The GVSU Art Gallery’s first show in 2024, “Full Circle: Teaching, Creating and Curating,” features sabbatical work by Bill Hosterman, and artwork from the collection of Kathy Caraccio, a master printer, educator, and artist born and raised in New York City. Inspired by her mother’s ability to solve problems creatively with her hands as a seamstress, Caraccio studied printmaking at Lehman College. After earning her BFA, she gained experience at Robert Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop, Inc., a non-profit, community-based print studio. Founded in the spirit of generosity and collaboration, Blackburn’s studio was a haven for diverse and often underrepresented artists, a future model for Caraccio’s print studio.

Our exhibit features over 20 prints selected from the 5,000-plus works Caraccio has collected over her more than 45-year career. While on the surface her collection reflects artists who have come to work with her in her studio, her collection also represents stories, relationships, and a community of artists from which she has gained inspiration.

Communities like the one Caraccio has created allow artists to share ideas, techniques, as well as materials and equipment. While the collection visually reflects artists she has worked with, it also represents how the artists influenced each other’s thoughts, motivations, and craft.

Over the years, the Art Gallery has worked with other artists who, like Caraccio, have collected prints by artists with whom they have worked side-by-side, collaborated, or simply appreciated their story and artwork. Working with both Caraccio and her collection is a wonderful reminder of how important community, especially within the art world, can be.

View Kathy Caraccio's entire print collection

Learn more about the "Full Circle" exhibition

With 500 prints, representing over 200 different artists, The Cyril Lixenberg Collection of Contemporary Dutch Artists represents the best of graphic art produced in the Netherlands over the past 50 years. It was amassed by Amsterdam artist Cyril Lixenberg, who over the decades acquired works by Dutch colleagues he admired -- many times exchanging his own artwork for that of his colleagues and friends. His resulting collection is a showcase of the many styles, movements, and controversies that characterize Dutch works on paper over the last half century. The collection was generously funded by James and Donna Brooks and became the first donation to the GVSU Art Gallery’s Print and Drawing Cabinet.

Explore the entire Cyril Lixenberg Collection of Contemporary Dutch Prints.

David Keister was the Master Printer at Echo Press in Bloomington, Indiana, from 1980 to 1995. By tradition, the Master Printer receives a printer's proof of each edition. In time, Ann and David Keister, both of whom are retired GVSU Art and Design Faculty, have amassed more than 200 prints, which they have donated over time in small groups to the Grand Valley State University's Print and Drawing Cabinet within the GVSU Art Gallery Collection.

Explore the entire Ann and David Keister Collection.

Bill Hosterman is a Professor in Foundations, Drawing and Printmaking at GVSU.  A printmaker himself, he first met Caraccio as an undergraduate at Penn State University, during a field trip to printmaking venues in New York City. Making an instant connection, he later returned as an intern at Caraccio’s printmaking workshop. This relationship became pivotal in his career, showing Hosterman how a shared passion can bind people together and provide opportunities to express caring through collaboration. Hosterman has extended that passion into a portfolio he curated representing a diverse group of artists titled “The Evolving System.”  

Explore the entire Bill Hosterman collection.