DeAnn L. Prosia (born March 22, 1963, in Chicago, IL) is an American printmaker, known for her photo-realist architectural line etchings, an intalgio printmaking process that can take her up to 400 hours to complete. Prosia has won over a hundred awards for her artwork and is in private and public collections, such as the Rockwell Museum, the New York Public Library Print Collection, and the Syracuse University Art Collection. [1]
As a printmaker, Prosia utilizes only line work, in the form of cross-hatching, in her etchings to create the structure, tone, texture, and contrast of her highly detailed cityscapes. Line etching is an intalgio printmaking process where acid is used to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal place to create a design. Prosia uses a sharp sewing needle as her scribe, allowing her to build highly detailed imagery with only the use of line. [2]
Prosia attended Prospect High School in Mount Prospect, IL (a northwest suburb of Chicago), where her interest in art developed and was encouraged by her art teachers. This is also where she made her very first etching using a zinc plate with nitric acid. She later attended Northern Illinois University where she earned a BA in Communication Studies with a focus in Advertising and a minor in Art. Prosia also studied pastel drawing with artist Nina Weiss and took life drawing classes at the Art Institute of Chicago. [2]
Prosia's commitment to printmaking came in 1988 when she met a Chicago printmaker, Phillip C. Thompson, whose architectural style, line work, and tone caught her eye. Over a three-day period, he taught her the basics of printmaking. On the fourth day, she ordered her first printing press from Blick, set it up in her Chicago studio apartment, and got to work creating etchings. In 1990, with Thompson's help, she started doing weekend art festivals. [2]
In the mid-1990s, Prosia left Chicago and spent a year and a half in Erlanger, KY. From there she moved to Monroe, CT, where she became a member of the Silvermine Art Guild and the Society of American Graphic Artists (SAGA) [3] in New York City. In 2002 The Old Print Shop in NYC, [4] began representing her (2002–present).
From 2006–2009, Prosia lived in Mainz, Germany. In 2007, she had her first international solo exhibition, "Etchings of DeAnn Prosia" at Art'N'Act Galerie. Her second international solo exhibition followed in 2009, "Mein Mainz", at Eisenturm Galerie. [1] Art Critic and Reporter for the (Mainz Rhine Newspaper) Martina Koch said of Prosia’s etchings: "When you stand in front of DeAnn L. Prosia's etchings, sometimes you long for a magnifying glass. Her views of the city are so finely drawn and rich in detail that the first fleeting glance is hardly enough to grasp them." [4]
After returning to the States in December 2009, Prosia settled in Newtown, CT (the same town Martin Lewis lived in from 1932–1936). During this time she became more involved in museum and gallery exhibitions which helped get her work into several prominent collections (see list below). In 2010, she gained representation through the ebo Gallery in Millwood, NY (2010–present). Prosia also began to affiliate herself with prominent art organizations such as The Allied Artists of America, New York, NY; The Boston Printmakers, Boston, MA; The Audubon Artists, New York, NY; American Women Artists, Lodi, CA; Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, New York, NY; Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, CT; and The Print Club of Albany, Albany, NY. In 2020, Prosia was added to the roster of represented artists at fYREGALLERY in Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia (2020–present). [5]
From 2019–2021, Prosia served as Vice President of SAGA, and from 2021–2023 she served as President. Some of her most notable accomplishments included securing a member show at The Gallery at The Met Store at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and establishing the annual national juried print exhibition, Mini Gems, in 2022. [2]
Prosia draws her influences from the printmakers of the early 1900s such as John Taylor Arms (1887–1953), Martin Lewis (1881–1962), Ernest D. Roth (13) (1879–1953), and Samuel Chamberlain (1895–1975). She has always been fascinated by how society has historically built beautiful and interesting architecture to fill the needs of people and their everyday lives. [6]
Jacques Hnizdovsky was a Ukrainian-born American painter, printmaker, graphic designer, illustrator and sculptor.
Lynn Shaler is an American artist known for her color aquatint etchings. Many of her works feature locations in the city of Paris. Early subjects often included objects such as doorknobs, envelopes, theater exits, and a pair of shoes. Later and more recent subjects often include architectural details or interior views opening onto an exterior scene. Many of her works also feature a dog, a cat, umbrella(s), and/or a lady in a red/pink coat. The majority of her works are made with multiple plates, and many are, at least in part, hand-colored.
Federico Castellón was a Spanish American painter, sculptor, printmaker, and illustrator of children's books.
The California Society of Printmakers (CSP) is the oldest continuously operating association of printmakers and friends of printmakers in the United States. CSP is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization with an international membership of print artists and supporters of the art of fine printmaking. CSP promotes professional development and opportunity for printmakers, and educates artists and the public about printmaking. New members are admitted by portfolio review. Friends, Institutional and Business members are admitted by fee. CSP is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.
Vitreography is a fine art printmaking technique that uses a 3⁄8-inch-thick (9.5 mm) float glass matrix instead of the traditional matrices of metal, wood or stone. A print created using the technique is called a vitreograph. Unlike a monotype, in which ink is painted onto a smooth glass plate and transferred to paper to produce a unique work, the vitreograph technique involves fixing the imagery in, or on, the glass plate. This allows the production of an edition of prints.
