Shows
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHoP deep dive on ONE PRINT: Peter Milton's The Train from MunichIn Platemark's history of prints series, Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig present a second installment of their ONE PRINT series, this time on Peter Milton's The Train from Munich, 1991. In this episode, Ann and Tru take a single work considered to be a high point in the history of prints, and pull it apart to explore its subject matter, technique, style, and composition. It's a deep, deep dive into a single work--what a luxury. All images of Peter's art are © 2025 Peter Milton / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Show me the images!!
2025-08-191h 13
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemThe print studio as sanctuary with Bryan RaymundoIn this episode, Ann talks with Bryan Raymundo, owner of the Black Fragment Press. They discuss their meeting at the Mid America Print Council conference and Bryan's background, from growing up in Mexico and Kansas to his love for Black Sabbath and printmaking. Bryan reveals his journey into art, inspired by comforting his sick grandmother with drawings, and his challenges in balancing his family's immigrant expectations with his artistic aspirations. They delve deeply into his evolving art practice, the importance of mentors like Marco Hernandez and Jason Scuilla, and his passion for printmaking. Bryan shares his pedagogical philosophy, experiences...
2025-03-111h 05
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemBehind the scenes with conservator Alison LuxnerIn this episode, go behind the scenes at the museum with Alison Luxner, a paper conservator at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Alison shares her journey to becoming a conservator, the lengthy education and training process, and her diverse experiences working in various conservation roles. They also delve into the specifics of handling and conserving works on paper, the pros and cons of using gloves, and share some adventures in couriering artwork all over the world. Furthermore, they discuss different career paths within the field. Ann and Alison's conversation underscores the complexities of art conservation and the...
2024-09-241h 11
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemArtist Annalise Gratovich on chine colléWondering how far you can take chine collé in a project? Listen in as Annalise Gratovich tells us all about this method of adding thin pieces of hand-dyed papers to giant woodcuts. In s3e61 of Platemark, podcast host Ann Shafer continues talking to artists included in Print Austin's 5x5 exhibition, juried by Myzska Lewis, a curator at Tandem Press. Next up is artist Annalise Gratovich. Annalise works in woodcut primarily (and etching), and is best known for her monumental woodcuts with multiple dyed papers glued down by chine collé. We take a deep dive in...
2024-07-301h 12
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemDeep dive on Dox Thrash with dealer Ron RumfordAfrican-American artist Dox Thrash is in the spotlight on s3e60 of Platemark. Podcast host Ann Shafer speaks with Ron Rumford, director of Dolan/Maxwell, a private gallery in Philadelphia, which has a particular specialty in the prints of Stanley William Hayter and the associated artists of Atelier 17, as well as Black artists of the same era, such as Dox Thrash, Bob Blackburn, Norma Morgan, Elizabeth Catlett, Ed Clark, and more. Ron was eager to highlight an exhibition focused on Dox Thrash, which is on view at the African American Museum of Philadelphia through August 4, 2024. ...
2024-07-021h 07
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemSatirical etchings with artist David AveryIn s3e59, Platemark host Ann Shafer sits down with David Avery to talk shop. David is an etcher, who restrains his work in both size and palette, but manages to tackle big topics. His social commentary is stinging and remarkable in that it comes in such a small package. These etchings pack a punch. Ann and David talk about absurdist literature, standing on the shoulders of giants (Dürer, Max Klinger, Della Bella), how prescient Goltzius's Disgracers are, and how we could never have imagined the state of our politics—reality is outstripping our imaginations. Co...
2024-06-1856 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemMarble lithography with artist Anna TrojanowskaIn s3e59, Platemark host Ann Shafer continues talking to artists included in Print Austin's 5x5 exhibition, juried by Myzska Lewis, a curator at Tandem Press. Second up is Anna Trojanowska, an artist and lithographer from Wroclaw, Poland. Anna creates collages made from lithographs, which she creates on a single marble slab in her garage studio. The works included in 5x5 seek to give the feeling of echolalia, a form of autism in which words and phrases are repeated over and over. That repetition is a central part of the collages and gives the feeling of uncontrolled reverberation.
2024-06-0455 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemUnique reduction woodcuts with artist Karen Kunc In s3e57, Platemark host Ann Shafer speaks with Karen Kunc, an artist who manipulates reduction woodcuts in an amazing and unique way. Karen is a retired professor from the University of Nebraska, and is owner of Constellation Studios in downtown Lincoln. At the studio, which opened ten years ago, Karen offers workshops, curates exhibitions, and makes her own work. The studio includes equipment for papermaking, book arts, letterpress, and other means of creating prints. Karen's work includes relief prints and artist books reflecting her signature nature-based lyrical abstraction. These images could be macro or micro: the biomorp...
2024-05-211h 01
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemWord-salad screenprints with artist Briar CraigIn s3e56, Platemark host Ann Shafer introduces a five-part miniseries with the artists in 5X5, an exhibition that was part of PrintAustin 2024. First up is Briar Craig, one of five artists selected for inclusion in 5X5 by juror J. Myszka Lewis, curator at Tandem Press, University of Wisconsin–Madison. Briar is an artist and professor at University of British Columbia, Kelowna. He primarily works in screenprint, using found text and surprising juxtapositions. Ann and Briar talk about words and their unlikely combinations, Dada poetry, UV screenprints, his favorite color, and the only text-based tattoo that has tempted him so...
2024-05-0759 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemMexican cartels and conceptual rigor with artist Miguel A. AragónIn s3e55, Platemark host Ann Shafer speaks with Miguel A. Aragón, artist and professor at the City University of New York, Staten Island. They talk about CNC routers, drills as woodcutting tools, growing up in Juarez, Mexico, and that city's war on drugs as a subject in his art. He weaves a tight conceptual circle in prints that explore violence, death, perception, and memory in surprisingly subtle works. Miguel A. Aragón (Mexican, born 1978). Espectadores (Spectators), from the series Meoria Fracturada, 2013. Burnt residue embossment. 11 x 15 in. Courtesy of the artist. Miguel A...
