This exhibit, honoring five long-time Council members, showcases their unique perspectives and creative explorations of printmaking. Their work – and the wisdom they embody – are timeless.
Bill Behnken, Ann Chernow, Barbara Minton, Merle Perlmutter, and Ellen Nathan Singer are cherished members of the Society of American Graphic Artists (SAGA). Even after decades of service, they continue to contribute to the organization with their insights, leadership and remarkable energy! The camaraderie and support they have nurtured over the years is a legacy we hope to continue well into the future.
Thank you to everyone who made this show possible: the artists, their families, and the volunteers who put it all together.
On view Saturdays through 3/30/2024, 12-5 pm. Our gallery is located at 32 Union Square East, suite 1214, New York NY 10003. If you have difficulties trying to find us, please refer to this video. For purchases, please write to us at saga@sagaprints.com
Bill Behnken
Born in 1943, Bill Behnken is a life-long resident of New York City. He began his formal studies at the High School of Music & Art and then went on to receive a BA and MA from City College, where he taught Art History and Studio Art (1970 – 2020).
He also taught printmaking at the Provincetown Art Association Museum Summer School, National Academy of Design School, and the Art Students League of New York for many years.
Bill’s eye for harmonious order of design and his expressive use of tonal values lend a permanence to fleeting moments of poetic and emotional encounters. His prints have won awards such as the Gold Medal of Honor from Audubon Artists, the Ralph Fabri Award in Graphics from the National Academy, the Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Society of American Artists, and the Art Alumni Association of The City College of New York. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Fitzwilliam Museum, among others.
Invitation, Aquatint, 20 x 22 in. Ed. 50, In Collection of: The New York Public Library Print Room, and National Academy of Design, $ 500 Love of Summer, Lithograph, 14 x 17 in. $ 700 The Embrace of Winter, Lithograph, 12 x 13 ½ in. Ed. 40, $ 400 Enduring Rocks / FleetingShadows / Early Spring, Lithograph,12 x 16 ½ in. Ed. 30, $ 400 Round the Town, Aquatint, 17 1/2 x 19 in. Ed. 30, In Collection of: The Art Students League, and The City College of New York, $ 700
Ann Chernow
As a child in the 1940s, Ann and friends would frequently escape into the fantasy world of film at the movie theaters near her home in Flushing, Queens. Every genre of Hollywood film fare – the womens’ “weepies,” Westerns, war movies, mysteries, science fiction, serials and newsreels –fascinated the young artist and became the lifelong wellspring for her work.
Chernow completed her undergraduate degree, as well as an MA, from NYU. She’s been a long-time resident of Westport, Connecticut and deeply active in the local art world there. Ann was recently honored by the Norwalk Community College which renamed the art collection she had established there in 1972- “The Ann Chernow Art Collection.”
Ann’s art is intimate and animated. Her lithographs and etchings create private moments, engaging us in a contemporary narrative with a remembered cinematic past.
Her work has been shown nationally and internationally. Public collections include: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the DeJong Museum, the National University of Taiwan, the Tel Aviv Museum, the Coupozoulos Museum in Athens and many others.
Ann has been a supportive resource for SAGA, facilitating collaborations with the Housatonic Museum of Art, as well as creating connections with artists throughout New England.
Bathshebas, Lithograph, 9 ½ x 8 ½ in. Ed. 6/9, $ 600
Phantom’s Theme, Etching, Aquatint, 6 ⅛ x 15 ⅞ in. Ed. A/P, $ 600 Star and Stripes, Lithograph, 17 x 13 ¼ in. Ed. 5/9, $ 600 The Grand Café, Lithograph, 17 x 20 in. Ed. Proof, $ 600 Whispers in the Dark, Lithograph, 13 x 22 in. Ed. 4/5, $ 600
Barbara Minton
Growing up in Tennessee near the Great Smoky Mountains, Barbara Minton was understandably inspired by the dramatic natural landscape that surrounded her. Her early love of drawing evolved into an interest in etching. Later, she developed her printmaking techniques in the studio of the Latvian printmaker, Janis Sternbergs.
Following postgraduate study at the Slade School of Art in London, she received her MFA in printmaking and art history at The Pratt Institute. Inspired by the interaction of natural and human-made environments in Brooklyn, she developed a series of landscape etchings that express the intimate relationship between past and present.