Anna P. Baker was a Canadian visual artist.
Peter Grippe was an American sculptor, printmaker, and painter. As a sculptor, he worked in bronze, terracotta, wire, plaster, and found objects. His "Monument to Hiroshima" series (1963) used found objects cast in bronze sculptures to evoke the chaotic humanity of the Japanese city after its incineration by atomic bomb. Other Grippe Surrealist sculptural works address less warlike themes, including that of city life. However, his expertise extended beyond sculpture to ink drawings, watercolor painting, and printmaking (intaglio). He joined and later directed Atelier 17, the intaglio studio founded in London and moved to New York at the beginning of World War II by its founder, Stanley William Hayter. Today, Grippe's 21 Etchings and Poems, a part of the permanent collection at the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, is available as part of the museum's virtual collection.
Carol Wax is an American artist, author and teacher whom the New York Times called "a virtuoso printmaker and art historian" for her work in mezzotint and her writings on the history and technique of that medium.
The Outlaws of Printmaking, also known as "The Outlaws" and "Outlaw Printmakers" are a collective of printmaking artists that exists internationally. The idea of "Outlaw Printmakers" formed from a show in New York at Big Cat Gallery in 2000. Tony Fitzpatrick, the owner of the Big Cat Press which is associated with the gallery, decided to call a show there "Outlaw Printmaking" to reflect attitudes of the printmakers involved in a non-academic approach to prints. As pointed out by Sean Starwars, the Southern Graphic Council print conference was happening at the same time as that show in NYC across the water in New Jersey. A handful of artists from the conference attended the show.). At that conference the core group now known as the Outlaw Printmakers formed, adopting the name from the show and continuing their own events, happenings and shows outside of the academic norm. The core members are Bill Fick, Tom Huck, The Hancock Brothers, Sean Star Wars, Dennis McNett and Cannonball Press. Many of the core artists associated with the movement cite the printmaker/artist Richard Mock as a primary influence. Mock's political and social narrative prints appeared in the New York Times op-ed pages for more than a decade in the 1980s and early 1990s. Later the group grew to include Carlos Hernandez, Drive By Press, Ryan O'Malley, Artemio Rodriguez, Kathryn Polk, Erica Walker, Derrick Riley, and Julia Curran.
The Society of American Graphic Artists (SAGA) is a not for profit national fine arts organization serving professional artists in the field of printmaking. SAGA provides its members with exhibition, reviews and networking opportunities in the New York City area and, in addition to various substantial exhibition prizes, many purchase awards allow SAGA members to be included in major U.S. museum collections.
Margaret Craig is an American artist and printmaker based in San Antonio who invented a pressless etching technique. She holds a Master's in Painting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was introduced to etching by Frances Myers. She went on to study under Ken Little, Dennis Olsen and Kent Rush while working on her M.F.A. in Printmaking at the University of Texas at San Antonio. A degree in Biology influences numerous aspects of her work, which is exhibited in Texas, nationally in the USA, and internationally in Europe and Asia.
Bertha Evelyn Jaques was an American etcher and cyanotype photographer. Jaques helped found the Chicago Society of Etchers, an organization that would become internationally significant for promoting etching as a popular printmaking technique. She is best known for her hand-colored botanical prints and scenes from her foreign and domestic travels.
Blanche McVeigh was an American printmaker, founder of the Fort Worth School of Fine Arts and Fort Worth Artists Guild, and art educator in Fort Worth, Texas. Known for her mastery of the aquatint medium, McVeigh’s leadership in art education influenced a generation of local artists, particularly members of the group known as the Fort Worth Circle. Her work is represented in several national collections as well as local and private collections.
Evelynne Bernloehr Mess Daily was an American etcher, printmaker, painter, illustrator, and art educator from Indianapolis, Indiana, who founded the Indiana Society of Printmakers in 1934. Along with her first husband and fellow artist, George Joseph Mess, she was active in the Indianapolis and Brown County, Indiana, arts community. Awarded an honorary doctor of philosophy degree from Colorado State Christian College in 1973, and a recipient of a Sagamore of the Wabash award in 1987, she was also a past president of the Indiana Federation of Art Clubs and a former secretary of the Indiana Artists Club. Her work is represented in several permanent collections that included the Library of Congress, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Indiana State Museum, the Indiana State Library, the Indiana University Art Museum, the Richmond Art Museum, DePauw University, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Frances Sally McLaren is a British painter, printmaker and etcher who was born in London in 1936. She lives and works in East Knoyle, Wiltshire.
Augusta Payne Briggs Rathbone was an American painter, etcher and printmaker. She studied at the University of California, Berkeley and in Paris. She depicted people and locations from San Francisco, the Sierra, New York City, the West Coast of Canada, the Canadian Rockies, and France. In 1938, she published a book of aquatints of French Riviera Villages with photographs by Juliet Thompson and text by Virginia Thompson. Her work appeared internationally in group and solo exhibitions, and continues to appear in retrospectives of American printmaking.
Frances Julia Farrand Dodge was an American artist and teacher.
Hertha Kluge-Pott is a German-born Australian printmaker based in Melbourne.
Mary Teichman is an American artist and printmaker known for her color aquatint etchings.
This is a timeline of 20th-century printmaking in America.