Curatorial Endeavor

Creating demand and driving interest in visual art exhibitions is something that I love to do. The process of understanding why a curator picked a certain artist, theme, perspective is an endeavor I treasure to be a part of over and over again. So, this spring when I decided to take advantage of a little university perk and take a class to feed my brain, it was a bit of leap to select Curatorial Practice as my course of study.

Actually being a curator is a path that I considered and actively abandoned years ago, but I thought this effort might improve my understanding of what makes a curator tick and improve my capacity to support them and tell their stories. To that end, I thought I would share a little about why I selected Joseph Lappie as the artist in the class developed show Like. Comment. Share opening this Saturday, April 28 at American University.

Joseph Lappie is incredibly talented artist based in Davenport, Iowa and currently a professor at St. Ambrose University. But my appreciation for Joseph's talent began long before he garnered global accolades as a printmaker. It began (I think) in the back of Mrs. Walrath's eighth grade class at Broadmoor Junior High School. I have vague recollections of Joseph drawing dinosaurs and other figures while we were in class. We went on to high school and Joseph expanded his talent exponentially as an artist, always having a talent to entertain both on paper and in person. We lost touch as he went onto earn his BFA and MFA, but then images of his MFA Thesis exhibition crossed my path. That was 2008.

For four years, I've recalled the work from time to time as an important departure from the traditional approach to printmaking. The scale, the figures, the sculptural evolution of the print blocks, all represent truly original thinking in printmaking. Stretching the boundary between printmaker and sculptor, the work commands consideration both as a technical achievement and artistic representation.

There is a depth of sadness and inward reflection in many of the figures Lappie illustrates. In his piece There Is Always More Than One When There Is Always Only One (2008) the stature of the figures-- shoulders slumped, faces tightly drawn, conveys a heaviness, a burden that feels isolating even when among a group. The carved surfaces appear deeply marked and worn with life. Lappie speaks of this series as being pieces of himself. An external display of an internal examination of his motives as a human and a man.

Courtesy of the Artist. All rights reserved.

Layered with information, the figures' emotional forms take shape as shadows that shift between changing shapes and text. Lappie seeks to create comfort with discomfort. The more the viewer is willing to interact with the piece the more they will see of the work and perhaps of themselves.


Most compelling is that Lappie's point of view as an artist is as powerful in full scale at over six feet, as it is in a few precious inches in a handmade and bound book or print.

For the installation at American University, there are four of the matrix figures from the piece There is Always More Than One When There is Always Only One, Determination, Predatory, and Fear and Dependence in full sculptural form and three as full size relief prints, Love, Doubt, and Sexuality. Select artist books will also be on view.

There is far more to say, but perhaps it is best to let the work speak for itself. I understand now how a curator can consider and work towards an exhibition idea for years and never grown tired.

Exhibition: Like. Comment. Share.
Location: American University Museum at Katzen
Dates: April 28- May 20, 2012
Hours: Free Daily, Tuesday-Sunday
Exhibition Website: http://www.lcsartshow.com
Twitter: @LCSArtShow
Hashtag: #likeart
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/curatorialpractices