Compassionate Eye: The Art of Frances Myers

Henry Street Gallery: Extended through Nov. 7.

In tribute to Frances Myers (1936–2014), the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art presents an overview of her highly personal art that was grounded in a mastery of craft. Myers was an innovative printmaker as well as arts educator of distinction and great influence. For twenty-five years she taught generations of students in the Art Department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, many of whom went on to distinguished careers in American academia. She imparted her deep knowledge of intaglio and relief processes while also freeing herself and her students to explore new processes, forms, technologies, and subject matter. In 2012, She described her history as a printmaker as a “flow of etching, relief, Xerox, large format engineering copier prints, wall installation, digital prints, video, and video stills printed onto canvas and translucent media.”

Compassionate Eye: The Art of Frances Myers includes a selection of artworks from the 1980s into the first decade of the new century. Instructive wall texts explain the variety of experimental approaches Myers took to her art. Her work is held in many prestigious institutions, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Art Institute of Chicago; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York); Victoria and Albert Museum (London), among others. Frances Myers unexpectedly passed away in late 2014. She is survived by her husband Warrington Colescott, the internationally renowned printmaker.