NEW YORK, NY.- Mel Bochner, the renowned Conceptual artist, will be the first guest artist to speak at the inaugural Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation Lecture Program on November 8 at the IFPDA Print Fair at the Park Avenue Armory, as announced by Michele Senecal, IFPDA’s executive director. Jordan D. Schnitzer, the Portland, Oregon-based art collector and philanthropist, is funding the lecture through his foundation.

“We are extremely grateful to Mr. Schnitzer for his generosity in underwriting our inaugural lecture program and are privileged to feature Mel Bochner as our first guest artist,” says Michele Senecal, the executive director of the IFPDA. “The lecture program is our the lead programming initiative during the Fair, and aims to honor and raise public consciousness about the unique ways in which contemporary artists use print-making in their artistic practice.”

Sparked by a keen interest in the inventiveness of printmaking and carrying on a family legacy of collecting art, Jordan Schnitzer began collecting prints in 1988. Today, the family’s collection exceeds 8,000 works and its foundation manages an active lending program aimed at making fine art easily available to qualified institutions, especially those in less-served communities.

“Art makes us feel alive!” says Mr. Schnitzer. “I love prints, and getting to know the print artists, publishers, galleries, and print curators has been a highlight of my art life.  I am honored to sponsor the IFPDA Print Fair artist lecture.”

Mr. Schnitzer aims to create a long and lasting impact through the arts with the significant funding he has provided for the renovation and construction of two university museums that now bear his name; the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, and The Museum of Art at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, planned for completion in 2016.

A founding figure of the Conceptual art movement of the 1960s, Mel Bochner whose critically acclaimed exhibition at The Jewish Museum recently concluded, has taken an unusual turn toward painterly expressiveness during the past two decades. The use of words as sources for painting stems from Bochner’s interest in philosophy, on the one hand, and humor and popular culture on the other. Using a variety of techniques, including print-making, Bochner riffs on words in countless permutations.