North Texas Daily

Christina Ulsh

Contributing Writer

Playaz Doin’ Layerz with Brayerz is a UNT art show that will exhibit the work of six senior printmakers this week in the Cora Stafford Gallery.

Printmakers reproduce their designs by creating and using a matrix – a medium that resembles a stamp. They build a raised design on a surface, such as wood or linoleum, by carving or using one of many other methods to make the matrix.

“Printmaking is an art form where you can get away with more than in something like painting,” studio art senior Payton Lower said.

Painting is considered a more “high-brow” medium, he said. Printmaking has its roots in satire and mass distribution, which are both still employed in various prints today and have postponed printmaking’s recognition as an art form.

Lower said his prints in the exhibit display the “ridiculous things in modern culture” through “social satire.” His print in the show is 3 feet by 5 feet, and took 89 hours to carve.

While he considers this set to be more upfront in meaning, his other prints were created with made-up symbolism to disguise his more personal thoughts and beliefs.

“Everything has purpose without having to bear my soul,” he said.

Another concept evident in the show is “First this, then that,” a portfolio trade between the printmakers. Each senior printmaker, as well as the graduate students in the class, made 13 identical prints. They exchanged their work with everyone involved, studio art senior Jonathan Riecke said.

The community aspect has the greatest appeal to Riecke, who is the president of the Printmaking Association of North Texas Students, or P.A.N.T.S., and will also be presenting his work in the Playaz exhibit.

When something like a painting is made, there is only one product. With printmaking, a design can be printed multiple times and circulated throughout the public, he said.

“It is important for students, just as much as it is for artists, to go to art exhibits and expose themselves to work they might connect with,” said Annette Lawrence, studio art professor and chair, and exhibit attendee.

The College of Visual Arts and Design has three student galleries and one main gallery. The Cora Stafford Gallery is the only one that is not in the art building.

Gallery manager of programming Michael Little oversees more than 90 shows a year – a mixture of MFA, BFA and class exhibitions, he said.

The free exhibition opened Tuesday and continues until Friday.

The gallery is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday at 1110 W. Oak St., and will also be open at 5 p.m. on Thursday to allow viewers to meet the printmakers.