They Came to Create at Tandem Press

Every few weeks, another one arrives: a visiting artist to create a new work at Tandem Press, UW–Madison’s fine-art print shop. Tandem is affiliated with the art department in the School of Education, and since 1987, it has brought nearly 100 artists to campus — to experiment, to create something new, and to work with graduate students. One of this spring’s notable visitors was Swoon, who made the mixed-media works below.

Untitled work

Swoon, born Caledonia Curry, came to fame as a street artist. In recent years she’s been featured in museum exhibits from New York to California and as far afield as Paris, London, and Tokyo. At Tandem, she created several prints, the most notable being the untitled work above, which Tandem director Paula Panczenko describes as a multilayered print — it involves lithography, screen printing, hand painting, and gold leaf.

Girl with Dappled Sunlight

The visiting-artist program has been one of Tandem’s pride points. Each artist creates one or more prints with the press. Sales of these limited editions (usually fewer than 30 prints) support the press. Prices for Swoon’s previous works range from hundreds to more than $20,000. Tandem works hang in museums around the country, but one print of each visiting-artist project remains at the UW, joining the collection of the Chazen Museum.

Sonia