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