Visiting Professor Presenting Lecture, Community Card Printing Workshop at Catapult
04/03/2017

Susanna Crum, a visiting assistant professor at Indiana University Southeast and co-founder of Calliope Arts in Louisville, Kentucky, will present a lecture on her art and work, a free community card printing workshop and a pop-up exhibition of her artwork April 6-7. Crum (https://www.susanna-crum.com/) uses print media, photography and video as tools to investigate and interpret the layers of history stored within public spaces, which stand at the intersection of past, present and future. In her artist lecture, 'Constellations,' from 6-7:15 p.m. Thursday, April 6, in the Catapult Creative House classroom, Crum will discuss her research-based projects that combine social artifacts like advertisements, maps and news articles with oral histories and interviews to facilitate new discussions on the ways a place’s social histories – particularly the forgotten, more fragile ones – continue to influence communities today. In her free workshop from 2-4 p.m. on Friday, April 7, at Catapult Press, Crum will work with students to mine antique newspaper printing plates from the University library's archive to create original letterpress-printed cards that explore intersections between seemingly-disparate text and images from different eras of local history.  This workshop is open to students, faculty, staff and community members ages 8 and up. Children under 12 should be accompanied by an adult. Processes like cyanotype, lithography and silkscreen allow her to merge antique and digital technologies, and propose interpretations of place in which past and present are concurrent and vital. She will display a selection of these prints in a pop-up exhibition from 5-9 p.m. on Friday, April 7, during First Friday events. All events are free and open to the public, and they all take place at Catapult Creative House, 612 Broadway in downtown Cape Girardeau. Email Leah Powers at lepowers@semo.edu to register for the workshop or to learn more about any of these events.