Her work has appeared in many exhibitions and competitions, including the Phoenix Gallery, Croton Falls, NY; Bonfoey Gallery, Cleveland, OH: Huntington National Small Print Exhibition, Huntington, NJ; Witkin Gallery, New York, NY; University of the South Women Artists Exhibition, Sewanee, TN; Speed Museum Eight State Exhibition, Louisville, KY; Davidson National Print and Drawing Exhibition, Davidson, NC; and more.
Barbara served as Treasurer and Recording Secretary and during that time, was instrumental in improving our financial planning.
Transformation, Etching, 17 ½ x 11 ¾, Ed. 9/20, $ 600 Winter Hill, Etching, 10 ⅝ x 13 ¾ in. Ed. 11/20, $ 350 Dark Garden, Etching, 13 ½ x 16 ½ in. Ed. 1/40, $ 600 The Heath, Woodcut, 7 ½ x 11 ¼ in. Ed. 11/25, $ 600 Cornfield, Woodcut, 15 ¾ x 28 in. Ed. 10/20, NFS
Merle Perlmutter
Born in London, England in 1936, Merle Perlmutter grew up in New York City and studied at the Art Students League as a teenager.
Compelling interior environments figure prominently in her soft-ground mezzotint etchings. She uses mezzotint techniques along with dipping and spit bite to achieve desired velvety tones. The inherent qualities of the medium coalesce with her particular focus on light and shadow. She is represented in museum collections around the world, including Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico; Portland Museum of Art, OR; Musee de Petit Format, Belgium; and New York Public Library Print Collection. She has been the recipient of the CAPS grant and of 53 additional printmaking awards. She was the SAGA honoree in 2009.
Perlmutter has had ten one-person shows, including the Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY: Katonah Museum, NY, Silvermine Gallery, CT; Rizzoli Gallery, NYC; and the QCC Gallery, NYC. She has exhibited throughout the US and the world–at the Museum of Modern Art, NYC; The Old Print Shop, NYC; Wakayama, Japan; and INK Basel-Miami, American Graphics in Venice, Italy. Her etchings have also been featured on Channel 13 in the NYC area. Her work was included in SAGA’s 2022 installation at The Gallery at the MET Store, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Merle joined SAGA in 1978 and ever since, has been involved in leading the organization and helping to move it nimbly into the future.
Walls and Doorways, Etching, 17 ½ x 25 ½ in. Ed. 60/100, $ 925 No U Turn, Assembled Etching, 13 ½ x 17 ⅛ in. Ed. 1/1, $ 1750 New Horizons, Assembled Etching, 17 x 12 ¾ in. Ed. 1/1, $ 1750 First and Second Story, Etching, 17 ½ x 23 ⅓ in. Ed. A/P, $ 925 Time and Again, Etching, 25 ¾ x 17 ½ in. Ed. 9/150, $ 925
Ellen Nathan Singer
Ellen Nathan Singer received a BFA in Theater from Columbia University in 1957 and soon after, enrolled at the Art Students League of New York. There she was introduced to the art of woodcut – drawn to “colors that build like gels on theater lights” – and the simplicity inherent in graphic design. In 2016, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts awarded her a fellowship.
Most recently, she received the Allied Artists Salmagundi Club Award and three major awards from Audubon Artists: The Old Print Shop Award, the Silver Medal of Honor, and the Gold Medal of Honor for her prints. In 2021, she won the award in graphics from the Allied Artists of America at their annual show and in 2023, Ellen won the Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club 126th Anniversary annual exhibition Medal of Honor for graphics/mixed media.
Her work is in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Library of Congress, the Newark Public Library, and in corporate and private collections here and abroad. In 2019, she was the recipient of the Lindquist Purchase Award in the Delta National Small Prints Exhibition. The winning woodcut is now in the permanent collection of the Bradbury Art Museum at Arkansas State University.
Ellen served several years as SAGA Vice President, helping to steer the organization toward stability and growth. She is also a long standing member of Boston Printmakers and Audubon Artists.
The New Dress, Woodcut, 17 ½ x16 in. Ed. 6/20, $ 700 Marsh Grass, Etching, 5 x 4 in. Ed. 8/10, $ 200 Quiet Snow, Etching, 12 x12 in. Ed. 5/20, $ 600 The Koi Pond, Woodcut, 12 x 9 in. Ed. 5/10, $ 400 City Garden, Woodcut, 16 x 12 in. Ed. 1/20, $ 650