2024-04-2300 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemDomesticity and wallpaper with artist/engraver Andrew Raftery In s3e54, Platemark host Ann Shafer talks with Andrew Raftery, artist, professor, scholar, and wallpaper designer. Andrew works in several modes, most notably in engraving. The through line in the work is domesticity. An early print featured a young man suit shopping. Next was a portfolio of engravings detailing rooms during a real estate open house. Then engravings representing each month in the life of a garden were transferred to twelve dinnerplates and sold as a set. His latest show included watercolors depicting historical interior rooms that feature French and Chinese wallpapers. He also produces letterpress wallpapers himself.
2024-04-091h 14
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemMezzotint technique and history with artist and author Carol Wax (part two)In s3e53 of Platemark, hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig conclude their conversation with Carol Wax, artist and author of The Mezzotint: History and Technique. Carol recently published the second edition of The Mezzotint, expanding greatly in every area from the 1990 first edition. As she tells us, there is a better break down of rocking the copper plates, and of inking and printing them, plus there are new chapters about printing papers and the history of the medium and how it fits in the greater history of prints. They talk about the early history of mezzotint...
2024-03-2652 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemMezzotint history and technique with artist Carol Wax (part one)In s3e52 of Platemark, hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig talk with Carol Wax, artist and author of The Mezzotint: History and Technique. Carol recently published the second edition of The Mezzotint, expanding greatly in every area from the 1990 first edition. As she tells us, there is a better break down of rocking the copper plates, and of inking and printing them, plus there are new chapters about printing papers and the history of the medium and how it fits in the greater history of prints. They talk about the early history of mezzotint, whether one...
2024-03-121h 03
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemInside Gemini G.E.L. at Joni Moisant Weyl with Chris Santa MariaIn s3e51, Platemark host Ann Shafer talks with Chris Santa Maria, artist and gallery director at Gemini G.E.L. at Joni Moisant Weyl. As director of the New York gallery, Chris is responsible for showcasing and selling the print output of the storied LA workshop to enable it to keep working with amazing artists and producing incredible editions. Chris and Ann touch on Gemini's history, the structure of the workshop, how artists get to work there, and Julie Mehretu, Julie Mehretu, and Julie Mehretu. They also talk about Chris' side hustle as an artist and...
2024-02-271h 23
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemContemporary Japanese prints with dealer Allison TolmanIn s3e50, Platemark host Ann Shafer talks with Allison Tolman, a private dealer handling prints by contemporary Japanese artists. The Tolman Collection has branches in Tokyo and New York and works with a range of artists. Allison is a second-generation dealer—her father heads up the Tokyo branch while Allison is holding down the fort in New York. She enjoys personal relationships with her artists and is a tireless promoter of prints from the other side of the world. Ann and Allison talk about cultural differences relating to aesthetics, manner of working, and business dealings. They al...
2024-02-131h 08
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemAllison TolmanIn s3e50, Platemark host Ann Shafer talks with Allison Tolman, a private dealer handling prints by contemporary Japanese artists. The Tolman Collection has branches in Tokyo and New York and works with a range of artists. Allison is a second-generation dealer—her father heads up the Tokyo branch while Allison is holding down the fort in New York. She enjoys personal relationships with her artists and is a tireless promoter of prints from the other side of the world. Ann and Allison talk about cultural differences relating to aesthetics, manner of working, and business dealings. They al...
2024-02-1300 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemMaking lithographs at Tamarind with printer Valpuri RemlingIn s3e49, Platemark host Ann Shafer talks with Valpuri Remling, collaborative printer and manager of the pro workshop at Tamarind Institute, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, which was established in 1960 by the legendary June Wayne in order to preserve and promote the art of lithography. Valpuri, a native of Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland, graduated from the program in 2009. After working at Helsinki Litho with Matti Hintikka and Kalle Berg, Valpuri returned to Albuquerque in 2015 to assume the position of printer and workshop manager from Bill Lagattuta, Tamarind's longtime collaborative printer. In her role, Valpuri collaborates with visiting artists...
2024-01-301h 27
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemLithography deep dive with printer/publisher Deb ChaneyIn episode s3e48, Platemark host Ann Shafer speaks with Deb Chaney, Tamarind-trained master printer specializing in lithography. She has an eponymous imprint, Deb Chaney Editions and has started a new venture with Stéphane Guilbaud—D&S Fine Art Editions—to whom she is fairly recently married. They have studios in Upstate New York (studio to be built), Paris, and LaForce, France. Ann and Deb talk about the beauty of litho stones, common problems that come with printing lithographs, why litho inks are more saturated than other types of inks, how the Tamarind program works, why print...
2024-01-161h 29
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemBehind-the-scenes at Rago Auctions with Adam McCoyLeading off 2024's series three episodes is s3e47 in which Platemark host Ann Shafer speaks with Adam McCoy, Senior Specialist in Fine Art, Rago Auctions. Adam has worked in various auction houses for many years, including Christies and Artsy. Ann relished the chance to pepper Adam with questions. In the episode Adam and Ann talk about the business of the business including what to expect when you decide to sell something at auction, the vagaries of the market, the authentication process, the bidding process (by phone, online, or in person), the value of old schoo...
2024-01-021h 21
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemEngraving deep dive with Latvian artist, Reinis GailitisIn s3e46, Platemark host Ann Shafer speaks with Reinis Gailitis, an engraver from Riga, Latvia. The magic of the internet is fully on display today. Without it, finding Reinis's work would have been challenging. But his self-portrait in the style of Claude Mellan's Holy Face, the one with a single line emanating from the subject's nose, is a marvel. Ann and Reinis talk about how engraving is simultaneously the most simple and direct of techniques while being the most difficult. They talk about tricks and tools shared by artists thanks to the internet: how to transfer...
