PLAINFIELD — Carved by a collective of immigrant artists and printed with a construction roller, a 200-foot-long woodcut depicting the history of U.S. immigration will be showcased at an Art Crawl at Goddard College, July 30 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
The print, entitled “Migration to Chicago,” was created in the 1990s and is believed to be the longest physical print ever made, according to Alexy Lanza, a Honduran artist who immigrated to Chicago and who is currently a student in Goddard’s MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts program.
The print measures 200 feet long and 48 inches wide, the woodcut plates were made of 25 four-by-eight-foot sheets of plywood, and 50 pounds of ink were used with a 3-ton asphalt roller to print it, Lanza said.
“In my opinion, the great historic and aesthetic worth of this monumental print doesn’t rest necessarily in its size but rather in the summation of the different factors in the process of its artistic creation,” said Lanza. He said that the coming together of many members of the Mexican Printmaking Workshop (later renamed the Mestizarte Workshop), and the commemoration of the history of immigration make this artwork worthy of attention.
Lanza first learned of the print’s existence when he joined the artists’ workshop in the mid 1990s. The first exhibition of the print was not well-promoted, Lanza said, and it was stored away for decades. He said he has often thought of trying to revive it, and the Art Crawl provided an excellent opportunity.
The exhibition is free and open to the public. For more information, contact [email protected] or click here.
