Text and image have frequently intersected throughout the history of art and design, for example, during the Pop Art and Concrete Poetry movements and in disciplines such as editorial cartooning and graphic design. A number of contemporary artists associated with Western New York have created work that fuses the visual arts and text in intriguing ways, often using words or letters as much as a visual tool as a conceptual one. This exhibition of prints, paintings, photographs, drawings and sculptures have been selected from the extensive collection of Gerald Mead, a noted Buffalo artist and educator, to demonstrate the range of approaches and techniques that artists have used to explore the interconnectedness of written language and imagery.
A collaboration between the Poetry Collection, the UB Art Galleries, and the School of Architecture and Planning, Discovering James Joyce: The University at Buffalo Collection presents rarely seen items from the James Joyce Collection. Covering the span of his entire artistic life, the Joyce archive in the Poetry Collection is the largest and most distinguished in the world. Discovering James Joyce features a substantial selection of the writer’s notebooks, manuscripts, letters, publications, photographs, family portraits, and other significant Joyceana.
"The printed word is fading rapidly in a society obsessed with the disappearing ink of mediums such as Twitter and Facebook. But on the other side of the spectrum are die-hards who want relief from the cyber world of printing. Actual relief that is"
"With a full complement of printing technology—some of it more than 100 years old—a roster of workshops in printmaking, letterpress printing and bookbinding and a book shop, the center is poised to establish itself as a serious presence on the city’s arts scene. It’s also in a good position to foster collaborations among disparate art groups and bring together the concerns of poetry, literature and the visual arts under one roof."
"Asked what traditional printing adds to art in this day and age, Kegler equates book-making and artisanal printing to the slow food movement: “You could go out to McDonalds and Burger King to get a meal, or you can grow your heirloom tomatoes and have a meal that has seasons of planning behind it. It may not take much longer to consume, but the preparation and what has gone into it has a value to people that is worth something.”
Stop by, smell the ink, become a member, help this fledgling organization soar!