2023-12-191h 37
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemSinger-songwriter Bob Schneider's etchingsIn Platemark s3e45, host Ann Shafer talks with Bob Schneider, who is best known for his music but is a serious artist as well. You may know some of his best-loved songs like 40 Dogs (Like Romeo and Juliet), Honeypot, Deep Blue Sea, and Peaches, but you will be delighted to learn about his print output. These are gorgeous etchings primarily made with Katherine Brimberry at Flatbed Press in Bob's hometown, Austin, TX. In the episode, Bob and Ann talk about all sorts of things including anxiety, AI, and creativity. Their discussion about creativity is fascinating: he's...
2023-12-041h 30
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOn the importance of art in hospitals for patients and staff with Naomi Huth, director of art collection and curator, NYC Health + HospitalsThere's often a ton of art in medical spaces, but who are the curators of those health system collections? In s3e44, Platemark host Ann Shafer speaks with Naomi Huth, chief curator and director of the art collection for NYC Health + Hospitals. Held within the Arts in Medicine department, NYC Health + Hospitals has one of the largest public (non museum) art collections in New York City with more than 7,000 works of art, including a number of murals. Their goal is to make art accessible to the public and integrate the collection into healing environments across NYC Health +...
2023-11-211h 02
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemPrinter Craig Zammiello on collaborating with Johns, Rauschenberg, and othersIn s3e43, Platemark host Ann Shafer talks with Craig Zammiello, an artist and collaborative printer with over 40 years of experience in all areas of printmaking. He worked for 25 years at Universal Limited Art Editions, where he collaborated with numerous artists, including Jasper Johns, Elizabeth Murray, James Rosenquist, Kiki Smith, and Robert Rauschenberg. Currently, he is a collaborative printer at Two Palms working with Mel Bochner, Ellen Gallagher, Chris Offili, Elizabeth Peyton, and Dana Schutz. He is author of a studio manual on photogravure, as well as Conversations from the Print Studio published by Yale University Press. Ann...
2023-11-071h 06
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemMargaret Lowengrund and The Contemporaries with curators Lauren Rosenblum and Christina WeylIn s3e42, Platemark host Ann Shafer talks with Lauren Rosenblum and Christina Weyl about their exhibition on view at Print Center New York through December, 23, 2023. A Model Workshop: Margaret Lowengrund and The Contemporaries is the first exhibition to explore the legacy of Lowengrund (1902–1957), a visionary artist-advocate and entrepreneur. In charting the institutional history of the hybrid print workshop-gallery she founded, The Contemporaries, and its later evolution into Pratt Graphic Art Center, A Model Workshop brings into focus the bustling printmaking scene of 1950s New York and reveals Lowengrund's impact on postwar printmaking. A Model Wo...
2023-10-3157 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemArt in Print editor Susan Tallman on loving ambiguity in artIn Platemark s3e41, host Ann Shafer talks with Susan Tallman, an art historian and essayist who co-founded the journal Art in Print and served as its editor for its entire run, 2011–2019. A regular contributor to New York Review of Books and The Atlantic Monthly, she has authored and co-authored many books, most recently No Plan At All: How the Danish Printshop of Niels Borch Jensen Redefined Artists Prints for the Contemporary World, as well as the new catalogue raisonné of prints by Kerry James Marshall. Ann and Susan talk about the word "original" as an unhelpful ter...
2023-10-241h 21
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemStarting a new printshop in Brooklyn at Powerhouse Arts with Luther DavisIn s3e40, Platemark host Ann Shafer talks with Luther Davis, master printer and director of Powerhouse Arts, Brooklyn. This is a two-parter. For this interview, Platemark collaborated with its sister podcast Hello, Print Friend. Miranda Metcalf, Hello, Print Friend's host and creator interviewed Luther about his background and early career; Ann Shafer spoke with Luther about the present and future at Powerhouse Arts, a new non-profit arts center in a renovated transit power station on the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. Both Hello, Print Friend and Platemark's episodes will be available on both podcast channels. Luther has...
2023-10-171h 39
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemPowerhouse Arts Printshop's Luther Davis on Hello, Print Friend In this bonus episode, Hello, Print Friend creator and guest host Miranda Metcalf talks with Luther Davis, master printer and director of Powerhouse Arts Print Shop, Brooklyn, about his background and early career. Powerhouse Arts is new player in the printing/publishing ecosystem and warrants extended conversation with its leader. This is a two-parter in which Miranda converses with Luther and then in another episode, Ann Shafer speaks with Luther about the present and future at Powerhouse Arts. Thanks to Platemark's sister pod Hello, Print Friend and Miranda for collaborating on this two-parter. Both Hello, Print Friend a...
2023-10-1759 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHoP deep dive on ONE PRINT: Käthe Kollwitz, BattlefieldPlatemark hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig offer up a bonus HoP episode featuring a conversation about a single work of art. Occasionally we will drop a BONUS EP ONE PRINT, which will take a single work and pull it apart with an eye toward exploring subject matter, technique, style, and composition. The first of these episodes features the etching Battlefield, 1907, by Käthe Kollwitz. We hope this new kind of conversation resonates, and we'd love to hear your feedback and suggestions for other great prints worthy of a 90-minute episode. F...
2023-10-101h 33
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemSocial justice and satire with artist Sue CoeIn s3e39, Platemark host Ann Shafer speaks with Sue Coe, an artist and social activist. The pair were joined in the conversation by Tru Ludwig (Sue is one of Tru's art heroes) at Sue's home in the Catskill Mountains, New York. Sue creates art that goes right to the heart of an issue, whether it be animal cruelty, capitalism, authoritarianism, women's rights or any other progressive ideal. Images are sometimes difficult, (TRIGGER WARNING) and the conversation touched on some topics that may be distressing for listeners. Please know the discussion ranges from slaughterhouses and m...
2023-10-031h 25
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOn working with William Kentridge with printer Jillian RossIn this week's episode of Platemark (s3e38), host Ann Shafer talks with Jillian Ross, collaborative master printer and publisher with an eponymous imprint, Jillian Ross Print, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Ross returned to her native Saskatoon after many years in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she was the master printer at the David Krut Workshop (DKW) from 2003 to 2020. There, she worked with over 100 South African and international artists, most notably William Kentridge. Ross and partner Brendan Copestake founded Jillian Ross Print in 2021 in Saskatoon, where they continue working on collaborative projects in South Africa as...
