Bruce Crownover, MFA
As a professional artist and craftsman, it’s been my daily practice to draw and paint whether at home or travelling. Most recently, I have been investigating observable changes in the environment through paintings, prints, and books. The Last Glacier, a well-received book published in 2015, is now part of the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the U.S. Library of Congress, and the New York Public Library. Currently I am working on a book, due out late in 2019, focused on Rocky Mountain National Park. Plans for a third book are underway.
As a master printer, I have collaborated with scores of artists, including Chuck Close, Sean Scully, and Robert Cottingham, to co-direct and develop thousands of successful fine art projects in a variety of print media. I’ve closely mentored hundreds of student employees and volunteers.
Visit my personal website at crownoverart.com.
EXPERIENCE
1987 – 2018 | Assistant Printer and, since 1994, Master Printer, Tandem Press, Madison, WI
From 1987 – 89, I played a significant role in launching this experimental workshop, stretching traditional materials and techniques to create unique, contemporary pieces
I have collaborated with over 100 artists in the past 24 years, creating thousands of fine art prints using a variety of print media from relief (Western and Japanese styles), intaglio, and lithography to paper-making and hand painting (using encaustic, acrylic and water color, fabric dye, tinted shellac)
Tandem’s fine art prints are collected by museums and galleries nationally and internationally in some of the finest collections (see lists below)
I have collaborated with many widely respected artists, including Sam Gilliam, Mickalene Thomas, Jim Dine, Alison Saar
I have closely mentored over 300 student employees and volunteers, many of whom have gone on to successful teaching and/or printmaking careers
1985 – present | Professional Artist (crownoverart.com)
Making art has been a key passion most of my life. Since winning a sandcastle-building contest at the age of 14, I have aspired to create the best art I can.
Spending hundreds of hours plein air painting in such places as Death Valley, the deserts of southern Utah, and Glacier National Park, Montana
Creating reductive technique woodcuts for limited edition prints
General practice of making art every day
2018 – present | Assistant to the Director of Installations and Facilities, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, WI
Building installations and infrastructure to support exhibitions and special events
Appointed by Sam Gilliam as a special exhibit installation consultant for his large-scale fabric artwork in BIG: Large-Scale Artworks from the Permanent Collection.
1990 – 1991 | Ukiyo-e Carving Artist, Cherrywood Press, Keiji Shinohara, Malden, MA, and Cherrywood Press for Garner Tullis & Pace Prints, New York City
Carved wood blocks in the ukiyo-e printmaking style for world-renowned artists including Robert Stackhouse, Chuck Close, and Sean Scully
WORKS IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
The following organizations have collected my personal work. (The work I’ve done at Tandem Press has been collected at organizations listed on Tandem’s website: Tandempress.wisc.edu.)
Davis Museum of Art at Wellesley College, MA
Emery A. Gunnin Architecture Library, Clemson University, SC
Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, Portland, OR
Memorial Library, Special Collections, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY
New York Public Library Print Collection, New York City, NY
United States Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Memorial Library Special Collections
Yale University, Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library, New Haven, CT
Stanford University, Bowes Library, Stanford, CA
EDUCATION
M.F.A., University of Wisconsin, Madison, Printmaking
B.F.A., Utah State University, Logan