Jerome Early Career Printmakers Exhibition 2024

Artists Mei Lam So, Izzy Shinn, and Gidinatiy Hartman will present a new work created during their residency, including intaglio, relief, and lithographic prints.

Mei, Gidinatiy, and Izzy each investigate identity and personal experience through their distinctive styles of figuration. The work is remarkable, thoughtfully imaginative, and skillfully executed.

Fundamentally, a print is an image transferred from a matrix onto a substrate, and in that sense, much of the work featured in this exhibition employs traditional printmaking techniques. However, this work was not made without risk and discovery – Gidinaitiy learned stone lithography, arguably one of the most challenging printmaking techniques, Mei eschewed the customary copper or zinc plate in favor of a material called Cintra for her series of drypoint prints, and Izzy incorporated intricately cut, colored paper additions into their intaglio prints.

About the Artists:

Mei Lam So

Mei is excited to share a new series of work that represents a directional change in both style and technique. While drypoint is not new to Mei, this series she presents utilizes a different material as the matrix. By incorporating monotype layers into the background, Mei’s work features a dynamic application of color, directing the viewer’s attention throughout the print. Mei will also showcase lithography, ceramics, and a print installation in the exhibition. Mei says the residency, especially the past few months, “have gone by fast. I’ve gained valuable feedback from co-op members through community critiques and short catch-ups in the studio and have incorporated them into my practice.”

Mei Lam So (she/her) is a Minneapolis-based visual artist whose practice includes printmaking, textile printing, and ceramics. She received her MFA in Printmaking and Ceramics from the University of Iowa and her BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Originally from Hong Kong, Mei examines the acculturation process of bicultural Asian immigrants, covering topics such as memory, identity, separation, and time.

Izzy Shinn

Izzy has been busy finishing prints while simultaneously fleshing out the concepts behind their work. Izzy said that throughout the residency, they often found themself occupied with ideating, planning, and potential, “I've been keeping to what I know concerning printing technique and processes, but utilizing that knowledge to the best of my ability, especially amongst such amazing resources and community found at Highpoint."

Izzy Shinn (they/he/she) is a butch Twin Cities-based printmaker and comic artist specializing in intaglio etching and ink illustration, having earned their BFA from the University of Minnesota. With a focus on butchness, lesbian life, and history, their work is tied intimately with themself and their own experiences, showcased through characters and archetypes, exploring the sexual and social stigmatization of women, the body, and the queer subject.

Gidinatiy Hartman

Gidinatiy will be presenting multi-block color relief prints that depict words from Deg Xinag (their Native language), including images from an ongoing series of “bug prints”. In another work, Gidinatiy recreates the visual effect of Athabascan beadwork by meticulously carving hundreds upon hundreds of individual dots onto a linoleum block. The effect is incredible, and it needs to be seen firsthand.

Gidinatiy Hartman (they/them) has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in printmaking from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Their artwork creates visual representations of Deg Xinag and other Native languages. It is centered around a desire to reclaim their family’s Athabascan language, which was taken from them due to colonization. United by a sense of whimsy and wordplay, their art seeks to make it easier for people to learn Deg Xinag and other Native languages. They aspire to have multiple modes of representation, including visual art, making language revitalization more accessible to people.

Gallery Hours:

Monday-Friday 9 AM - 5 PM
Saturday 12 PM - 4 PM
When exhibitions are on display

Image: (Detail) Mei Lam So, Back and Forth, Twice a Day, Drypoint, lithography, watercolor