Published on July 7, 2022 by Ashley Smith  
Good on Paper

The Samford Art Gallery will feature a summer exhibit, Good on Paper, running July 14-Sept. 8. The show will include prints by Liz Chalfin and Noah Breuer.  An opening reception will take place from 5-8 p.m. on July 14. Chalfin will host an artist talk on July 15 at 6 p.m. and Breuer’s talk will be July 16 at 6 p.m. The Art Gallery is located at 153 Swearingen Hall and open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Liz Chalfin is founding director of Zea Mays Printmaking, a professional printmaking studio, located in western Massachusetts. Since its founding in 2000, ZMP’s mission has been to provide a space and community to learn, create and promote prints made with the safest processes available. Zea Mays Printmaking collaborates with artists, studios and schools around the world to share innovations in non-toxic and sustainable printmaking.

Noah Breuer is an American artist originally from Berkeley, California. His creative work examines themes of family, identity, labor and diaspora. Breuer holds a BFA in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design, an MFA from Columbia University and a graduate research certificate in traditional woodblock printmaking and paper-making from Kyoto Seika University in Japan.

Chalfin and Breuer will each be leading workshops at PaperWorkers Local as part of the inaugural Alabama Printmaking Conference.

Hosted by Samford’s Department of Art and Design and sponsored by the Alabama Visual Arts Network, this exhibit has been made possible by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

“As Gallery Director, I am particularly excited by this opportunity to be joining forces with two local arts organizations (PaperWorkers Local and the Alabama Visual Arts Network) to bring this exhibition to both our campus and the wider Birmingham community. This is just one of a number of exciting collaborations we have on the horizon for our gallery programming in the seasons ahead,” said Lauren Evans, assistant professor of art. 

PaperWorkers Local is a non-profit artists' co-operative established the summer of 2013 in Birmingham, Alabama, actively working to promote the understanding and appreciation of art as well as to create opportunities for artists in and near Birmingham, and beyond.

The Alabama Visual Arts Network is a 501c3 nonprofit organization working to cultivate understanding, awareness and appreciation of visual art and the role it plays in the economic vitality and quality of life of every Alabamian, and as an important cultural and community resource.

The Art Gallery’s next exhibit, I, Too, am Thornton Dial, September 15 - December 2, 2022, will share works by one of Alabama’s most critically acclaimed artists, Thornton Dial Sr. (1928-2016). Samford University is partnering  with the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts at UAB and the Wiregrass Museum to present the first Alabama solo exhibition for the late Thornton Dial Sr. Curated by Paul Barrett, the presentation at Samford focuses on Dial's works on paper. Although works on paper are sometimes dismissed, this exhibition makes the case that Dial's drawings are as significant to his practice as his monumental assemblages, and powerful in their own right. Drawing on loans from the Dial family, and public and private collections, with many works never before exhibited or published.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 5,791 students from 49 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.