The primary GOAL of Midwest Matrix® is to assure the preservation of a cultural tradition not only for artists and students of the arts, but also to the public interested in the arts. The purpose of this documentary is to increase the appreciation of fine art printmaking among the general public, which is often not educated about the difference between a fine print and a reproduction and to present the history of this medium to young artists and art students, whom often are uninformed of the history of printmaking.
Although much has been written about the art of both East and West Coasts of the past 70 years, and much attention paid to the development of surrealist tendencies and the creation of Abstract Expressionism through the influence of European painters and sculptors, very little has been done to examine their influence on printmaking in the American Midwest. The thesis of this program is that European expatriate artists and their students post-World War II either transformed existing or founded influential ateliers and printmaking departments in Midwestern universities, turning them into the seedbeds of a remarkable flowering of the fine art print in America. What took these artists to the Midwest? What were their strategies for achieving what they did? What is the “Midwest tradition” of printmaking? Midwest Matrix® will articulate, for the first time, this story—a history of fine art printmaking in the American Midwest. These artists have never been filmed. Midwest Matrix® examines their strong sense of community that prevails and how it continues to manifest itself. Their legacy continues to catalyze young artists at a time of great cultural polarization, immigration, and war.
The history of the Midwest has affected many studios. The work of a handprint studio is a fascinating mixture of the science of materials and of the body/mind of the artist, in the context of her/his environment. Its study has led to increased sophistication in the reading of visual language: signs, symbols, and narrative. Artists from different disciplines are fascinated to work with master printers--this collaboration extends the possibilities available to all artists, not just printmakers. Increasing knowledge of a medium increases the sense of community among all artists. Therefore this documentary is a significant tool to reach out to the community in great numbers.
Midwest Matrix® provides film and production services, archiving databases, images and electronic data related to printmaking.
This website and the film Midwest Matrix® are the intellectual property of Midwest Matrix, LLC: Website © Midwest Matrix, LLC (2011)
Midwest Matrix®, LLC. All rights reserved.
For questions about the Midwest Matrix® project, please contact Susan J Goldman at goldmanprint@comcast.net
For use-related questions and permissions, please contact Elliott Alderman, Esq, at thecontentlawyer@verizon.net.
Although much has been written about the art of both East and West Coasts of the past 70 years, and much attention paid to the development of surrealist tendencies and the creation of Abstract Expressionism through the influence of European painters and sculptors, very little has been done to examine their influence on printmaking in the American Midwest. The thesis of this program is that European expatriate artists and their students post-World War II either transformed existing or founded influential ateliers and printmaking departments in Midwestern universities, turning them into the seedbeds of a remarkable flowering of the fine art print in America. What took these artists to the Midwest? What were their strategies for achieving what they did? What is the “Midwest tradition” of printmaking? Midwest Matrix® will articulate, for the first time, this story—a history of fine art printmaking in the American Midwest. These artists have never been filmed. Midwest Matrix® examines their strong sense of community that prevails and how it continues to manifest itself. Their legacy continues to catalyze young artists at a time of great cultural polarization, immigration, and war.
The history of the Midwest has affected many studios. The work of a handprint studio is a fascinating mixture of the science of materials and of the body/mind of the artist, in the context of her/his environment. Its study has led to increased sophistication in the reading of visual language: signs, symbols, and narrative. Artists from different disciplines are fascinated to work with master printers--this collaboration extends the possibilities available to all artists, not just printmakers. Increasing knowledge of a medium increases the sense of community among all artists. Therefore this documentary is a significant tool to reach out to the community in great numbers.
Midwest Matrix® provides film and production services, archiving databases, images and electronic data related to printmaking.
This website and the film Midwest Matrix® are the intellectual property of Midwest Matrix, LLC: Website © Midwest Matrix, LLC (2011)
Midwest Matrix®, LLC. All rights reserved.
For questions about the Midwest Matrix® project, please contact Susan J Goldman at goldmanprint@comcast.net
For use-related questions and permissions, please contact Elliott Alderman, Esq, at thecontentlawyer@verizon.net.
