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Sense of Place:
A Cross-Border Print Exhibition.


Sense of Place: A Cross-Border Print Exhibition. Is a juried exhibition organized and circulated by Windsor Printmaker’s Forum. Patricia Coates, former president of Windsor Printmaker’s Forum and director of the Sense of Place project discusses the exhibition’s focus:

Sense of Place goes far beyond a literal interpretation of its theme; after all it has been some time since the Group of Seven first broke this trail. The work investigates universal ideas and concerns through a broad range of both traditional and experimental mediums: life’s daily questions, its mysteries, archetypal forms, courage, and belonging, the heritage of time, man’s place in nature and the place of nature in our world.  The shift from traditional printmaking to digital methods mirrors our place in time – not just as printmakers – but as a society. Place has evolved from specific geographical location through that of regions to the threshold of a new concept which is global and virtual. (Sense of Place exhibition catalogue)







The works investigate place through an immense variety of print media from the more traditional etching, relief and lithography on paper to digital light boxes, multimedia and three-dimensional objects providing a comprehensive overview of the art of contemporary printmaking. The jurors for the exhibition were Windsor-based artist, Iain Baxter&, James Patten, Director of the McIntosh Gallery at the University of Western Ontario, and Nancy Sojka, Curator, Detroit Institute of Arts. 

Guest artists and writers for the tour include Alistair MacLeod, Nino Ricci, Iain Baxter&, Rebecca Belmore, Jessica Grant, Randall Maggs, Lisa Moore, Audrey Feltham and Dr. Stephen Pender.

There are 34 artists represented in the exhibition: Joseph Banh, Nadine Bariteau, Mark Bovey, Yael Brotman, Dacia Celeste-Faute, Patricia Coates, Meena Dhar, Lisa Driver, Christopher Durocher, Erik Edson, Joel Fullerton, Sue Gordon, Dieter Grund, Libby Hague, George Hawken, Liz Ingram, Hannamari Jalovaara, Melody Krauze, Bill Laing, Tara Lynn MacDougall, Judy Major-Girardin, Adam Medley, John Montminy, Rory O’Connor, Gary Olson, Terry O’Reilly, Kenneth Pattern, Shannon Phair, Dianna Rae Borel, Victor Romao, Carol Rowland-Ulmann, Dan Steeves, Michele Tarailo, Susan Turner, Terry Vatrt.

Sense of Place has been exhibited in several galleries across the country since first opening in Windsor in 2007: University of Toronto Art Centre, Yukon Arts Centre, Thames Art Gallery, McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario, Art Gallery of Sudbury, Cape Breton University Art Gallery, Grenfell Campus Art Gallery, Memorial University NL.





Sponsorship and Publicity

July 2008, the Ontario Arts Council awarded the Windsor Printmaker’s Forum a Touring and Collaborations Grant for the Sense of Place exhibit. The provincial tour was successfully launched to a sold out audience at the University of Toronto Arts Centre May 5th, 2009. The exhibition travels to the Thames Art Gallery, Chatham Ontario, April 9th, 2010 and runs until May 9th 2010 with an opening reception April 17th.

July 10th, 2009 the Ontario Arts Council, in recognition of the merit of the Sense of Placeproject awarded a National & International Touring Project grant to the Windsor Printmaker’s Forum.
November 5, 2009 the Ontario Trillium Foundation approved a grant for the Windsor Printmaker’s Forum to tour the Sense of Place exhibit in Chatham, Sudbury and Thunder Bay. Panel discussions, “the role of place in art and literature” and printmaking workshops conducted by guest artists were be made possible through the grant.

Through the OAC and the Ontario Trillium Foundation the Windsor Printmaker’s Forum and the 36 Sense of Place exhibition artists from across Canada and Michigan have received tremendous exposure via the Provincial and National tour. The Windsor Printmaker’s gratefully acknowledges the generous spirit of special guests Alistair MacLeod, Iain Baxter& and Nino Ricci for their contributions in the Sense of Place catalogue and throughout the tour.


            


Windsor Printmaker’s Forum, founded by local artists in 1987, has established a working space for area artists to create and produce their own original, limited edition prints. As a non-profit arts organization and an artist-run production center, we offer facilities in lithography, intaglio, relief, silkscreen and letterpress printing, giving area artists/printmakers a place to continue their creative development in the fine arts printmaking medium. All content © 2020.