'The Big Print Show' Runs Until April 3

Old Dominion University will host "The Big Print Show," a gallery of large-scale artwork, at the Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries from now until April 3. The exhibition features the work of four members of a group of experimental artists who call themselves "outlaw printmakers."

In the exhibition, Mike Houston and Martin Mazorra, co-founders of Cannonball Press, along with Dennis McNett of Wolfbat Studio and ODU graduate Sean Star Wars Stewart, showcase a variety of works. Many of them stand more than 20 feet tall and include woodcut prints, collaged installations and three-dimensional constructions.

For Clay McGlamory, ODU professor of art and curator of the show, the works featured represent a new era of art in the form of printmaking. "These works indicate the direction that printmaking is headed and the power of the art created," he said. "Together these artists have embarked on a mission to redefine printmaking through their collaborative 'woodcutology.'"

Of the four artists, Stewart has the deepest connection to Old Dominion. After earning a B.F.A. degree from ODU in 1996, he received an M.A. in printmaking from Louisiana State University and a certificate in design from Savannah College of Art and Design. A native of Laurel, Miss., Stewart travels and exhibits his work extensively throughout the country in solo and group shows. A native of Virginia Beach, McNett has been carving surly block prints for more than two decades. He currently lives in New York and specializes in unique hand-carved woodcut pieces.

Houston and Mazorra have been producing high-quality relief cuts and prints under the banner Cannonball Press for more than a decade. This group creates a wide variety of work but is best known for its massive, collaborative 2-D and 3-D collaged woodcuts. These enormous sculptures include a 13-foot donkey basketball woodcut equestrian statue, a 14-foot yeti and a 60-foot "parade snake" made of more than 100 woodcut scales.

The exhibition is free and open to the public. The Gordon Galleries, located at 4509 Monarch Way, between 45th and 46th streets, are open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. For more information call 757-683-6271 or visit http://al.odu.edu/art/gallery/index.php.

For more information contact McGlamory at jmcglamo@odu.edu.