+ Currency Part 1 - University of Alabama at Birmingham

printmaking to its simplest elements. Whereas historically printmaking allowed
members of a social structure to assert status and power, contemporary
printmakers use complex techniques to represent quotidian objects. For
Currency Part 1, Haas’ nine-piece grid of objects from the everyday world almost
creates a taxonomy of the overlooked. Like Klingberg, the capacity of the banal
becomes the celebration of unexpected beauty.
At first, both the beauty and the seemingly obsessive qualities of creation inherent
in Karla Hackenmiller’s works are not necessarily apparent. Liminal Collision, an
etching and spit bite aquatint, is a delicate abstraction with threads etched across
the plate. The Liminal Slices combine etching and collage, adding an unexpected