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Artwork created by the Experimental Printmaking Institute (EPI) was recently placed in the permanent collection of the Mount Holyoke Museum, establishing the Tague Collection of African American Fine Art Prints.
These 17 prints by noted African American artists will be on view at the museum and will be made available to the entire campus as a teaching tool. The collection is named for Janet Tague, a former member of Mount Holyoke College’s Board of Trustees and long-time supporter of EPI.
Artists included in the collection are Benny Andrews, Elizabeth Catlett, Melvin Edwards, Emma Amos, Sam Gilliam, Faith Ringgold, William T. Williams, and Curlee Raven Holton, professor and head of art and founding director of EPI. This selection of artists will make a significant cultural contribution to the campus and community and will be a valuable resource for students to learn more about significant African American artists of our time. Additional works will be added to the collection on an ongoing basis.
The Mount Holyoke College Art Museum is one of the oldest teaching museums in the country. It was founded in 1876 and since then, the collections have grown to approximately 14,000 objects ranging from antiquity to the present. Dedicated to providing firsthand experience with works of significant aesthetic and cultural value, the museum develops exhibitions and programs that aim to provide aesthetic enjoyment, stimulate inquisitive looking, and encourage understanding of the artistic achievements represented by a diversity of cultures.
Founded in1996, EPI is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Its mission is to provide a creative environment in which professional artists and students can create work and investigate new experimental approaches to the print medium. EPI has brought many significant artists to the Lafayette campus giving students the rare opportunity to work side-by-side with established artists as they develop and produce original work and assist master artists in the execution of their work. This mentorship role between undergraduate students and master artists makes EPI unique among its peers.
Works created at EPI have also been placed in other important collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Art Gallery, the Allentown Art Museum, the New Jersey State Museum, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the High Museum in Atlanta, Georgia.
Holton is a master printmaker, educator, and lecturer who has received numerous awards and grants for his artwork and research. He earned his bachelor of fine arts degree from the Cleveland Institute of Fine Arts and his masters of fine arts degree from Kent State University. He has taught African American art history and printmaking at Lafayette since 1991.