Gift Brings Renowned Artist, Printmaking Project to Bowdoin

Story posted April 11, 2011


Bowdoin’s printmaking program is the recipient of a generous gift, launching an annual workshop that brings a renowned artist with an international perspective to the College to work with a local master printer and students to create a collaborative print.

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Visiting artist Amze Emmons (left) around a printing press with (from left) Victoria Guen '13, Grace Kerr '11 and Deja Williams '11. Emmons spoke about his work during a talk April 4 on campus.

This year, the Marvin Bileck Printmaking Project, made possible by support from the Marvin Bileck and Emily Nelligan Trust, brought artist Amze Emmons to campus, allowing him to work side by side with master printer David Wolfe and students from Assistant Professor of Art Carrie Scanga’s printmaking class to create a new edition of prints.

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An eventful week brought students and visiting artist Amze Emmons to David Wolfe’s Portland studio, Wolfe Editions, for four days. (Back row, l. to r.) Leah Pepe '11, Emmons, and Grace Kerr '11 with Wolfe (seated).

Charcoal drawings by Emily Nelligan were the subject of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art's 2000 exhibition Littoral Abstractions, which resulted in a resurgent interest in the artist, as well as attention in The New York Times and other media.

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Museum of Art Curator Joachim Homann offers students a special showing of works by Bileck, Nelligan and prints from the Museum’s collection in the Zuckert Seminar Room, Museum of Art

Nelligan’s late husband, Marvin Bileck, was a master printmaker whose work received comparisons to Holbein and Rembrandt. The couple summered on Maine’s Great Cranberry Island.

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Assistant Professor of Art Carrie Scanga examines works by Marvin Bileck during a special showing April 8 in the Zuckert Seminar Room, Museum of Art.

Nelligan has funded the Marvin Bileck Printmaking Project at Bowdoin College in memory of her husband and to continue the legacy of his work by creating opportunities for students to explore Bileck’s expressive mediums.


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