Famed Printmaker and Art Photographer will Speak at Oberlin College February 26 and 27

OBERLIN, OHIO (February 15, 2008) – Carroll Dunham, one of the most prolific printmakers of his generation, and Laurie Simmons, an internationally recognized artist known for her photographs of ventriloquists' dummies and household objects, will present two public events Tuesday, February 26, and Wednesday, February 27, respectively, at Oberlin College.

Dunham, whose work is on view now through March 23 at Oberlin's Allen Memorial Art Museum, will give a talk about his work at 5:00 pm, February 26, in Classroom 1 of the College's art building. A reception will follow in the Museum's East Gallery. His talk is sponsored by the Ellen Johnson Visiting Artist Fund.   Dunham is also visiting the campus this month to lecture and work with Oberlin College students.

A prolific and inventive draftsman and painter, Dunham combines abstraction, biomorphism and cartooning in a lively and playful way to explore a wide range of images that he adapts to the special demands of the printmaking medium.

The survey exhibition of his work at the Allen documents the artist's engagement with printmaking from the mid-1980s to the present. Dunham's graphic vocabulary is broad and the present exhibition includes lithographs, etchings, wood engravings, screenprints and recent monotypes.

Simmons will screen her 2006 film, The Music of Regret , on February 27, at 7 pm in Hallock Auditorium; a Q & A session will follow.

In The Music of Regret , a mini-musical in three acts, the artist stages photographs and films with paper dolls, finger puppets, ventriloquist dummies and costumed dancers as "living objects," and blends psychological, political and conceptual approaches to art making, transforming photography's propensity to objectify people, especially women, into a sustained critique of the medium.

The 45-minute film extends her photographic practice to performance, incorporating actress Meryl Streep, the Alvin Ailey dancers, cinematographer Ed Lachman and musicians and professional puppeteers.

Both events are free and open to the public. The art building is located at 91 N. Main St. opposite Tappan Square. Hallock Auditorium is in the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies, 122 Elm St. For more information, contact the Allen Memorial Art Museum at 440-775-8665.