Sept – Oct 2024
HISTORIC LOBBY GALLERY
Main Level
Monday – Friday 10am-5pm,
Saturday 10am-2pm
Always Free to Attend. Always Inspiring!
Meet the artists on Friday, October 11 from 4:00 – 7:00 PM in the Conference Room.
(Reception will occur during the Oct. 11th Downtown Art Crawl)
- Invitation to the art reception can be found here (PDF).
About the Exhibition
I would like the audience to understand that one of a kind, hand pulled prints are a medium which can blend nicely with storytelling. An artist is seldom without ideas. I work in more than one medium, but I use art to express, remember, heal, and to confront.
In general, most patrons don’t know how printmaking works. Paula spends a lot of time “teaching” about her favorite art form. There are various forms of printmaking. (I.e. woodcut, linocut, silk screen, monoprints, engraving and etching) The process Paula Decker Benfer prefers is collagraph. It is a more contemporary process. The word means: COLLA or collage, and GRAPH which is a graphic image or art form.
This process is very tedious and can be experimental. Prints will vary a bit, and the materials wear down in the etching press. Usually, Paula only will print six to twelve in a series until she feels the quality is not maintained any longer.
Glues, found papers, textural scraps, fabrics, punched holes, and shapes individually cut are used as “inlay” in Paula’s contour drawings. The “plate” of the collagraph may also be carved. One print can take seventy hours of tiny collage work. Then gesso secures the shapes to the plate so that it may be inked. Inking for one image in the press can take one hour for a monotone color print, or with registered inking in two layers of color, it can take four to five hours of inking. Paula prefers to ink her images, wipe the surface, and leave the ink in the lower textures of the materials. Each texture creates a value of light to dark on the paper. The plate and damp paper roll under pressure in her etching press to create one edition of the print. The print paper is inked and embossed with a relief on the same page.
Prints are created and matted with archival materials. They are framed under glass, unless the artist experiments. Paula likes to collage to make her prints, but sometimes she creates in reverse. That is why she creates shadow boxes or assemblages with her prints. She often combines them with materials which take on symbolic meaning.
In Paula’s “story images” you will see her reflect on her rural upbringing, family, and individual experiences while living in four states. She sees herself as an artist, a teacher, and devoted to her family. Her personality reflects her sense of humor and stubborn defiance. She uses them as tools for social activism. As a female artist, she is a juggler, works on the kitchen table or in a small studio. She is an advocate for the arts, confronts stereotypes, works passionately, and believes the arts are a vehicle which can confront the issues which humanity does not see or solve.
About the Artist
I am a storyteller. I use design elements and symbols to represent my thoughts. I record my rural upbringing. I pepper the work with humor. My attitudes about “women’s work” and social commentary are often prominent in my stories. In retirement I create in my basement studio. While teaching, I created in my classroom with my students, or after the buses pulled out and quiet drifted in the door. At home, sometimes my family had to wait for me to clear the kitchen table, or “studio” before the casserole was placed on the table!
Collagraphs give me permission to “break rules” and approach images by combining materials in an eclectic way. I utilize everything the women in my history taught me about weaving and handwork. I continue to take workshops, read, and explore museums. I like classical pieces, but I am drawn to contemporary works and cultural collections. I like art which makes me think. I am often inspired by new techniques used with traditional mediums. I take my reflections home and I “bend them” to blend with my skills. With collagraphs I start with a collaged plate and work until I have printed images. Sometimes I take the end images and turn them back into new collages! I enjoy the tedious process of collagraphs. They are difficult, experimental, limited, and unpredictable. I prefer the mess of oil-based inks. Collagraphs may be printed as embossments, in relief with inks on top, or intaglio when the ink is pulled up and onto the paper from the low textures. I like the unpredictable nature of the process as much as the outcome. I could never be satisfied with computers, or digital illustration. Nor do I want to paint the image. I need to “get in there.” I am very tactile.
I earned a BA from the University of Northern Iowa and was licensed to teach K to adult. The UNI art faculty nurtured majors to commit to being artists as well as art teachers. I received an MA from the U of I. In my 36 yrs. of teaching in the public schools in four states. I took more coursework every summer, or year of my career. I changed grade levels many times, but modeled being an artist as I instructed my students. My images range from rural life in Iowa, to images of protest and healing. I have a bit of an “attitude,” but you will often see what I am confronting through a humorous lens.
I was one of the first National Board-Certified Teachers in the nation. I have been part of juried exhibitions in seven states. Awards for my art have been at regional exhibitions, in printmaking within the art fair circuits, state fairs, and in two national exhibitions. These accomplishments made me feel confident in saying, “I am an artist.” My university professors would be pleased. But they also would be pleased that I have given a legacy to thousands of students and have advocated for the arts. The arts deserve an equal seat in the curriculum, on par with “the basics.” The arts nourish individuals and humanize cultures. All things can be taught through the “lens” of art.
Download a free copy of the art catalog to see the entire collection currently on exhibit at the Paramount.
Like what you see?
Consider adding a piece to your collection and supporting a Minnesota artist. All the artwork noted
in this catalog that is on exhibit at the Paramount is for sale, unless otherwise noted.
Purchasing the Work
• Bring this catalog to the Gallery Gift Shop located at the Paramount (right side of the
building facing St. Germain Street). Let the cashier know what item you would like to buy.
• If not today, you can also contact the Paramount at 320-259-5463 and purchase it by
providing a credit card over the phone while it is still on exhibit.
Purchase Location: Gallery Gift Shop (Main Level)
HOURS*
Monday – Friday: 10AM – 5PM, and Saturday: 10AM – 2PM
*Open one hour before most performances