Welcome to the Qijiang International Print Festival 2009
CHONGQING ARTISTS' ASSOCIATION
in Qijiang, South West China, is pleased to announce an International Print Exhibition 2009 as part of the 2nd Qijiang International Print Festival. The festival encompasses other print shows including a children's print exhibition and the Qijiang Farmer's print institute exhibition.
THE FESTIVAL DATES
27th-30th October 2009
CONTENT
Includes a show of over 100 Chinese and International prints in the Qijiang Farmers’ Printmaking Institute Exhibition Hall.
The show will then tour to the Chongqing Academy of Fine Arts and the South West University in Chengdu.
Extensive media coverage and a variety of performances are planned for the opening event (click here for pictures of the first festival in 2006).A full catalogue of all successful works will be published in conjunction with this event.
HOSTED BY
Chongqing Cultural Bureau, Chongqing Artist’s Association, Qijiang County Government, Sichuan Province, China.重庆江北区观音桥建新西路4号拓展大厦26楼重庆文联内重庆美术家协会 李毅力收 (0020
Telephone +86 137 0836 4323
VENUE
Qijiang Farmer’s Printmaking Institute Exhibition Hall, north of Jiulong Square, Qijiang Xincheng District, Qijiang, Chongqing, China.
CONTACT
chinaprintfestival@gmail.com
INTERNATIONAL COORDINATORS
Wuon-Gean Ho and Weimin He (何文津 ＆ 何 为民）
CHINESE COORDINATOR
Yili Li
Submission Criteria
1) Works must be created after 1990 and not have been shown in China before.
2) The main emphasis will be on works which have been made with traditional printmaking methods such as etching, relief, lithography or silkscreen. Solely digital images will not be accepted but mixed media will be considered.
3) Work should be in 2D format as it will be framed by the festival organisers. Maximum paper size is 1m by 70 cm.
4) Please submit up to 3 images in jpeg format (less than 2MB per file please) to chinaprintfestival@gmail.com with title, medium, year of creation, size and price if for sale
5) BEFORE 30th June 2009!!!
6) Also please include a CV/ resume.
Please note that only 15% commission will be taken on sales, as the organisers hope this will help keep the print costs low to encourage local interest.Successful works will need to be shipped unframed and unmatted (unmounted) to China at the artist’s cost to arrive by the 31st July. The address will be posted here shortly.Return shipping costs will be bourne by the Chongqing Artists’ Association.
7) There is no fee to submit work.
Notes on the Selection
Chinese printmaking over recent years has gradually achieved international recognition. Chinese curators are looking outside of their country and beginning to host international shows. Qijiang is located in a relatively unknown region in southwest China, but in fact has been a centre of printmaking for many years, with a local Farmers’ Printmaking Movement. The 2nd International Print Exhibition in 2009 is marking a trend towards China playing an important role in the contemporary printmaking arena.
It was a surprise to be called in at a relatively late hour to help with curating the 2nd Qijiang International Print Exhibition, but I was pleased and privileged to be involved in the project. I was invited by Li Yili, general secretary of Chongqing Artists Association located in China, to join Weimin He, co-curator, artist and author based in Oxford, UK.
At first we thought about gathering work from printmakers who we knew, or perhaps asking print workshops with which we had a personal connection to submit work, but soon realised that this would not have fulfilled the objective of an international show. As many artists now have computer access, and are familiar with processing their images in digital format, we decided to run a solely digital selection process, with a very short two weeks between the call for entries and the deadline date.
The call for entries was greatly aided by the internet- allowing the email to fly around the world at an incredible speed, and a dedicated website was soon created to deal with publicity and to provide details. We were fortunate to have friends with extensive address lists, in particular Brian Lane from Print Zero Studios in Seattle, who contacted around 10 key institutions in the US, perhaps explaining the strength and numbers of the north American printmaking cohort. Cara Forrler of the Davidson Gallery, Tamla Mah of Art Beatus, and Brenda Hartill of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers also helped spread the word.
The standard of submissions was higher than we had expected, with many technically excellent and ambitious works. We decided to choose a greater number of prints, rather than concentrating on a few artists, in order to showcase the diversity and talent in contemporary printmaking. While we hope we chose a good balance, there was also a portion of compelling prints that was unfortunately rejected.
Again, use of the internet made it possible to establish quick and easy communication between London, Oxford and Chongqing. It was a pleasure to work with the Chongqing Artist’s Association, whose generosity and enthusiasm for the project has been inspiring. In particular it has been great to connect with Li Yili, who is a celebrated Chinese printmaker and who has made Qijiang a well known centre for folk printmaking. Being involved in this show has really opened my eyes to the sheer range and beauty of creative expression in printmaking today.
Wuon-Gean Ho
Co-Curator of the 2nd Qijiang International Print Exhibition