Iloilo museum showcases works of women printmakers 

The Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Arts (ILOMOCA) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) are feting women achievers in three exhibits on printmaking, dubbed “Proven and Printed: ILOMOCA Print Festival 2023,” coinciding with the celebration of the National Museums and Galleries Month, according to a report by Philippine News Agency.

Maricel Montero, museum director, said women play big roles in cultivating the art form of printmaking.

She said they would like ILOMOCA, the first museum dedicated to the modern and contemporary art of Visayas and Mindanao, to become a hub for the unique art form of printmaking to thrive.

“This is our way of letting the public become familiar with printmaking and how Filipina printmakers have been helping shape and grow this art form in the country,” she said at the exhibit opening on Friday night.

CCP artistic director Dennis Marasigan said in his message that he is particularly proud of the exhibits’ focus on women printmakers as he also chairs the CCP Gender and Development Committee.

He said many women printmakers contribute to the development of the art form.

“In this exhibit, we focus on the involvement and contribution of women printmakers in the founding of the Association of Pinoy Printmakers and how their artistic sensibilities deepen the appreciation of art form,” he said.

The New York City-based Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) describes printmaking as the artistic process of transferring images from a matrix (wood, metal, or glass) onto another surface, most often paper or fabric.

“Traditional printmaking techniques include woodcut, etching, engraving, and lithography, while modern artists have expanded available techniques to include screen printing. The resulting print is often the mirror image of the original design on the matrix. One of the great benefits of printmaking (save for monotype) is that multiple impressions of the same design can be printed from a single matrix,” the MET explained.

The first exhibit “Potential, Potency, and Women Printmakers” will run until March 2024. It features a selection of prints from the CCP’s 21st Century Art Museum (21AM) collection of female artists, curated and organized by Con Cabrera of the CCP Visual Arts and Museum Division.

The second exhibit “Bakas/Filipina Imprints” at the Hulot Gallery will be until January 2024, with Marika Constantino and Georgina Luisa Jocson as curators, while “Print Exchange” curated by Angela Silva will run until December this year.

Marasigan said the CCP is overwhelmed with the opportunity provided by the ILOMOCA to make the art form more accessible.

“We are moving beyond the CCP Complex and expanding throughout the country, and with this partnership with ILOMOCA, we are able to make our collections accessible to more people,” he said.