Research Statement
I have always sought beauty in my work. I reach a sense of satisfaction when moments throughout the work cause the viewer to pause. My background in science makes interdisciplinary investigation innate in my work. As a printmaker, I am drawn to process, exploration, and play. As a designer, discipline and craft are prime. My work is experimental, yet carefully considered and impeccably executed. Working as a printmaker and book artist gives me the opportunity to combine my skills in art and design. My design sensibilities provide the constraints within which I can experiment and play. The designer in me thrives on this restraint while the artist in me is compelled to push the limits of it.
Research Keywords
- letterpress printing
- Typography
- Printmaking
- Mathematics
Creative Research
- Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
Other,
refereed,
in progress
05/2022.
https://www.citedesartsparis.net - Communities: West IV Hockaday Museum of Art • Kalispell, MT Exhibition, scheduled 01/2022.
- Space Maker, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT
Exhibition,
refereed,
completed
12/2021.
http://www.umfa.utah.edu - Communities: West V Portfolio Exchange.
Communities West is a biennial portfolio exchange created with the intention of building community among printmakers living in, or with unyielding ties to, the Western United States.
Other,
in progress
10/2021.
https://www.sukhaworob.com/communities-west-v - College Book Art Association Regional Print Exchange
School of Art & Design • East Carolina University • Greenville, NC
Exhibition,
completed
08/2021.
https://art.ecu.edu - InCahoots Residency
Other,
refereed,
completed
08/2021.
https://incahootsresidency.com - Communities: West IV Holter Museum of Art • Helena, MT Exhibition, in progress 05/2021.
- Communities: West IV Carbon County Arts Guild and Depot Gallery • Red Lodge, MT Exhibition, completed 02/2021.
- CBAA Regional Groups Inaugural Print Exchange: Environment Southwest Group Other, completed 01/2021.
- Ink, Press, Repeat
University Galleries, William Patterson University • Wayne, NJ
Exhibition,
completed
03/2020.
https://www.wpunj.edu/articles/news/2020-01-24/ink... - Bookworks: Specimens from Utah Artists • Utah Cultural Celebration Center, West Valley City, UT
Exhibition,
refereed,
completed
03/2020.
https://www.culturalcelebration.org/visual-arts/bo... - Communities: West IV Utah State University • Logan, UT Exhibition, completed 01/2020.
- Designer for "Oracle Bones." In-progress imprint of the Red Butte Press, in collaboration with poet Terry Tempest Williams and book artist Gaylord Schanilec. Literary Arts, in progress 12/2019.
- Utah Printmakers, 2019 • Gallery at Library Square, Main Library, Salt Lake City, UT
Exhibition,
completed
11/2019.
https://events.slcpl.org/event/3067989 - Communities: West IV University of Utah, SLC, UT (in conjunction with RMPA) Exhibition, completed 10/2019.
- Communities: West IV Imagine Butte Resource Center (IBRC) • Butte, MT Exhibition, completed 08/2019.
- Site Lines: Recent Work by University of Utah Art Faculty, guest curated by Felicia Baca, features more than forty works in a wide variety of mediums from twenty-seven local creators and teachers. This highly anticipated show celebrates local artists and recognizes the talented creators who teach art on the U campus.
Exhibition,
refereed,
completed
01/2019.
https://umfa.utah.edu/site-lines - Designer for "Wig Heaver Than a Boot," a book that brings together photography by David Johnson and poetry by Philip Matthews. Revealing Petal—a drag consciousness as whom Philip manifests to write, and David photographs—the project crosses art-making rituals with isolated performances within domestic spaces and pastoral landscapes. Taken together, the resulting photographs and poems reveal dynamic relationships between author, character, and observer. By articulating a specific creative process in which one identity becomes two, the project in turn opens up a conversation about gender expression through an art-historical lens.
Other,
in progress
09/2018.
https://www.krisgravesprojects.com/store/wigs - 366 Skies, Passages Bookshop, Portland, OR Exhibition, refereed, completed 10/2017.
- Designer for Danielle Dubrasky's "Invisible Shores." Produced at the Red Butte Press and released at the premier of "Valley of Enchantment" by Mark Dal Porto, performed by The Orchestra of Southern Utah on February 23, 2017. Curatorial/Production, completed 02/17/2017.
