Melanie Yazzie (born 1966); Amazing Bat Boy, from the portfolio, Tracing the Vintage Circus Poster, 2013; Relief, monoprint; Image: 11 x 15 inches

Kathryn Polk (born 1950), Survival Skills, from the portfolio, Tracing the Vintage Circus Poster, 2013; Lithograph; Image: 11×15 inches

Zach Lindenberger (born 1974); Untitled, 2012, from the portfolio, Environments – Here and There, 2013; Laser engraving, blind embossment, chine colle; Image: 10×8 inches

Kevin Haas (born 1971); Local Safeway, from the portfolio, Environments – Here and There, 2013; Lithograph; Image: 15×19 inches

Melissa Schulenberg (born 1971); Field Harvest, from the portfolio, American Food, 2013; Relief; Image: 15×19 inches

Carlos Barberena (born 1972); McShitter, from the portfolio, American Food, 2013; relief; Image: 19×15 inches

When presented with the possibility of participating in the AP/RC, Melanie Yazzie’s enthusiasm inspired awe. She intuitively and immediately grasped the possibilities of this collection.

In the summer of 2011 we visited Melanie Yazzie and her husband, Clark Barker, at their home in Colorado. In a few hours we had almost one hundred works, including prints, proofs, print matrices and much more, to portage back to the Museum. We then drove up to Boulder and toured the new art building at the University of Colorado and its printmaking studio that she directs.

While touring the new art building, Yazzie showed us the banks of flat files in which she kept an archive of the print portfolios that she organized or that were organized by others and contained her work. The numbers and range were staggering, awe-inspiring. While looking at the portfolio archive, Yazzie suggested that the AP/RC ought to receive a copy of all the future portfolios that she organizes. We immediately agreed, and since that time the Museum has regularly received these compilations.

Yazzie’s commitment to organizing portfolios is seated in a robust stew that mixes her love of printmaking, her enthusiasm to create situations that encourage cultural and artistic exchange, and a collaborative focus for her endless energy to foster environments where human interaction is tethered to the world of art.

In the beginning of this new year, 2014, two more portfolios arrived at the Museum, American Food and Environment – Here and There…, both from 2013 and ready to be added to the AP/RC. Selected images from these and one other portfolio are reproduced here. In the last several years, Yazzie’s portfolios have added the work of over 150 artists to the AP/RC, most of whom were not previously represented in this collection.

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