You Won't Believe Your Eyes: 23rd Annual Printmaking Portfolio, 2008, Corcoran College of Art + Design

Students interested in participating in the annual portfolio met in the early fall 2007, as they do each year, to choose a theme and decide on the particulars of the project. Both Bachelor of Fine Arts and Continuing Education students participated, as well as faculty and guest artists. This year’s theme, You Won’t Believe Your Eyes, speaks to the increasing difficulty of trusting what we see; it is no longer true that seeing is believing. Past themes have often reflected current events, such as the portfolio Contents Under Pressure, which followed the Mapplethorpe controversy at the Corcoran in 1989. The 1999 end-of-the-century portfolio was named Damnation, and after September 11, the portfolio’s theme was Fear, Fate & Faith. This portfolio was collected by the Library of Congress. Every year since its inception in 1985, the portfolio has been collected by the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Many of the past years’ portfolios have been purchased for both private and public collections as well.

Thirty-one students and faculty participated in the project this year. They were involved in all aspects of the production of the portfolio, including editioning of individual artworks as well as design of the title sheet, portfolio case, and invitation. Prints reflecting the many printmaking media taught at the Corcoran are represented, including lithographs, etchings, screenprints, letterpress, papermaking, relief, and digital prints. Students worked with individual faculty members to insure that the project maintained the high level of quality for which it has been known over the years.

This year marks the 23rd annual print portfolio produced by the Printmaking Department at the Corcoran College of Art + Design. It was previously on view at Civilian Art Projects at 406 7th Street NW.