Guest Artist in Printmaking Program (GAPP)

GAPP is an annual visiting artist program that takes place in the printmaking studios of the Department of Art and Art History.

The Guest Artist in Printmaking Program (GAPP) began in 1979. The educational goal of GAPP is to take advantage of the inherent collaborative, and more communal nature of printmaking and to use these characteristics as a unique teaching tool. Professional artists, with tremendously varied aesthetic and conceptual philosophies, are invited for brief residencies. During this time, the artists collaborate with faculty and students in the production of limited edition prints. In addition to making prints, the visiting artists present public lectures on their art and give critiques of student artwork.

Artists tend to work in isolation. For the student artist this means that the professional art they experience, either through slide lectures or exhibitions, has already gone through the artists' personal editing processes. Due to GAPP's communal atmosphere, students can observe and interact with an artist while he or she makes all of the complex decisions that are required in making a work of art. The undergraduate students are also able to observe the print faculty and graduate students as they collaborate with the visiting artist.

Besides the personal experiences that students retain for the rest of their lives, there are the prints that exist as well — documents of each collaborative effort. Impressions from every edition, final prints and the many working proofs are archived both in the Blanton Museum permanent collection and the print area teaching archive.

Artist participating and published in the GAPP program include Leonard Lehrer, Karl Wirsum, Garo Antreasian, Bruce Cunningham, Paula Crane, June Wayne, Michael Krueger, Armando Morales, Tom Palmore, Tom Fricano, William Weege, Jane Abrams, Peter Saul, Vernon Fisher, Dan Rizzie, Margaret Prentice, James Surls, Robert Wilson, Melissa Miller, Kenneth Kerslake, Roger Herman, Michael Tracy, John Moore, Carmen Lomas-Garza, Judith Linhearis, Patssi Valdez, John Yau, Don Colley, Jim Nutt, Tom Huck, Louis Jimenez and Karen Kunc.

From its inception, the GAPP has been funded by the generosity of Alfred and Ellen King. In 1983 they established the Alfred and Ellen King Endowment in Printmaking that provides ongoing funding for the program.

Sandra C. Fernández is the Coordinator of the Guest Artist in Printmaking Program (GAPP) and can be reached at the program office via 512-471-0913 or sandrafernandez@mail.utexas.edu.

Fall 2007 Guest Artists

• Drive-By Press
• Michael Wutz
• Tonel
• Jessica Mayer
• Sean Caulfield