2023-09-261h 28
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemPrinter Phil Sanders on the future of the printmaking ecosystem (part two)In the second part of their conversation, Ann Shafer and printer/publisher Phil Sanders continue talking about the state of the printmaking ecosystem. They talk about why supporting artists is important even if you don't like what they are doing, why that new Julie Mehretu set of etchings costs $250K, the imminent brain drain among our elder printers, and the importance of art and creativity to humanity's survival. Cynthia Bringle (American, born 1939). Blue Covered Jar with Fish. Ceramic. 21 inches tall. Rembrandt (Dutch, 1606–1669). The Three Trees, 1643. Etching, engraving, and drypoint. Plate...
2023-09-191h 07
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemPrintmaking ecosytem forecast with printer Phil Sanders (part one) In s3e36, Platemark host Ann Shafer speaks with printer/publisher and author Phil Sanders about the state of the ecosystem. Phil has a finger in nearly every pie in the ecosystem, so after a Platemark listener wrote in to ask about breaking into the publishing end of things, Ann turned to Phil. They talk about the history of print publishing after the print boom quieted down in the 1980s, why the prices of prints are in need of revision, and how to read a Joan Mitchell painting, among many other things. Their conversation stretches well...
2023-09-121h 09
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemBehind-the-scenes at ULAE with director Larissa GoldstonIn s3e35, Platemark host Ann Shafer talks with Larissa Goldston, director and owner of Universal Limited Art Editions, usually referred to by its acronym ULAE. We talk about ULAE's founder Tatyana Grosman, and her harrowing escape from first Siberia following the assassination of Czar Nicholas, and then from the Nazis in France. Larissa talks about the early days of ULAE, growing up there, how they find artists to work with, and all her favorite print projects. Larissa's father, Bill Goldston, was its printer and director for many years. With his retirement, Larissa has taken the reigns...
2023-09-051h 01
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemElectrolytic etching with artist Jason ScuillaIn s3e34, Platemark host Ann Shafer speaks with Jason Scuilla, artist and professor at Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS. The university is hosting the Mid America Print Council conference in the fall of 2024, and Jason was eager to talk about the conference and its call for proposals of all sorts. The deadline is the end of September 2023; the link is https://fromtheashes.k-state.edu/. In addition to the MAPC conference, Ann was eager to speak with Jason about his research into electrolytic etching, a non-toxic method of creating superbly detailed, precise, and rich etchings. They...
2023-08-291h 28
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOne of Jim Dine's favorite printers, Ruth LingenIn s3e33, Platemark podcast host Ann Shafer talks with Ruth Lingen, printer and owner of Line Press Limited, located in the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn. Line Press Limited does just about everything except screenprinting. Ruth is a jack-of-all-trades, and loves book arts the most, from papermaking to typesetting to printing and binding. After studying with the legendary Walter Hamady, Ruth got her start in New York with Joe Wilfer in the very early days of Pace Prints. She printed for many artists while at Pace, including Chuck Close and Jim Dine (for whom she still prints every summer...
2023-08-221h 07
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystems3e33 Ruth LingenIn s3e33, Platemark podcast host Ann Shafer talks with Ruth Lingen, printer and owner of Line Press Limited, located in the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn. Line Press Limited does just about everything except screenprinting. Ruth is a jack-of-all-trades, and loves book arts the most, from papermaking to typesetting to printing and binding. After studying with the legendary Walter Hamady, Ruth got her start in New York with Joe Wilfer in the very early days of Pace Prints. She printed for many artists while at Pace, including Chuck Close and Jim Dine (for whom she still prints every summer...
2023-08-2200 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemPlatemark TrailerWhat is it about prints and printmaking that draws such fervent practitioners, collectors, and fans? How are prints relevant to all our lives? What do all those people in the "print ecosystem" do anyway? Give Platemark a listen. Platemark podcast's host Ann Shafer looks at prints and printmaking in the context of museums, the market, critiques, and the print ecosystem in series one. Series two offers a history of prints and printmaking in the West. Series three offers interviews with the colorful characters of the print ecosystem, which is full of the nicest people in the art...
2023-08-2002 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemAll about intaglio prints, materials and techiniques, and history with Ad StijnmanIn s3e32 of Platemark, host Ann Shafer speaks with Ad Stijnman, an independent scholar of historical printmaking processes, specializing in manual intaglio printmaking techniques. He is also a professional printmaker. Ad is the go-to guy on all sorts of things. When he speaks, we listen. Beaming in from Amsterdam, our conversation covers all sorts of topics from paper sizing and watermarks to acids and chine collé. We talk about teaching people to look, really look, and be able to describe what they are seeing. We talk about the troubling lack of an internationally shared vocabulary—what col...
2023-08-151h 15
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Claude LorrainIn s2e29, Platemark hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig talk about Claude Lorrain, the arbiter of landscape painting in the 17th century. He worked most of his life in Rome and elevated landscape as a subject up the academic hierarchy by including small figural groups and naming the compositions with mythological or biblical subjects. He's known by various names that can be confusing. He was born Claude Gelée in the independent duchy of Lorraine, which is why the French call him le Lorrain. The English, who collected his works assiduously and even now have the highest number o...
2023-08-081h 30
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemPhotogravure deep dive with artist Lothar OsterburgIn s3e31 of Platemark, host Ann Shafer speaks with Lothar Osterburg, artist, professor and leading expert on the fine art of photogravure. These are basically photographs transferred to copper plates and printed as etchings. (It's, of course, more complicated than that.) In this way, it is possible to get images to print with continuous tone, as opposed to half-tone, or stepped biting. The results are luminous photographs printed with printer's ink. It's a result that cannot be achieved in any other way. Of course, one can manipulate the plate after etching the photographic image into it, a...
