Printmaking Exhibition Opens at Mercer Gallery on March 25th
[Garden City, KS] March 23, 2022 -- The Mercer Gallery is pleased to host Making Space, a print exhibition by Juana Estrada Hernandez & Calliandra Marian Hermanson. Making Space is a concept each artist interprets uniquely through different methods of expression
through the printmaking medium. 
Their exhibition, Making Space, will take place in the Mercer Gallery from Friday, March 25th through Friday, April 22nd. A Monotype/Relief Print Zine Workshop will take place throughout the day on Friday, March 25th between the hours of 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM in the Joyce Fine Arts Building in Room 1413. There will be a break for lunch, and Artist Lectures will start at 1 PM across the hall in JOYC 1406. The workshop is free and open to the public participants are encouraged to come early and plan on staying for at least an hour, but visitors are encouraged to come by and watch throughout the day. There will be an opening reception that evening with artists' meet and greet from 5 PM to 6:30 PM on Friday, March 25th.
Juana's work will be featured in the main gallery and comprised of traditional printmaking methods such as lithography and Intaglios. Her work addresses social and political problems surrounding Hispanic migrant communities. Her creative practice stems from her love of drawing, Mexican folklore, Hispanic culture, and her family's migration stories. Calliandra Marian Hermanson's installation-based work will be set up in the back gallery; she is an interdisciplinary artist and educator in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Influenced by a background in anthropology and plant sciences, her work explores human-plant relationships within a framework of western scientific practices. It is inspired by the emerging transdisciplinary field of critical plant studies as it challenges the privileged place of the human about plant life.
The Mercer Gallery is open Monday through Wednesday, from 9 AM to 4 PM, Thursdays from 9 AM to 10 PM, and Fridays from 9 AM until 4 PM.
For information contact Gallery Director Michael Knutson at michael.knutson@gcccks.edu.
About Juana Estrada Hernandez
Juana Estrada Hernandez was born in Luis Moya, Zacatecas, Mexico, and moved to the United States when she was seven years old. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas. She recently completed her Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After graduation, she joined the art faculty at her alma mater of FHSU heading up the printmaking department. Estrada Hernandez is a recipient of the Southern Graphic Council International Graduate Fellowship Award, SITE Scholars Award, Center of Fine Arts Dean Travel Award, UNM Student Conference Award Program, Ralph W. Douglas Endowed Memorial Scholarship, and amongst others. As a printmaking artist, Estrada Hernandez utilizes her experiences growing up in the United State as a young undocumented immigrant to create work that addresses social and political problems surrounding Hispanic migrant communities. Her creative practice stems from her love of drawing, Mexican folklore, Hispanic culture, and her family's migration stories.
Artist Statement:
My artwork deals with social and political problems surrounding the DACA community along with the inherent negative identity stigma of undocumented immigrants. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is an administrative relief from deportation along with providing work permits for those who arrived illegally as minors. I believe that anti-immigrant sentiments prevail in many parts of the country due to a lack of insight on the realities of being labeled an "illegal immigrant". I immigrated to the United States at the age of seven with my family from Zacatecas, Mexico. My early childhood experiences growing up in the United States as a young immigrant served as inspiration for this current work. My art practice stems from my love of drawing, my Hispanic culture, Mexican folklore, and my family's migration stories. My motivation has always been to raise awareness about immigrants and their realities. These prints attempt to emotionally impact people in ways that invoke independent thought and understanding for those that used to live in the shadows.
About Calliandra Marian Hermanson
Calliandra Marian Hermanson is an interdisciplinary artist and educator based in Albuquerque New Mexico. Influenced by a background in anthropology and plant sciences, her work explores human-plant relationships within a framework of western scientific practices and is inspired by the emerging transdisciplinary field of critical plant studies as it challenges the privileged place of the human in relation to plant life. Part reflection on her experiences working in a plant pathology laboratory and part research-based explorations, she uses printmaking along with sculpture, found scientific objects and plant collaborators within a largely installation-based practice to create objects and spaces which subvert the hierarchies present within western science and transform relationships with plant beings from exploitative to empathetic.
--
Garden City Community College exists to produce positive contributors to the economic and social well-being of society.