SUNY New Paltz Printmaking

Spray Paint and Street Altars: The Complex Installations of Brett Cook-Dizney

Influenced by aspects of zoology, graffiti, community art, education and fine art, Artist and teacher Brett Cook Dizney spray paints his way into the world of elitism, racism, homeless Americans, and portraiture, in galleries and public spaces across the nation. Cook-Dizney is best known for his large, complex installations inspired by graffiti, which incorporate drawings, words, photographs, and personal objects with portraiture. Much of his work is politically and socially charged, as well as celebratory. His portraits of famous African-American individuals including Ida B.Wells, John Coltrane, Angela Davis, Toni Morrison and many more, become altars or open street stalls, overflowing with books, plants, portraits, and other objects associated with each cultural icon. A more personal iconographic figure present in his work is “grandma” – a matriarchal figure surrounded by medications, a girdle, vitamins, therapeutic shoes, jewelry, and needlepoint – an inventory of objects and a document of attitudes suggestive of grandmothers in African American life. With a desire to expose his work to a larger audience, Cook-Dizney creates works in high-traffic public spaces like construction site fences, and abandoned buildings in Harlem and Brooklyn. Armed with spray enamel, he paints socio/political images on visible surfaces in an effort to provoke dialogue. In another aspect of his work, Cook-Dizney provides a voice for community residents through social collaborations installed in neighborhoods where participants live. In public spaces, he and his collaborators bring art to a wide audience that does not always frequent museums and galleries. His partnership with some Harlem residents produced 10 Development/Gentrification installations. “It’s about giving people a voice, empowering marginalized communities," explains the artist. Brett Cook-Dizney received a B.A. in art from the University of California at Berkley. He has been exhibiting his work at museums and galleries since 1991. His public projects have been executed in cities from California to Maine, and internationally in Brazil, and Barbados. Some have been commissioned by museums or public agencies while others have been self-initiated interventions on abandoned spaces. He has received a number of awards including several grants from ArtMatters, and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, as well as residencies at Skowhegan School and the Studio Museum in Harlem. He is represented by PPOW Gallery.

Rimer Cardillo, professor and chair of the printmaking program at the State University of New York at New Paltz, was recently awarded the State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Excellence for Scholarship and Creative Activities.

Cardillo is a printmaker who, during the past 25 years, has developed a diverse and multi-media practice that also includes sculptures, ceramics and installations. Very focused and deeply informed about the pressures facing indigenous peoples, cultures and environments in Latin and South America, he has conducted a number of research trips to the Brazilian rain forest and other endangered and compromised sites to study possible subjects.

Cardillo, who arrived at New Paltz in 1993, received his master's degree from Uruguay's National School of Fine Arts in Montevideo, and spent two years studying in East Germany at the Weissenssee School of Art and Architecture in Berlin and at the School of Printmaking and Art of the Book in Leipzig. In 1997, he was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. Cardillo has had numerous national and international exhibitions, and was selected to represent Uruguay at the 2001 Venice Biennial.

"The Chancellor's Awards for Excellence in full-time librarianship, professional service and teaching provide much-deserved university-wide recognition of extraordinary professional achievement," said SUNY Chancellor John R. Ryan. "I commend this year's recipients and the campus presidents, faculty and staff who aid and support them in their success throughout the school year."

Cardillo, who was also a recipient of the 2006 State University of New York Research Foundation Research and Scholarship Award in April, will be recognized for his Chancellor's Award for Excellence this Sunday at the May 21 Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony.

Dennis O’Neil, an innovative, inspiring artist from Alexandria, VA and founder of Handprint Workshop International presented a cutting-edge silkscreen workshop in the SUNY Printmaking Department in December 2005.

Visiting Artist Denis O'NeilHe showed students how to create topographical prints upon which they could use painterly techniques applying a mixture of cold wax and oil paint. This technique incorporates photography, printmaking, oil painting and wax.

Print Curator of the Library of Congress, Katherine Blood says, “O’Neil is renowned for his pioneering work in screenprinting, a technique he and his artists have pushed light years beyond traditional boundaries.”

The Nomadic Work of Matilde Marin


Traveling from one country to another, from one culture to another, from a technique to another is central in the life of Argentine artist Matilde Marín. Printmaker, sculptor, and photographer - Matilde Marin has been invited to give a presentation on her work on Wednesday, November 9, 2005, at 7:30 p.m., in Lecture Center 102, at the State University of New York at New Paltz.

Trained as a sculptor, Marín has worked for many years as a printmaker, and more recently she has incorporated photography, video, and digital imagery into her work.

Her work ranges from obscure portraits to recollections and hand games. In Itineraries, an assemblage of photographs documenting the artist's shadow over the course of several years, in different locations throughout the world, her shadow appears in areas of photographs revealing relevant
elements from places she visited. These "portraits" or personal markings serve as a diary of her journeys. The work speaks of a nomadic life, and the photographs constitute a travel journal that's both visual and personal.

Other projects include First Games, where hands are portrayed and intervened with the artist's drawings, appearing to contain traces of hopscotch lines or a field for a game whose rules only Marín is familiar with.

Marin's projects have been exhibited at The Bronx Museum of Arts in NYC; the Museum of Contemporary Art, and Museum of Fine Arts both in Brazil; Museum of Fine Art in Chile, National Library of Mexico City, Museum of Contemporary Art in Venezuela amongst others.

As a guest of the Art Lecture Series, Argentinean artist, printmaker, and scholar Alicia Candiani, presented her work at SUNY New Paltz in March 2005. In her work she uses digital and printmaking media to explore female identity and issues of gender, while investigating and commenting upon the political and social issues in Latin America.

Candiani's work has been shown internationally in over 300 group and one-person exhibitions since 1977, and has won prestigious awards from International Biennials in India, Russia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Puerto Rico, Japan and Spain as well as in her native country. Her scholarships include residencies at the University of Boston, University of Wyoming, as well as institutions in Canada and Belgium. Her work can be found in private and public collections in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Candiani has also introduced numerous ideas to the field of graphic arts through her participation in conferences, teaching and lecturing widely on various aspects of art, printmaking and digital media. She has been invited as a visiting professor at numerous institutions throughout the world.

Alicia Candiani's presentation was sponsored by the Student Art Alliance, a member of the SUNY Student Association.

Lynne Allen's work combines diverse materials and techniques to create objects, artist's books, two-dimensional works, and installations. Inspired by her heritage, she explores specifically Native Americans.

Ms. Allen has exhibited widely, nationally and internationally, and has works in several prominent permanent collections including the Whitney Museum of American art in New York, and the library of congress in Washington, DC. She is a professor of art at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers, and Director of the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper.

Lynne presented a lecture on her work to the SUNY New Paltz Printmaking Department in April of 2004.