Imprint

On Display August 21 – September 25

Opening Reception was August 21st from 5:30 –7 PM @ MD Hall

Work on Display   Artists on Display   Watch The Virtual Awards Ceremony

Introducing Imprint

Printmaking is a dynamic and versatile form of artistic expression that bridges tradition and innovation. It allows artists to explore repetition, texture, and process while communicating powerful ideas and imagery. Through various techniques, printmakers harness the potential of line, form, and surface to captivate the viewer’s eye and convey meaning.

From the bold woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer to the experimental screen prints of Andy Warhol, printmaking has a storied history of pushing visual boundaries. Japanese ukiyo-e prints, with their refined linework and layered colors, influenced generations of Western artists. The etchings of Rembrandt revealed how deeply expressive a printed line could be, while the modern era saw artists using lithography and intaglio to blur the lines between fine art and reproduction. Today, contemporary artists continue to expand the definition of printmaking—combining analog and digital techniques, incorporating found materials, and challenging the notions of old.

The process-driven nature of printmaking invites exploration and innovation, making it a rich medium for storytelling, experimentation, and reimagining visual language. We invite artists working in traditional, contemporary, or hybrid forms of printmaking to submit works that demonstrate the transformative potential of this enduring art form.

Any original 2D and 3D artwork in any media will be considered. Works selected by the juror will be exhibited in Maryland Hall’s Earl Gallery from August 21 – September 25.

Click this icon to view and print the downloadable prospectus.

Juror: Keiji Shinohara: Master Printmaker of Woodblock Printing and Professor of Sumi-e Printing at Wesleyan University

Keiji Shinohara was born and raised in Osaka, Japan. After 10 years as an apprentice to the renowned Keiichiro Uesugi in Kyoto, he became a Master Printmaker and moved to the United States. Shinohara’s nature-based abstractions are printed on handmade kozo paper using water-based pigment onto woodblocks in the ukiyo-e style–the traditional Japanese printmaking method dating to 600 CE. Though Shinohara employs ancient methods in creating his woodblock prints, he also diverges from tradition by experimenting with ink application and different materials to add texture to his prints. He personally executes all the steps involved in the printmaking process, from carving the woodblock to printing by hand. Elegantly understated, these works are a fusion of Japanese aesthetic and Western modernism.

Keiji Shinohara has been teaching 25 years at Wesleyan University in Middletown Connecticut and has been a visiting artist nationally and internationally over 100 venues and 40 solo show including DFN Gallery, New York, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts, and Fresno Art Museum. He has received grants from the Japan Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts and his work is in many public collections, including the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Library of Congress. He has given lectures at the Los Angeles County Museum Los Angeles, CA, Museum of Fine Art Boston, MA, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Juror’s Statement

I was delighted to serve as the juror for the ImPrint 2025 Exhibition at the Earl Gallery, Maryland Federation of Art. To all the artists who submitted their work; thank you for the opportunity to view so many distinctive pieces.
It was wonderful to see not only the traditional printmaking techniques, but to witness the employment of innovative processes and diverse ways of working and creating like mixed media, book arts or photo processes. It was surprising to see a wide range of subject matter driving the artwork, and narrative story-like images seem to still be a big influence on image making today.
To the selected artists, congratulations. As an artist who works with printmaking and who has been teaching for more than 40 years, I was keen to discover what others are doing with this versatile medium that is Printmaking. After careful consideration, I ultimately chose works that manipulated the material and that worked with the technique in more depth and beyond the substrate. I also focused on the qualities in the prints that revealed the hand of the artist in the making.
While this curatorial decision framed the selected works for the show, it is also my pleasure to announce the 4 top awards:
1) “Dreaming Venice 2” stood out not only for this piece but because all the submitted works were technically brilliantly executed
2) “Taking the forest cure” is a very complex image made using various techniques, promisingly executed
3) “Self-Portrait” is a wonderful and elegant piece, with a reminiscence of the delicate dynamic of the Art-Nouveau movement
4) “Wandering gardener” stands out because its narrative is strong and well crafted.

Awards

Awards designated by the juror total $1,000.

Juror’s Choice

• Dreaming of Venice II by Victoria Goro-Rapoport
• Taking the Forest Cure by Emily Shepardson
• Self-portrait with Zucchini & Oak Leaves by Stacy Allen
• Wandering Gardener by Henryk Fantazos

Honorable Mention

• Cooper in Crabgrass: Umber Phase by Chris Mona
• Memories of E 96th Street by Lyn Laviana
• Faith, the Flag is Still Bleeding by Michael Farmer
• Crystalline Light by William Hays

Notification

All entrants will receive notification by email. Accepted artists will also be posted on MFA’s website. Artists who have unsubscribed from MFA emails will not receive notification. The notice to accepted artists will include specific details and could vary from the prospectus. Please set your email account to recognize amani@mdfedart.org and info@mdfedart.org. Contact Circle Gallery if you do not receive notice by 6 PM on the day of notification.