2023-08-011h 13
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemBonus: Tru Ludwig on creativity In this bonus episode, Platemark host Ann Shafer coaxed co-host Tru Ludwig into talking about being an artist and art historian, and how being a professor in both disciplines plays out. It's a fascinating confluence of ideas and passions in one person. Fun fact: Käthe Kollwitz is Tru's patronus. Another fun fact, Käthe is pronounced Kay-tuh. Tru's website: thepurplecrayonpress.com.
2023-07-2556 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOn being a beloved National Gallery curator with Ruth FineIn Platemark s3e30, host Ann Shafer speaks with Ruth Fine, retired curator from the National Gallery of Art. Ruth was curator of modern prints and drawings there from 1980–2002, followed by an additional period working on special projects in modern art. Since her retirement in 2010, Ruth has been working on exhibition and writing projects, as well as sitting on the boards of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, and others. As we are releasing this episode, Ruth has an exhibition up at the Phillips Collection featuring the photographic output of Frank Stewart. The show is up...
2023-07-181h 09
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemMokuhanga deep dive with artist April Vollmer In Platemark s3e29, host Ann Shafer speaks with April Vollmer, an artist working in mokuhanga (Japanese color woodblock printing), who also wrote the indispensable guide to that form: Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop (Berkeley: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2015). What's mokuhanga, you ask? It's a method developed in Japan that was used to print images that are probably familiar to you, like Hokusai's Great Wave. It allows artists to work with water-based inks (more environmentally friendly) on multiple blocks to build up images, which are printed by hand using a flat paddle called a baren. Each color is...
2023-07-041h 08
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOn writing THE print history textbook with Linda Hults, art historianIn s3e28, Platemark host Ann Shafer speaks with Linda Hults, retired professor of art history from the College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio. Linda wrote THE textbook on the history of Western prints, which any student of the topic will undoubtedly still have on their shelves. At nearly 1,000 pages, the book offers up more than 800 illustrations and covers print history from Gutenberg through the early 1980s. It also includes incredibly thorough notes, bibliography, glossary, and index. It is indispensable. Since retirement, Linda continues to contribute to the field essays and articles ranging in subjects from the devil...
2023-06-2057 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemProcessing inherited trauma of internment camps through art with Emma NishimuraIn Platemark s3e27, host Ann Shafer talks with Emma Nishimura, an artist and professor based in Toronto. Emma works in printmaking, photography, sculpture, and installation. Her work addresses ideas of inherited memory and trauma with a specific focus on the experiences her family and thousands of other Japanese Canadians endured during and following their forced incarceration during the Second World War. Episode image: Ann Gaby-Trotz. Emma Nishimura (Canadian, born 1982). Blending In, 2008. Photogravure and thread. 14 x 14 x 1 in. Courtesy of the artist. Emma Nishimura (Canadian, born 1982). Kay age 17, 1937, 2017. Photoetching on flax...
2023-06-0649 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Claude Mellan (part two)In s2e28, hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig conclude their two-part conversation about Claude Mellan. An encounter with Mellan's best-known work, The Holy Face of Christ on St. Veronica's Sudarium, is to be a witness to greatness. The engraving is an extraordinary feat by Claude Mellan and is a high-water mark in the history of prints. The artist had a magical ability to create an image of unparalleled pathos and intricacy using a single spiraling line. In this episode, Tru and Ann talk about this miraculous engraving along with a few other goodies. Get...
2023-05-0247 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOn being THAT professor for so many with curator Steve GoddardIn s3e24, host Ann Shafer speaks with Steve Goddard, curator emerita from the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Steve's specialty is prints of northern Europe (1450–present), although he has been known to stray into the graphic arts of the World War One era, as well as prints that sit at the intersection of art and the biological sciences. I'm sharing some of his favorite prints here. A beloved educator, Steve has inspired generations of students with his engaging and insightful approach to teaching. His connoisseurship and history of prints classes ar...
2023-04-251h 07
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Claude Mellan (part one)In s2e27, hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig begin a two-part conversation about Claude Mellan, who engraved the most astonishing portrait of Jesus Christ in the history of art. In fact, if it weren't for his print of the Holy Face on the Sudarium, Mellan may have dropped out of sight. But, he is worth looking at. He brought something to portraiture that is worth noting: a humanity and tenderness that one might think impossible to capture in engraving. Sir Anthony van Dyck (Flemish, 1599–1641). Self-Portrait (early state), from the series Iconography, 1628/41. Etching. Sh...
2023-04-181h 05
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOn running a not-for-profit art center with Kimberly Henrikson, Center for Contemporary PrintmakingIn Platemark s3e23, host Ann Shafer speaks with Kimberly Henrikson, Executive Director, Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, CT. CCP offers myriad services from contract printing, to artist's residencies, classes, workshops, and exhibitions. It really does it all. As CCP's executive director and administrator, Kimberly not only makes sure the lights are on, but also runs the budgets, raises funds, organizes programming, and curates exhibitions. Managing human resources and staffing, finance, marketing, programming, fundraising, as well as curatorial is no small feat. With a staff of four full time and three part time people, it's all...
2023-04-111h 09
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Jacques Callot (part two)In s2e26, hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig conclude their conversation about Jacques Callot, where there is always more than meets the eye. He's of interest for many reasons, including his practice of making faster-to-create etchings look like more-time-consuming engravings using his éschoppe. He is the first printmaker in Western art to record the atrocities of war. He heads up any list of artists in the history of prints using them to spread news far and wide about societal ills through visual means. He created some 1,400 prints in his career (no paintings!) and made some of t...
2023-04-0444 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOn running The Gallery at The Met Store with Laura Einstein In Platemark s3e22, host Ann Shafer talks with Laura Einstein, manager of the Gallery at the Met Store. Tucked away on the mezzanine of the bookstore at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a gallery space where limited edition, fine art prints are available for purchase. The Gallery (formerly known as the Mezzanine Gallery) has been a somewhat hidden gem at the Met since opening in the 1970s. Really affordable, wonderful prints are selected by Laura who always has time to talk shop with artist, buyers, students, and scholars. Make it a must-see on your next visit to...
