Steven Sorman
Steven Sorman was born in Minneapolis in 1948. An accomplished painter and printmaker, he began working with Kenneth Tyler at Tyler Graphics in 1984 on a series of collaged prints and monoprints that combined etching, woodcut, drypoint and lithography. Sorman, whose prints are often characterised by the use of unique papers, thrived upon the possibilities offered by the Tyler Graphics paper mill.
He used specialised papers not only as the support for his printed imagery, but also as collaged compositional elements. The resultant works, many of which feature in the Kenneth Tyler Collection, are richly textured and have a painterly effect.
Emilie Owens
Works in the Kenneth E. Tyler Collection
Chronology
1948 Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America
1970 First solo exhibition, Coffman Gallery, University of Minnesota
1971 Receives Bachelor of Fine Arts from University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
1974–79 Teaches at Minneapolis College of Art and Design
1975 Included in Biennial exhibition, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
1978 Completes print Spaces between words a deaf mute sees at Vermillion Editions Ltd., Minneapolis, which receives merit award in 1980 exhibition, World print III, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California
1979 Receives Minnesota State Arts Board and Bush Foundation grants; included in International biennial of graphic art, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia
1982 Receives Rockefeller Foundation Studio Fellowship, Paris, France
1983 Included in exhibition, The American artist as printmaker: the 23rd annual print exhibition, Brooklyn Museum, New York City
1984 Completes nine editioned and twenty unique monoprints as well as 14 unique collages assembled from monoprint impressions and painted materials, made at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Bedford Village, New York; included in exhibition, Prints from Tyler Graphics at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; included in British international print biennial, Bradford, England; Impressions: experimental prints, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond
1985 Completes second group of mixed‑media monoprints edition prints at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Bedford Village, New York; included in exhibition, Ken Tyler: printer extraordinary, at Australian National Gallery, Canberra (now National Gallery of Australia)
1986 Included in exhibition, Public and private: American prints today, at 24th National Print Exhibition, Brooklyn Museum, New York City
1988 Completes From away mixed-media folding screen at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York; included in exhibition, The Combination print: 1980s, New Jersey Center for the Visual Arts, Summit
1989 Completes Those from away series of prints at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York; solo exhibition, Vignette: prints by Steven Sorman, at University of Missouri‑Kansas City Gallery of Art; included in exhibition, Ken Tyler: 25 glorious years, Heland Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
1989–90 Included in travelling exhibition, First impressions: early prints by forty-six contemporary artists, originating at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Mind & matter: new American abstraction, organised by World Print Council
1991 Completes Half light series, at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York; travelling retrospective exhibition, Steven Sorman: Up to now, 1974–1990, at St Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota; included in The Bhrat Bharan international biennial of prints, Roopankar Museum of Fine Arts, Bhopol, India; Fifth international biennial print exhibit, Taipei, Republic of China
1992 Completes The long year series of mixed-media, hand-coloured prints at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York; included in travelling exhibition Innovation in collaborative printmaking: Kenneth Tyler 1963–1992, originating at Yokohama Museum of Art, Japan
1993 Completes Rumors of virtue, a series of 73 monotype, collage prints on layered handmade Japanese papers, at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York; exhibition at Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden; included in 20th international print biennial, International Center of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia
1994 Completes Santos-Santeros, a series of mixed-media prints, at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York
1995 Completes the edition Wind shift, at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York; included in exhibition, Scene at place and time, The Print Club, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1997 Included in exhibitions, Beyond print: masterworks from the Ken Tyler Collection, Dr Earl Lu Gallery, LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore; Singular impressions (The monotype in America), National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC; A thought intercepted, California Museum of Art, Santa Rosa; Printed abstraction: prints from the Tyler Graphics archive collection, Center for Contemporary Art and Tyler Graphics Archive Collection, Fukushima, Japan
1998 Completes Inside weather and Difference in ages series of prints and monoprints at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York; included in exhibition, Ken Tyler: printmaker emeritus, Southern Graphics Council Conference, Ohio University, Athens
1999 Completes editions of Change of heart and Each way, as well as an artist book, Lessons from the Russian, illuminating three poems by Lee Blessing, at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York. Steven Sorman currently lives and works in Ancram, New York
Barbara Delano © Tyler Graphics Ltd., revised Kate Buckingham, 2006
This chronology provides an overview of selected biographical information, major solo and group exhibitions held within the artist's own lifetime.
Further Reading
EXHIBITIONS
- Behind the Scenes: Tyler Graphics at work, 2015–16
- Ken Tyler: Printer extraordinary, 6 June – 13 October 1985
VIDEO
NATIONAL GALLERY PUBLICATIONS
- Workshop: The Kenneth Tyler Collection, Jane Kinsman (ed.), 2015
- Ken Tyler Printer Extraordinary, 1985
TYLER GRAPHICS PUBLICATIONS