Graphic Design Professors Stephen Parks and Jessica Greenfield Exhibit Artist Books at NCMA
Stephen Parks and Jessica Greenfield (professors in graphic design) currently have work in the exhibition ”Then and There, Here and Now: Contemporary Visions of North Carolina” at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC. It is on view through January 18, 2026.
This exhibition features works by artists who are reckoning with the inevitability of the passage of time across our state. While some artists reflect on deeply personal memories of their home and their relationship with the land and built environment, others highlight the consequences of climate change and the legacy of social injustice. “Then and There, Here and Now” challenges viewers to consider their own relationship to the past—however nostalgic, mournful, disorienting, or hopeful—and its impact on the present.
Parks and Greenfield both have recent artist books on display. Park’s “Obliterative Splendor” explores the early 20th century examinations of color in the animal kingdom. The book showcases a series of hyperreal Riso-printed images developed in partnership with Appalachian State University‘s Biology Department. The images are constructed using various new generative artificial intelligence tools to critique the modern image and its survival in present-day media.
Greenfield‘s ”Thicket” is a multi-layered reflection on the intricate relationship between humanity and the more-than-human world. Entirely letterpress printed, the text explores the physical experiences climbing plants and wonders how we have wandered so far from their message of mutual flourishing.
