Works: Trujillo and Velasquez + Prints in the Reading Room

Abecedarian Gallery’s commitment to student & emerging artists continues with an exhibit showcasing recent work by Ella Trujillo & Derrick Velasquez. The exhibit opens January 7 and runs through February 6. There will be a reception for the artists’ January 15, 5-pm during Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe Preview Night.

Ella Trujillo is a fine arts student at the University of Colorado at Denver. Her primary medium is painting, with sculptural work a growing interest. She grew up in Colorado, spending most of her childhood in Denver and Pueblo. Raised in a household of artists, Ella has clearly benefitted from years of exposure to both commercial and fine arts. An early understanding of composition and color gives her the freedom to focus on increasing her mastery of painting during her student years.

Derrick Velasquez received his BA in studio art at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2004 and completed his MFA in sculpture from The Ohio State University in 2008. He grew up in Lodi, California, an agricultural staple of Northern/Central California, where he spent many summers working in a fruit cannery. His work is not limited to one skill set, medium or dimension. This results in a body of work that may seem visually and materially inconsistent. Yet when taken as a whole, his interest in structure, functionality, touch, fashion, social and personal interactivity are evident.

In the Reading Room Abecedarian is very pleased to present portfolios by Brian Cohen, Eric Waldemar, Heidi Zednik and Tonia Bonnell.

Cohen is a long time resident of Vermont and founder of Bridge Press, publisher of limited edition artists’ books and etchings. His work is held by major private and public collections throughout the country, including the New York Public Library, The Library of Congress, Harvard, Yale, and Stanford Universities, and the Philadelphia and Portland (Oregon) Museums of Art. On display is Pierrot Lunaire, a suite of 23 etchings housed in a custom built aluminum box. Cohen is currently dean of faculty at The Putney School in southern Vermont.

Eric Waldemar currently lives in Denver and teaches printmaking, film editing, and art history at UC Denver, the Art Students League of Denver, and Denver Art Museum. His portfolio includes a selection of monotypes, collographs and drawings. Also on exhibit will be etchings from Waldemar’s ongoing series based on historic board games. He lives in Denver with his partner, sculptor Rian Kerrane, and their daughter Oonagh.

Heidi Zednik is of dual citizenship (Austria/United States). Her portfolio features unbound selections from the Alphabet of Desire – an extended love poem in the form of an abecedary. The prints are images painted on an open screen with water based acrylic inks, then hand-pulled for each of the four colors, allowing artistic variation within the edition. Also on display some selections from Heidi’s chemex coffee filter series and erotic haiku broadsides. She currently lives in Asheville, North Carolina.

Tonia Bonnell moved to Denver after receiving her MFA in printmaking from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Her carefully constructed images of repetitive marks in which each short, straight line is a ‘particle’ are an attempt to shift the viewer’s focus toward a power that slowly and quietly emerges as seemingly insignificant fragments accumulate. Small scale works from two different series will be on view at Abecedarian.

In January 2009 Abecedarian established a Student Scholarship fund and continues building that fund through the sale of Prudent Prints – priced $100 or less. During the Works exhibit, a variety of Prudent Prints will be for sale – prints as low as $5! Framed prints as low as $10! Proceeds from every print sale during the Works exhibition go to benefit Abecedarian Gallery’s Student Scholarship fund.