In "Leave Traces," the fruits of time off
October 27, 2009
Late Fall Garden 1
Associate Professor Robert Shreefter is back from a year-long sabbatical with a series of new prints made with leaves and grass collected on Cape Cod.
Shreefter has titled his new show at Marran Gallery Leave Traces: Prints from the Outer Cape, a pun on his time off from teaching and a literal description of the way ink in the prints maneuvers around leaves. As fall moved to winter, Shreefter moved from leaves to grasses, effectively chronicling the flora of Cape Cod through the seasons.
Leave Traces is up through Nov. 19. A closing reception will be held Nov. 17 from 4:30 pm - 7:30 pm.
Outer Cape Grasses
Shreefter, who holds an MFA in Painting and Printmaking, teaches in the Creative Arts in Learning Division, said working on Leave Traces helped him reflect on his teaching while enjoying the off-months on the cape.
“I went from late summer through winter,” he said. “The show kind of shows that in terms of how the leaves progressed. Part of the work of the sabbatical was keeping a journal of being an artist to being an art teacher.”
“It’s fantastic,” he added. “It’s a real privilege to get time off. At the same time, being an artist demands this real making of work. It’s the kind of work that only gets accomplished for an artist when they have that kind of time.”