Meet the Team
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Susan J Goldman, Producer & Director
Susan Goldman, is Director of Lily Press in Rockville, Maryland. She is also Director of Printmaking Legacy Project , Inc. In 2013 she produced and directed the first of Printmaking Legacy Project's 12 minute biographical documentary series Portfolios: Evangeline J Montgomery. Her collaborative print projects include artists: Jo Baer, Elizabeth Catlett, Enrique Chagoya, Bill Dunlap, Sam Gilliam, Michael Gross, Karen Kunc, Miriam Schapiro, Renee Stout, and William Wiley Goldman. She received a National Endowment for the Arts Grant 2011-12, to complete as producer and director Midwest Matrix, an hour-long documentary on the fine art printmaking tradition of the American Midwest. Goldman actively prints and exhibits her own work and is included in collections around the world. Selected Collections include: Lombardi Cancer Center Georgetown University, Washington, DC; Capital One, Fairfax, VA; Anchor Press, Columbia College of Art, Chicago, IL; University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA; Cincinnati Art Museum; International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC KPMGLLP, Washington, DC; Kyoto City Museum of Arts, Kyoto, Japan; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Rutgers Archives for Brodsky Printmaking Studios at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum; Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ; Abu Dhabi Nations Towers St. Regis, United Arab Emirates; Smithsonian American Art Museum,Washington, DC; Hilton Worldwide, Headquarters, McLean, VA. |
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Erwin W. Thamm, Technical Director
Erwin W Thamm is an artist born to a career military non-commissioned officer and his wife. Thamm traveled the world attending military sponsored schools until he settled back in the Washington D.C. area. The ethnicities he experienced filled his ideals with a balanced attitude that has served him well. Thamm became a professional photographer in 1996 while helping educate his two children with a full-time job selling auto parts. He became a member of the National Press Club in 2006. After putting his children through school he entered George Mason University in 2005 to further his education in photography. Printmaking became his decided artist practice with its uses of alternate processes mixed within photography and drawing. Thamm has printed with Lily Press and Navigation Press, working with many prominent American artists such as William Wiley, Renee Stout and Michael Gross. He is currently the Assistant Manager of Digital Arts at GMU and is the Co-founder of the GMU Printmakers Guild. Thamm was a recent artistic contributor to Honor Flight, bringing WWII veterans to their memorial. elmoink2@comcast.net |
Advisory Board
Kathleen Edwards, Curator, University of Iowa Museum of Art, Print Study Room, Iowa City, IA
Stephen Goddard, Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, The Spencer Museum of Art, professor of Art History,
University of Kansas, Kansas City, KS
Anita Jung, Professor of Art, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Joann Moser, Emerita Senior Curator of Prints, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Rudy Pozzatti, Emeritus Professor of Art, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Elizabeth Seaton, Associate Curator, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
Stephen Goddard, Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, The Spencer Museum of Art, professor of Art History,
University of Kansas, Kansas City, KS
Anita Jung, Professor of Art, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Joann Moser, Emerita Senior Curator of Prints, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Rudy Pozzatti, Emeritus Professor of Art, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Elizabeth Seaton, Associate Curator, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
Project Co-Sponsors
National Endowment for the Arts
The Anne and Ronald Abramson Family Foundation
George Mason University, Fairfax
California State University at Long Beach
Indiana University, Bloomington
Montgomery County Arts and Humanities Council
University of Iowa, Iowa City
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Sam Fox School of Art and Design at Washington University in St. Louis
Owens Technologies, Inc., Rockville, MD
Lily Press LLC, Rockville, MD
Shelley Singer and Michael Gross, Bethesda, MD
Randi and Jim Mayer, Chicago, IL
Carolyn O. Goldman, Cincinnati, OH
David Steinberg, Washington, D.C.
The Anne and Ronald Abramson Family Foundation
George Mason University, Fairfax
California State University at Long Beach
Indiana University, Bloomington
Montgomery County Arts and Humanities Council
University of Iowa, Iowa City
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Sam Fox School of Art and Design at Washington University in St. Louis
Owens Technologies, Inc., Rockville, MD
Lily Press LLC, Rockville, MD
Shelley Singer and Michael Gross, Bethesda, MD
Randi and Jim Mayer, Chicago, IL
Carolyn O. Goldman, Cincinnati, OH
David Steinberg, Washington, D.C.