Hear how American printmakers uniquely reflected this country’s changing perceptions of itself when Dr. Kevin M. Murphy presents American Prints 1900-1950: Signs & Symbols for a Modern Democracy, at the Museum of Ventura County on Saturday, March 14, at 2:00 p.m. Admission is $5 for the general public, free to museum members. RSVP to (805) 653-0323 x 10.

Murphy is the Assistant Curator of American Art at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. He is currently working on the reinstallation of the American art collection there. He received his Ph. D. from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Murphy discusses how printmakers, with their widely distributed and affordable media, were in a unique position to create new visual language to reflect the modern American democracy evolving from 1900 to 1950. Murphy reveals how artists explored issues of identity when America was in a significant state of change, with its rise as a world power, the experiences of the Depression and two World Wars, and the shifting of ideas about gender, race, and class.

The Museum of Ventura County’s storefront location during renovation is 89 South California Street, near the corner of California and Santa Clara Streets in downtown Ventura. The museum is open Friday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Free admission, except for some events. For information, please call (805) 653-0323 or go to http://www.venturamuseum.org.