Milner Library’s first exhibit of the spring 2023 semester highlights the work of Wonsook Kim School of Art students enrolled in ART 305/415: Renaissance and Baroque Printmaking, who spent a semester working with prints from the Milner Library Special Collections Print Teaching Collection. Located on the second floor just inside the library’s main entrance in the Benway Student Art Exhibition Area, Archival Line: Printed Images from 1400 to 1700 is available January 17 through March 15, 2023.
As part of their work in the class, each student conducted research on a designated print, and the entire class learned about exhibit design and curatorial practice. Their collaborative efforts produced this exhibition, which features books and prints that were produced between 1400 and 1700, during a time of rapid technological and artistic transformation. Organized around themes of travel, information, education, and religion, the objects are explored both as works of art and within the context of changing and expanding modes of communication.
“One of the things that I think surprised the students in the course is that even when prints are 500 years old, they’re still familiar,” said Assistant Professor of Art History Saskia Beranek, who developed the class and worked with Milner Library Special Collections Librarian Rebecca Fitzsimmons to create the Print Teaching Collection. “The contextual specifics changed, but the mechanisms of visual and textual information and disinformation haven’t. How often do you get to hold real, tangible pieces of a distant past in your hands, pieces that help you understand the world as it was while also asking questions about what has or hasn’t changed? It was this aspect of prints—along with the ways in which it was directly relevant to our students who are themselves printmakers—that prompted me to approach Rebecca in early 2020 about establishing the Print Teaching Collection.”
Also on display are original artworks by MFA students in the class, which they created in response to some of the prints in the exhibition.
Digital representations of works in the Print Teaching Collection can be viewed online in the Milner Library Digital Collections, and the physical works are available for teaching and research in the Special Collections Reading Room.
All are invited to attend the opening reception on Friday, January 20, 2-4 p.m. in the Benway Student Art Exhibition Area on the second floor of Milner Library.
Please email milnerexhibits@IllinoisState.edu if you need to arrange an accommodation to participate in any events related to this exhibition.
Event Information
What: Archival Line: Printed Images from 1400 to 1700 exhibit
Where: Milner Library, second floor, Benway Student Art Exhibition Area
When: Tuesday, January 17 through Wednesday, March 15, 2023
About Milner Library Exhibits Program
Milner Library’s Exhibits Program provides a platform for campus and community partners to host and present diverse works of art, science, and culture. Milner Library pursues informative, interactive, and educational programs that support the University’s educational mission and reflect our vibrant community. Library exhibits and related events are open to Illinois State students, faculty, staff, and the greater community at no cost. For more information, visit Library.IllinoisState.edu/Exhibits.