2023-03-2856 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Jacques Callot (part one)In s2e25, hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig take an in-depth look at Jacques Callot, who is the first printmaker in Western art to record the atrocities of war. He heads up any list of artists using prints to spread news far and wide about societal ills through visual means. He created some 1,400 prints in his career (no paintings !) and made some of the most remarkable and smallest prints ever. This is a first half of a longer conversation. Stay tuned for part two. Episode image: [DETAIL] Jacques Callot (French, 1592–1635). The Fan, 1619. Etching and engraving. Sheet (tr...
2023-03-2157 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOn starting a print publishing business with Pam Paulson, Paulson Fontaine PressIn Platemark s3e21, host Ann Shafer talks with Pam Paulson, founder of Paulson Fontaine Press, Berkeley, California. After earning her MFA in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1982 (she was a teaching assistant for Robert Colescott), Pam cut her teeth in printmaking at Crown Point Press in downtown San Francisco. There she worked with luminaries such as John Cage and Richard Diebenkorn. In 1996, she started publishing prints as Paulson Press. She and Renée Bott joined forces as Paulson Bott Press, and following Renée's retirement in 2016, Pam is joined by Rhea Fontaine precipitating th...
2023-03-1459 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOn the joy of discovery in museum storerooms with curator Kimberli Gant, Brooklyn MuseumIn Platemark s3e20, host Ann Shafer talks with Kimberli Gant, curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum. While Kimberli's specialty isn't in prints per se, she is one of those unusual non-print curators who likes and appreciates prints and incorporates them into her projects. Among many projects, her work on Jacob Lawrence and his time in Nigeria led to the exhibition, Black Orpheus: Jacob Lawrence and the Mbari Club, which traveled to the Chrysler Museum, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and the Toledo Museum of Art, and unlocks an area of Lawrence's...
2023-02-281h 02
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Reproductive Prints (part four)Platemark s2e24 concludes hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig's conversation on reproductive prints. The stars of this episode are Hendrick Goltzius and Peter Paul Rubens. It's about the business of prints, artists getting their designs out there, and how these very transportable pieces of paper travelled throughout Europe and became catalogues of images for artists. Paper museums, if you will. Once again, for clarity, a reproductive print is one in which an artist creates a design (a drawing, painting, sculpture) and another artist creates a print after that original design. These can be sanctioned by the...
2023-02-211h 03
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemPrinting leads to collecting with Maryanne Ellison SimmonsIn s3e19, host Ann Shafer talks with Maryanne Ellison Simmons, printer and owner of Wildwood Press in St. Louis, MO. She and her husband, baseball hall-of-famer Ted Simmons, also collect contemporary art. A large portion of the collection is now at the Saint Louis Art Museum where it was celebrated in an exhibition in 2022. Listeners may remember that Ann and Tru Ludwig traveled to St. Louis to see this exhibition and interview curator Elizabeth Wyckoff (s3e7), artist Tom Huck (s3e4 and s3e13), and Ted and Maryanne. Sadly, the audio file from the conversation...
2023-02-1447 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemRepresenting artist estates with dealer Susan TellerIn s3e18, host Ann Shafer talks with dealer Susan Teller, whose eponymous gallery operates out of the Mana Fine Arts facility in Jersey City, NJ. Susan specializes in American paintings and works on paper of the mid-twentieth century. She also works with multiple artists' estates including Peggy Bacon, William Baziotes, Bernarda Bryson Shahn, Sue Fuller, Michael J. Gallagher, Peter Grippe, Fannie Hillsmith, Hugh Mesibov, Angelo Pinto, Anne Ryan, Louis Schanker, Karl Schrag, Judith Shahn, Ben Shahn, Mitchell Siporin, Harry Sternberg, Ansei Uchima, and Lynd Ward. Ann was eager to talk with Susan about managing artists' estates...
2023-01-311h 02
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Reproductive Prints (part three)Platemark s2e23 continues hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig's conversation on reproductive prints. Once again, for clarity, a reproductive print is one in which an artist creates a design (a drawing, painting, sculpture) and another artist creates a print after that original design. These can be sanctioned by the first artist or not or they can occur long after the first artist's death. It is customary to acknowledge all the artists in the strip of lettering at the bottom of the print (called the address). This way credit is given where due. Over time, reproductive prints became quite...
2023-01-241h 03
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOn the early days of print fairs with dealer Jeannot BarrIn s3e17, Platemark host Ann Shafer talks with print dealer Jeannot Barr, who organized the first (and many subsequent) New York Print Fair in 1984. They touch on pricing, buying at auction, fair organization, and a host of other business-of-art topics. They delve into the Ferdinand Roten Gallery (based in Baltimore) and his traveling mini print fairs set up in various schools and universities in the second half of the twentieth century. They also touch upon the Associated American Artists, whose tag line was Art in Every Home, as well as the proliferation of regional print collectors' clubs.
2023-01-1758 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOn taking in a Shark's Ink's archive with curator Hope SaskaIn s3e16, host Ann Shafer speaks with Hope Saska, chief curator and director of academic engagement at the CU Art Museum, that's the museum at the University of Colorado Boulder. Hope's specialty is in 18th-century British graphic satire and caricature. But like so many curators of works on paper, she can talk to you about Albrecht Dürer through tomorrow. CU Art Museum recently become the repository of the archive of the print publisher Shark's Ink, Lyons, CO. The Sharkive contains prints and related materials—all printed by Bud and Barbara Shark in the last 40 years—of co...
2023-01-0340 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOn printing for Jim Dine with printer Julia D'AmarioIn s3e15, Platemark host Ann Shafer talks with printer Julia D'Amario, who has been the printer at the Jordan Schnitzer Printmaking Residency at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in Otis, OR, since 2002. Formerly she printed for Pace Prints in New York from 1989–2008. In between all that, since 2008 she has spent summers printing for Jim Dine in his Walla Walla, WA, studio. In fact, Dine lists Julia among his favorite printers—and he has worked with many, many printers across the world. If that weren't enough, Julia is set to open her home shop to artists in the...