- Reno Book Arts, Atelier, Truckee, CA Exhibition, refereed, completed 05/2016.
Presentations
- Book Arts: Open for Business. SECAC 2019 • Chattanooga, TN.
The Book Arts Program is located within the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The studio is fully equipped for printing, book production, and publishing with both digital and analog tools and machinery. The Program houses antique letterpress printing presses spanning centuries, a large collection of metal and wood type, and bindery equipment, as well as a large-format digital printer and a Risograph. Semester-length courses in design, printing, binding, and papermaking are available in partnership with the Department of Art and Art History. To the community at large, the Program offers a multitude of short-format workshops taught by guest instructors and Book Arts Program faculty and staff. The Program also offers K–12 outreach programs, educator-oriented workshops, and studio access for those who have completed foundation courses. The Program functions well on its own, but requires partnership with the Department of Art and Art History in order to offer semester-length courses for undergraduate and graduate credit, as the library itself is not a credit-bearing department.
Presentation,
Presented, 10/19/2019.
https://cdn.ymaws.com/secacart.org/resource/resmgr... - Best on a Letterpress: Type, Texture, Trash, and Take-Aways. 5th Rocky Mountain Printmaking Alliance Symposium (RMPA) • Salt Lake City, UT. When using a letterpress, a variety of relief techniques and other distinct modalities are possible. During this hands-on demonstration, a keepsake is produced from a pressure printing matrix, metal type, mounted found objects, and a die-cutting and scoring matrix. Presenters demonstrate the use of presses manufactured between 1846 and the 1960’s, including a Columbian hand press, a Chandler & Price clamshell, and Vandercook cylinder presses.
Co-Presenters: Crane Giamo and Marnie Powers-Torrey.
Presentation,
Presented, 10/10/2019.
https://www.art.utah.edu/studio-art-areas/printmak... - Leather Binding Fundamentals. ARTS:IN/SITE (ARLIS/NA 47th Annual Conference) • Salt Lake City, UT. This workshop focuses on basic leather edge-paring with a knife and fundamental skills for working with paste and leather. Participants also have the opportunity to pare leather scraps on a Scharf-fix and to experiment with blind tooling on a plaquette. All materials are provided and all levels welcome.
Co-Presenter: Emily Tipps.
Presentation,
Presented, 03/30/2019.
http://arlisna.org/saltlakecity2019/program.php - It's 2019. Why print on a letterpress? ARTS:IN/SITE (ARLIS/NA 47th Annual Conference) • Salt Lake City, UT. We'll investigate theory through practice as we enact the legacy of lockups with metal type on the Columbian handpress and found objects on Vandercook cylinder presses. Mixing ink with traditional and experimental techniques, the group will produce a broadside that offers some post-millennial perspective on the power of the platen and the playful potential of the cylinder press. All materials are provided and all levels welcome.
Co-Presenters: Crane Giamo and Marnie Powers-Torrey.
Presentation,
Presented, 03/29/2019.
http://arlisna.org/saltlakecity2019/program.php - ABBE 2017 (Artists Books Brisbane Event), Griffith Centre for Creative Arts Research, Griffith University, Queensland College of Art, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Conference Paper,
Presented, 07/06/2017.
https://www.gccar.com.au/griffith-centre-for-creat... - Willamette University Visiting Artist Lecture Series • Salem, OR. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 09/22/2016.
Publications
- Terry Tempest Williams & Gaylord Schanilec (2020). Oracle Bones. Red Butte Press. Accepted, 01/2020.
- David Johnson & Philip Matthews (2019). Wig Heavier Than a Boot. (pp. 96). Kris Graves Projects.
Published, 10/2019.
https://www.krisgravesprojects.com/store/wigs - David Abel (2017). Selected Durations. Black Rock Press.
Published, 10/2017.
https://vimeo.com/155912258 - Con Christeson (2017). What Is... What If? Confronting and Configuring a Community Arts Practice. Paper Boat Studios. Published, 06/2017.
- Danielle Dubrasky (2017). (In)Visible Shores. Red Butte Press.
Published, 02/2017.
https://www.lib.utah.edu/collections/red-butte-pre...