Tutorial Polish ‘Print Sampler’ At Benton Museum

Nina Cochran / Hartford Courant
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Courtesy Susan Powell Fine Art
Larry Preston's oil on canvas "Wild Apples" will be shown at the still life invitational at Susan Powell Fine Art in Madison.
Susan Dunne
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By Susan Dunne | Hartford Courant

PUBLISHED: April 5, 2018 at 7:45 a.m. | UPDATED: January 31, 2019 at 3:57 p.m.

The University of Connecticut and the art academy in Krakow, Poland, have a special relationship. For many years, starting in 1985, when Poland was still behind the Iron Curtain, an unofficial exchange program sprang up among printmakers from both colleges, leading to an exhibit of Polish prints that same year.

“It was an eye-opening exhibition. At that time there was not much stuff from central and eastern Europe on exhibit in this country,” says Gus Mazzocca, a professor emeritus at UConn.

A new exhibit up now at William Benton Museum of Art on the UConn campus in Storrs celebrates that collaboration, with a collection of prints made in Krakow from 1960 to 1990. The exhibit also is instructional, as it focuses on various types of printmaking — mezzotint, woodcut, silkscreen, linocut, etching, aquatint and engraving — and explains how to do them.

Mazzocca, of West Hartford, taught printmaking from 1970 to 2012. Some of the prints in the show, he says, symbolize the everyday realities of living in a Soviet bloc country.

Mieczyslaw Wejman’s etching “The Cyclist” shows a chaotic scene, with a bicyclist having just had an accident, while the business of a factory goes on around him.

“Sometimes when bad things happen, people are paying attention, but sometimes they are going on their way,” Mazzocca says. “The landscape, with its dark, gulag kind of architecture, reflects the communist situation.”

The Benton Museum's exhibit is intended as a tutorial of all different types of printmaking. This work by Krzysztof Wejman is an aquatint. — The Benton Museum’s exhibit is intended as a tutorial of all different types of printmaking. This work by Krzysztof Wejman is an aquatint.

Another piece, a mezzotint by Anna Sobol-Wejman, shows a forested landscape where all the trees are bare of leaves and covered with dangerous-looking spiked branches.

An etching by Stanislaw Wejman called “Red Heart” shows a man putting a pistol to his head.

“He created this knowing that people have committed suicide in their attempts to break away from the stifling censorship,” Mazzocca says.

The political content of the pieces had to be metaphorical, Mazzocca said, if the printmakers wanted an international audience. “All of them have a red state stamp on the back of them. All had to be examined by apparatchiks to let them out of the country,” he says.

“A PRINT SAMPLER: EXPLORE PRINTMAKING TECHNIQUES THROUGH POLISH PRINTS, 1960-1990” is at William Benton Museum of Art, 245 Glenbrook Road on the campus in Storrs, until May 25. benton.uconn.edu.

Larry Preston’s oil on canvas “Wild Apples” will be shown at the still life invitational at Susan Powell Fine Art in Madison.

On Other Walls

The Parisky Gallery at 30 Arbor St. North in Hartford will hold a closing studio sale on April 22 from 1 to 4 p.m., with paintings by Sandy Parisky and photographs by Flora Parisky for sale. Sandy Parisky died in February. In addition to the artwork, studio equipment and a G Fox delivery truck sign will be sold.

Five Points Annex Gallery at 17 Water St. in Torrington presents “Pastels On Sheetrock,” work by Ian Roche, until April 30. Opening reception is April 20 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. fivepointsgallery.org/annex.

“Robert Loebell: Relief Sculpture” is at Silvermine Arts Center, 1037 Silvermine Road in New Canaan, from April 21, opening with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m., until May 19. silverminearts.org.

“In the Thicket,” an exhibit of work by Susan Bogle Finnegan, a solo show by Patty Weise and a group painting exhibit all will open on April 20 at Gallery on the Green, on the town green in Canton. All the shows will run until May 20. The opening reception is April 21 from 6 to 9 p.m. galleryonthegreen.org.

“Circling Lev: The Art and Life of K. Levni Sinanoglu,” a tribute exhibit of work by Sinanoglu’s friends, is at Ely Center of Contemporary Art, 51 Trumbull St. in New Haven, from April 21, when it opens with a reception from 4 to 7 p.m., until May 24. The artists are William Bailey, Gideon Bok, Turner Brooks, Paul Clabby, Denzil Hurley, Clint Jukkala, Joshua Marsh, David Pease, Katy Schneider, Gina Ruggeri, Joel Werring and Pawel Wojtasik. elycenter.org.

A still life invitational will be presented at Susan Powell Fine Art, 679 Boston Post Road in Madison, from April 20, when it opens with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m, until May 28. Artists in the show are Kathy Anderson, Carol Arnold, Julie Beck, Kelly Birkenruth, Dan Brown, Todd Casey, Ken Davies, Grace Devito, Eileen Elder, Vincent Giarrano, Judith Pond Kudlow, Anne McGrory, Jim McVicker, Larry Preston, Cindy Procious, Carlo Russo and George Van Hook. susanpowellfineart.com