The Aquinas Art & Music Center Gallery is hosting a new printmaking show from retired University of Michigan professor, Takeshi Takahara. The show, titled “Four Corners,” began on Sunday, August 28 and will remain up through Sunday, September 25.

“As a department we selected his work among many applicants,” Dana Freeman, Associate Professor of Art and Gallery Director at Aquinas, said. “Takeshi is a world renowned print maker.”

Takahara graduated with his Masters of Fine Arts in Printmaking from University of Iowa in 1971 before going to Grand Valley State University (GVSU) as a professor, where he started the printmaking program. While at GVSU, Takahara was colleagues with current Aquinas professors Don Kerr and Sharon Sandberg.

Takahara went to the University of Michigan in 1982 where he taught his specialization, intaglio, among other courses. Takahara was named the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in 2005, in recognition for his outstanding performance as an undergraduate professor. This is one of the highest honors awarded to the University of Michigan faculty.

“Intaglio, for me, challenges to question, to explore, to reexamine and revise every state proofs as it evolves,” Takahara said. “I am intrigued by the medium, which provides many possibilities to an idea.”

Intaglio is a printmaking technique which uses copper or zinc plates as the canvas, and creates the image through etching and engraving techniques. Ink is then applied to the surface, and then the plate surface is wiped clean, leaving ink only in the incisions. Then the plate and a damp piece of paper are run through a printing press, which uses pressure to transfer the ink from the plate incisions to the paper.

“It’s wonderful to experience the work of a master, and Takeshi’s work is a fine example,” Freeman said. “Students will enjoy the imaginative characters and beautiful, layered compositions of Takeshi’s prints.”

The “Four Corners” show consists of 19 intaglio prints depicting the American Southwest, and displays Takahara’s appreciation for both the landscape and history of the fabled wilderness. Takahara began creating the prints after a trip to the Four Corners region, where he was fascinated by the petroglyphs, pictographs and other artifacts left behind by the ancient tribes which lived there.

“The ancient people have left the vivid images behind throughout the regions as if they wanted to keep the conversation with us,” Takahara said. “I was profoundly moved by a strong presence in their absence and myth. I wanted to recreate or imagine the lives of these ancient people then which exist in a silent place now.”

There will be a Homecoming Reception on Saturday, September 24 from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Aquinas Art & Music Center. Visitors will be served refreshments, and be given opportunities to meet Takahara, who will answer questions and discuss his work.