Depending on your height, all or some of the pieces in the portfolios at Gittins Gallery are hung at eye level.

ood things come in eclectic packages. An international print collection is up for view in the Gittins Gallery at the University of Utah.

There are two portfolio exchanges, “Tracing Times” and “Portrait: Investigation of the Self.” Justin Diggles’s hard work and hard-wired diplomacy formed both of them.

“Tracing Times” deals with the theme of history. The piece’s placard reads as if the subject was not already broad enough: “The idea of historical events, and how history is created by the recognition and interpretation and possible manipulation of these traces.”

The theme did manage to produce ideas I did not expect. Many of the prints are well-done, strong in design and concept.

Artists take part in history. They overlay an original by highlighting some shapes and shading others into fogginess. Some of the artists in the exhibit opted to show personal histories. The shorter narratives of history include the time one takes for tea or a cigarette.

A light-blue, polka-dotted pattern veils a silhouette of a woman with red thread and a needle coming out of her mouth. The print is called “her version of the story.”

“Accounts of Closure” is another visually stunning piece, with different devices one might use to hold something together—or maybe to hold it shut. Clothespins and a paper clip rest under a spread of bobby pins. Does history repeat itself in mathematical loops? Is it spun by special interest? Is it useful? The show will, at the very least, inspire questions.

The other traveling portfolio on display, “Portrait, Investigation of Self,” joins work from four schools: Camberwell School of Art, London, U.K.; University of West England, Bristol, U.K.; Montana State University, Bozeman; and the University of Utah (and we all know where that is approximately).

The schools from England impressed me with what appeared to be strong voices coming through the broad collection of style. There was a wide array of color theory designs from whimsical to serious, from personal to universally applicable. There are varied images including a dog that smokes a pipe, a printmaker who looks like a psychoanalytical torture master…and a woman knitting.

Montana had a few exceptional printers, though as a whole collection, it was lacking in passion—just scraping at the surface of creativity in self-perusal. “Burden (Fragment of a Reoccurring Dream)” is strong enough to render the same dream in other people. “Log of Injuries” is clever and clean. Even though the lines of the dry-point print are scribble and words travel messily all over the page with some letters backward, the print is really quite tight.

The U has prints from faculty, graduate students and undergrads. Utah’s representation is sturdy, but I have some qualms. Joe Marotta has a beautiful sexy layout with beautiful sexy prose, but the modern sans font he used, large enough for grandma to read, clomps all over his piece.

The most disappointing, all around, were the digital prints. I admit that some were fantastic, however. Ed Bateman, from the U, always comes through with something amazing. If you must do a digital print, then please take the time you would have spent in the studio making your short-cut version nearly perfect.

To see some of the creators of a nice collection, make your way to the artist reception today at 6 p.m, Nov. 20 in the Gittins Gallery.

You’ll be so inspired, you’ll leak.
stephanie@red-mag.com