ALMA to Feature Hacikyan Exhibit

WATERTOWN, Mass.—On Wed., May 22, illustrator and printmaker Talleen Hacikyan will give an informal talk about her work at the opening of her exhibit at the Armenian Museum of America (ALMA). The exhibit will feature prints and illustrations, including monotype, woodcut, and linocut printing. Collography is Hacikyan’s “medium of choice,” as the flexible and direct nature of the technique allows for a more intuitive approach, she says. “Working on the cardboard plate that will be inked and printed onto paper becomes an act of play. Etching and tearing the plate, gluing materials onto it, and building it up with plaster lets me create fluidly. Images and episodes of an unconscious narrative are revealed to me as I work,” she writes. “Through symbols and textures that echo indigenous art and the memory of childhood, I explore various themes that deal with our primordial connection to the natural world.”

In parallel with her printmaking practice, Hacikyan also illustrates children’s books. The ALMA exhibition will feature her original illustrations for Tork Angegh (Gomidas Institute, London, UK, 2007) and Aesop’s Fables, retold by well-known children’s author Michael Rosen (Tradewind Press, Vancouver, 2013). The illustrations for both books were created with acrylic paint, combined with hand printing and collage. For the hand-printed textures, Hacikyan used objects ranging from woodblocks designed for textile printing, to leaves, onions, cabbage, and broccoli.

Born in Montreal in 1959, Talleen Hacikyan is a visual artist, art educator, and fiction writer. She has an Honors B.A. in anthropology from McGill University and a B.A. in fine arts and fine arts education from the Université du Québec à Montréal. Awards include the Loto-Quebec Printmaking Prize, the Pierre Henry Prize from Pratt and Whitney Canada, and a residency at Atelier de l’Île in Val David, Quebec, in 2012. Hacikyan has held many solo exhibitions and has participated in over 70 juried group exhibitions in North America, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, France, Spain, Portugal, Taiwan, and Australia.

The opening begins at 7 p.m. on May 22 at ALMA, 65 Main Street in Watertown. Admission is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served following the event. For more information, call (617) 926-2562 ext. 4, e-mail info@almainc.org, or visit www.talleen.net.