Professor / Artist
Why Engraving?
The possibilities and motivations of burin engraving on copper will be discussed from the point of view of practice. Most engravings from the past 500 years presuppose a model in another medium. The nature of this model – drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture, photograph or digital image – determines fundamental characteristics of the ensuing print. The engraver engages in an art of translation by determining and applying the visual language – the lines, curves, dots and dashes formed by the burin– that will provide the most vivid realization of the model through graphic means. This is true whether the engraver interprets a design by another artist or employs original preparatory work. Although the protocols of the burin engraver are often discussed in terms of reproduction, the translation from model into print offers unique opportunities for analysis, interpretation, distillation and enhancement.
Andrew Stein Raftery, N.A. Professor of Printmaking, Rhode Island School of Design
Education: Yale University School of Art, MFA 1988. Boston University College of Fine Arts, BFA 1984
Awards and Honors: Print Council of America, Elected to Membership 2012, National Academy of Design, Elected to Membership 2009, John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship 2008, Louis Comfort Tiffany Award 2003
Selected Public Collections: Addison Gallery of American Art, Baltimore Museum of Art, British Museum, Cleveland Museum, Fogg Art Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, New York Public Library, Princeton University Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, Yale University Art Gallery
Representation: Ryan/Lee Gallery, New York