2022-12-201h 15
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemEngraving deep dive with artists James EhlersIn Platemark s3e14, host Ann Shafer speaks with James Ehlers, professor and chair of the studio art department at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas. It turns out, Emporia State offers the only BFA in engraving arts in the United States. Platemark listeners will know Ann has a soft spot for intaglio prints with an abiding love of engraving due to her studies of Stanley William Hayter. With so few artists working in engraving these days, the chance to speak with the professor of that discipline at the only US college to offer it was too good to...
2022-12-061h 05
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemWoodcut altarpieces with artist Tom HückIn a Platemark first we speak with a previous guest for a special update. Artist Tom Hück agreed to talk to hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig at his Evil Prints studio in Park Hills, Missouri, in August 2022. Hück is releasing his latest print edition on Thanksgiving Day, a rumination on American gluttony called Monkey Mountain Kronikle. Created over a number of years, Monkey Mountain Kronikle is a large-scale, double-sided woodcut triptych that opens and closes like a traditional altarpiece. It stars Lord Aporkalyptus and his bevy of brides. Dubbed a "devotional woodcut for the ages," the tr...
2022-11-221h 04
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemPolitics and prints in the Dutch Republic with curator Maureen WarrenIn s3e12, Platemark host Ann Shafer speaks with Maureen Warren, curator of European and (North) American art at the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. For ten years Maureen has been studying, researching, and writing about prints in the Dutch Republic, which was the basis of her dissertation at Northwestern University. At long last, all that hard work has come to fruition in an exhibition and scholarly catalogue. Fake News & Lying Pictures: Political Prints in the Dutch Republic examines the visual strategies of Dutch printmakers and the ways they used images to promote political interests...
2022-10-251h 00
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemWoodblock matrices as art with artist LaToya M. HobbsIn s3e11, Platemark host Ann Shafer talks with artist LaToya M. Hobbs whose commissioned installation will be on view as visitors enter the IFPDA Print Fair at the end of October 2022. The works will be front and center at the entrance and will no doubt garner lots of attention for LaToya. Speaking with LaToya was a distinct pleasure for Ann because the artist is based in Baltimore, is full-time faculty at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and recently had a monumental, five-part, carved wood piece on view at the Baltimore Museum of Art, which the museum subsequently...
2022-10-1859 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemMaking etching color palettes for artists with printer Julia Samuels, Overpass ProjectsIn s3e10, Platemark hosts Ann Shafer and Ben Levy talk with Julia Samuels, master printer and owner of Overpass Projects, Pawtucket, RI. Ann and Ben were thrilled to visit Overpass in person for the recording of this episode. It's so great to see what guests are talking about and to be able to take photographs of the space, artists, and prints. Julia creates her own work primarily in black-and-white linoleum cuts, but is, in fact, a natural colorist—it comes easily to her. She is on a mission to economize colors for artists she works with, an...
2022-10-111h 14
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemExquisite corpse-like prints with artists James Siena and Katia SantibañezIn s3e9 of Platemark, host Ann Shafer talks with James Siena and Katia Santibañez. Both artists, who are married to each other, are painters and printmakers who split their time between New York City and Otis, MA. In the past few years, they have collaborated on four reduction woodcuts with Shore Publishing. An exhibition of the full sets of working proofs for these collaborations were recently on view at Shore Publishing's sister gallery, Cheymore Gallery. Their work complements each other's and their collaboration with May Shore is truly wonderful. Find out how they met and how much t...
2022-09-271h 24
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOn creating with our subconscious minds with artist Dave CloutierIn s3e8, Platemark host Ann Shafer talks with Dave Cloutier who recently opened Center Arts and Studios (CAS) in the Mill Centre, Baltimore. CAS offers classes, equipment, critiques, guidance, and studio spaces to second-career artists. A passion project for Dave, it has long been his goal to encourage artists and their meaningful work to find each other. His belief in letting the work that needs to be made be made means giving over one's conscious self and embracing that mysterious place inside all of us, our subconscious. It takes maturity, patience, and generosity to get to that place...
2022-09-131h 01
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemBehind the scenes at the Saint Louis Art Museum with curator Elizabeth WyckoffIn s3e7, hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig sit down with Elizabeth Wyckoff, Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Saint Louis Art Museum, to talk about the exhibition Catching the Moment: Contemporary Art from the Ted L. and Maryanne Ellison Simmons Collection, which ran June 26–September 11, 2022. The Simmons collection provides an opportunity to take a deep dive into three artists they collected in depth: Kiki Smith, Enrique Chagoya, and Tom Huck. Other artists in the exhibition include Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Bruce Nauman, Michael Barnes, H.C. Westermann, Tony Fitzpatrick, and Kara Walker. The major through li...
2022-08-3046 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOn collborative printing at Pace Prints with printer Bill HallIn s3e6, Platemark host Ann Shafer talks with Bill Hall, master printer (retired) at Pace Prints for nearly thirty years. His earliest years in New York were spent working at the legendary Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop. After his arrival at Pace Prints, his intaglio skills were honed under the tutelage of Aldo Crommelynck, the legendary printer of many of Picasso's late prints. At Pace, he was in charge of the intaglio area bringing those talents to bear on prints by legendary artists like Jim Dine, Helen Frankenthaler, Chuck Close, Robert Mangold, and Tara Donovan. Bill is a soft-spoken...
2022-08-161h 14
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOn supporting the printmaking ecosystem with podcaster Miranda MetcalfIn s3e5, Ann Shafer talks with fellow podcaster and print lover Miranda Metcalf, whose show, Hello, Print Friend, is the internet's most popular podcast about prints and printmaking. Hello, Print Friend's Instagram account has over 53K followers! Both Shafer and Metcalf are self-described print evangelists and have much to discuss. Listen in as two print nerds geek out about all things print related and more. Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528). Rhinoceros, 1515. Woodcut. 233 x 292 mm. (9 3/16 x 11 1/2 in.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. USEFUL LINKS Hello, Print Friend's Instagram Hello, Print Frie...
