Catherine Kernan
Each year, the Flint Print Club commissions an artist to produce a print to augment both the FIA’s collection and the pursuit of personal collecting. The Club is limited to 100 members in good standing at the Family level or above. Flint Print Club dues are $250.00 annually, which provide each participating member with a selected print and related programs.
The FIA was pleased to work with Catherine Kernan for the 2017 commissioned print — the club’s first-ever relief print in its 11-year history. As an experienced and dedicated teacher of printmaking for over 30 years, Kernan exemplifies the club’s mission of educating the general public about prints and printmaking. She is a nationally recognized advocate and practitioner of non-toxic printing technologies and uses environmentally friendly soy-based inks as opposed to conventional petroleum-based inks.
Her prints are inspired by patterns, rhythms, and reflections found in the natural world, specifically the juxtaposition of water and rock. “Working at the interface between printmaking and painting, I use large-scale woodblocks in unorthodox ways as a transfer tool to build images layer-by-layer in a painterly process of controlled accident. No longer a purist, I exploit any available tool or means to transfer color and form to surface. Interruption and interference with the ‘perfect transfer’ are integral to the process.”
Kernan received her BFA from the prestigious Cooper Union in New York City and her MFA from the University of Wisconsin/Madison. The recipient of numerous grants, she has exhibited her work widely and it is held in many public, private, and corporate collections across the United States.
You can learn more about the artist and her work on her website at catherinekernan.com.
For more information about joining the Flint Print Club, please contact Valarie Allen at 810.234.1695 or via email at vallen@flintarts.org.
Catherine Kernan, American, b. 1948. Tracking Changes, 2017. Woodcut on paper, 16 x 10 inches
In 2007, the Flint Institute of Arts established the Flint Print Club. Its mission is to develop connoisseurship among its members and educate the general public about prints, printmaking and print collecting through its semi-annual Print Fair and annual print edition. The Club is limited to 100 members, so the edition is always limited to 100 signed and numbered impressions. Over the past decade, the FIA has been fortunate to work with a slate of internationally recognized artists: Janet Fish, Richard Bosman, Gladys Nilsson, Mary Lee Bendolph, Marylyn Dintenfass, Sidney Hurwitz, Hunt Slonem, April Gornik, and Karsten Creightney.
Three of the past nine years saw all 100 memberships purchased, but the other six years still have prints available. To distribute the outstanding inventory of past commissioned prints, remaining editions are available for purchase at $500 for current Print Club members and $600 for non-members. There are a limited number of prints for each of these editions and these will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last.
To inquire about available prints, please contact Cory Potter of the FIA Museum Shop at 810.237.7329.
 Richard Bosman American, b. India, 1944 Faster Runner, 2008 Lithograph on paper 24 x 18 inches |  Karsten Creightney American, b. 1976 Halftone Flower, 2015 Lithograph on paper 18 x 12 1/2 inches |  April Gornik American, b. 1953 Forest Light, 2014 Lithograph on paper 20 x 27 inches |
 Marylyn Dintenfass American, b. 1943 Billy’s Best Sting Ray, 2011 Ultra violet etching on paper 22 x 30 inches |  Sidney Hurwitz |  Gladys Nilsson American, b. 1940 Ragatta, 2009 Lithograph on paper 18 x 23 inches |
