The Poverty Alleviation Projects of the Artist Proof Studio'' in Pollack Auditorium at Brandeis. The 4 p.m. talk is in conjunction with a show of five mural-sized linocut prints by Artist Proof members who address social issues that range from xenophobia to prostitution. The original Cambridge studio may have folded after just four years, a victim of the rising real estate market and gentrification that still spell displacement for Boston artists. But the three others, all founded in the 1980s, are alive and well. All four studios were founded by women, who have played more of a role in printmaking than in other media.
Printmaking is a more social art form than most.
Typically, printmakers share studios, because the equipment costs are too high to go it alone. That means agreeing on everything from scheduling equipment use to choosing what background music to play. Artist's Proof was born at a time when the art world was highly politicized, still smarting from the Vietnam War and student riots. Artists were breaking away from traditional techniques, mixing media, experimenting. Printmaking saw the breaking down of a rather prissy ranking that had placed monotype at the bottom because conservatives felt the unique print barely qualified as a print at all.