“Color & Complexity: 30 years at Durham Press,” showcasing fine art prints on paper created at Durham Press in upper Bucks County, has been extended through Sept. 20 at the Allentown Art Museum.

The exhibition has been extended after the Allentown Art Museum closed because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The date of the Museum’s reopening is to be announced.

Thirty years of innovative printmaking by artists experimenting with a variety of printmaking methods grace the walls of the Rodale, Scheller and Fowler Galleries. The exhibition was seen prior to the Museum’s March 14 closing.

Emil Lukas is one of the veteran printmakers whos work is included in the exhibition. The Stockertown, Northampton County, based artist was born in 1964 in Pittsburgh and received a BFA at Edinboro University in 1986. Afterward, Lukas furthered his education through an apprenticeship with Swiss artist Not Vital.

“When you make something, and you believe it has never been made before, it’s a high,” says Lukas as he stood with his work at the Feb. 20 “Third Thursday” reception at the Museum.

Lukas explained the processes and collaborations behind creating “Bubble-up” (2013, portfolio of two etchings and seven screenprints, Edition: 35, printers: Michael Kondel and Aurora McFee, assisted by Chad Lassin, Jacqueline Quinn, William Freed, Christopher Caruso, and Jennifer Lowery).

The works are arranged in three rows of three framed prints each.

“I have been working seasonally with common fly larva,” says Lukas as he described how he created “Anatomy,” the center print of the grouping.

“It’s a way of making a painting or a drawing that can use one line or can use millions of lines that have an intention that’s different than a human intention,” he adds.

The imagery for the screenprint was created by larvae dragging ink across glass as part of the process.

“My mom is still really an important part of who I am and what I do,” says Lukas, “She was very involved with fiber arts.” He says that patterns and textures from his mother’s projects influenced his abstract work.

Durham Press founder Jean-Paul Russell talks about how he went to work for Rupert Smith, Andy Warhol’s printer, in New York City, after graduating high school in New Hope.

“It was a remarkable experience,” the master printer said of being able to learn firsthand about the international contemporary art world,” says Russell.

The Bucks County-based workshop and fine arts publisher is co-owned by Russell and his wife and business partner, Ann Marshall.

Among the groundbreaking artists celebrating their connection to Durham Press in the retrospective exhibit at the Museum are Hurvin Anderson, Polly Apfelbaum, Roland Fischer, Chitra Ganesh, John Giorno, Jacob Hashimoto, Michael Heizer, Beatriz Milhazes, James Nares, Mickalene Thomas and Ray Charles White.

The 12 artists worked with Durham Press in developing unique methods and combinations of technologies to suit each project.

An example of this is Heizer’s “Dragged Mass” (2018, etching with aquatint and dry point, Edition 35, Printers: Jean-Paul Russell, Aurora McFee, Christopher Caruso, Hudson Hatfield, Beth Sheehan, Curt Weihz, and Neil Curry).

During the printmaking process, the artist marked the metal plate by having a bulldozer drive over it.

The exhibition is supported by the County of Lehigh, Amaranth Foundation, Joan Miller Moran, Francie Bishop Good and David Horvitz, SOTA (Society of the Arts), Nancy Light, William and Mary Ann Heydt, and Tony and Nancy Odorski.

Additional support is provided by the Harry C. Trexler Trust, Julius and Katheryn Hommer Foundation, Century Fund, Bernard and Audrey Berman Foundation, Leon C. and June W. Holt Endowment, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and Friends of the Museum.

Allentown Art Museum, 31 N. Fifth St., Allentown, Gallery hours: 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Wednesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. Third Thursdays, 12 - 4 p.m. Sunday. Information on the Museum’s reopening: allentownartmuseum.org; 610-432-4333