2022-08-021h 07
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemBadboy artist Tom Hück on his satirical, monumental woodcutsPlatemark's series three offers its first interview with an artist, Tom Hück. And what a great place to start. In s3e4, Platemark hosts Ben Levy and Ann Shafer sit down with Hück whose large-scale, multi-panel woodcuts skewer rural life in the American Midwest in all its unabashed weirdness and glory. They talk about Motörhead, Iron Maiden, Albrecht Dürer's Rhinoceros, and the rest of Hück's heroes. And, the artist explains why his Midwestern surname carries a German umlaut. Ya gotta love an artist who loves Old Master prints. Episode image: Hück by Hüc...
2022-07-191h 17
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOn Israel van Meckenem with curator James WehnIn s3e3, Ann Shafer and Ben Levy talk with James Wehn, Van Vleck Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, about prints, museums, curatorial work, and Israel van Meckenem. Episode photo: Eric Baillies Israhel van Meckenem (German, c. 1445–1503). The Angry Wife, c. 1495/1503. Engraving. Sheet (trimmed to plate mark): 16.7 x 11.1 cm. (6 9/16 x 4 3/8 in.). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
2022-07-0531 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOn dream team Joe Freye, Jason Ruhl, and Patrick Smyczek, collaborative printers at Tandem PressIn s3e2, Ann Shafer and Ben Levy sit down with the three master printers at Tandem Press: Joe Freye, Jason Ruhl, and Patrick Smyczek. Find out what makes a dream team in a print shop.
2022-06-2155 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemOn transforming the art landscape in Madison with Paula Panczenko and Russell PanczenkoIn this first episode of series 3 (interviews with luminaries of the print ecosystem), Ann Shafer and Ben Levy sit down with Paula Panczenko, executive director of Tandem Press, and Russell Panczenko, retired director of the Chazen Museum of Art. Both entities are affiliated with the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
2022-06-0753 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Rembrandt (religious scenes)In s2e20, Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig conclude their discussion of Rembrandt van Rijn, the man who made etching was it is today. In this third of three episodes on Rembrandt, they tackle his etchings of religious scenes. Rembrandt made a lot of them and they are intense. They are special because Rembrandt humanizes the people in them, which really hadn't happened before. It's almost as if viewers can find themselves in the scenes. Biblical stories are brought to life under Rembrandt sure hand. Rembrandt (Dutch, 1606–1669). Christ Before Pilate (the large plate), 1636. Etching. Sheet (trimmed to pl...
2022-05-241h 41
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Rembrandt (genre scenes and portaits)In s2e19, Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig continue talking about the best etcher ever, Rembrandt van Rijn. In this second of three episodes on Rembrandt, they tackle genre scenes (those would be scenes of everyday life) and portraits. Rembrandt is the consummate storyteller and in these etchings he gives us regular, everyday people like print dealers, cooks, beggars, and even rat catchers. His etchings are brimming with life. Remember, Rembrandt lives in Amsterdam, which is part of Holland, a country that had recently gained independence from Catholic Spain. These subjects are new territory for us. In...
2022-05-101h 01
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Rembrandt (landscapes)In Platemark e2e18, Tru Ludwig and Ann Shafer begin a three-parter about the master of etching, Rembrandt van Rijn. In this first episode on RvR, Tru sets the stage and takes us through some of Rembrandt's key landscape etchings, including the iconic The Three Trees. (The second episode looks at genre—scenes of everyday life—and portraiture; the third looks at religious imagery.) It's funny, but every landmark in the history of prints seems like a reaction against what came before it. Remember, we really haven't seen anyone take up etching with this much success so far...
2022-04-261h 04
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Hendrick GoltziusIn s2ep17, Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig talk about one of their favorite engravers of all time, Hendrick Goltzius. A Dutchman, Goltzius was preternaturally gifted with a burin and made glorious prints of all sorts. Ann's favorite is the Farnese Hercules, a large engraving showing two Dutchmen looking up at a giant sculpture of Hercules, which viewers see from behind. Quirky and wonderful, these prints are worth a deep dive. In s2ep17, Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig talk about one of their favorite engravers of all time, Hendrick Goltzius. A Dutchman, Goltzius was preternaturally gifted...
2022-04-121h 11
The Truth In This Art: Stories That MatterExploring Intaglio Printmaking and Art's Definition with Ann Shafer on The Truth in This Art PodcastWelcome to 'The Truth in This Art' podcast, hosted by Rob Lee, engage in this meaningful conversation with Ann Shafer, a distinguished independent curator, art historian, and writer renowned for her expertise in intaglio printmaking, particularly the works of Stanley William Hayter and Atelier 17. With a background as an associate curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Ann has curated an array of exhibitions and initiated the Baltimore Contemporary Print Fair, showcasing international presses, publishers, and dealers. Currently, she is orchestrating the return of the print fair to Baltimore in April 2022 while also hosting...
2022-03-3039 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Pieter Brueghel the ElderIn s2ep16, Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig talk about the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter Reformation that affected so much of the 16th century in Western Europe. The focus of the episode is Pieter Brueghel the Elder who developed a new vocabulary to talk about the lives of peasants, as well as lessons to live by. And don't forget those sins and sinners. Episode image: Pieter van der Heyden (Netherlandish, c. 1525–1569), after Pieter Brueghel the Elder (Netherlandish, 1526/30–1569). Big Fish East Little Fish, 1557. Engraving. Sheet (trimmed to platemark): 9 x 11 5/8 in. (22.9 x 29.6 cm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New...
2022-03-291h 19
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints The Protestant Reformation (part two)In s2ep15, Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig continue talking about game-changer Martin Luther and the effects of his 95 theses against the Catholic Church, which brought about the Protestant Reformation in 1517. In this episode they talk about the biting criticism of politics in the church and the schism with the Lutherans/Protestants that is the subject of prints by Hans Holbein the younger and Lucas Cranach the elder. Episode image: Hans Holbein the younger (German, 1497/98–1543). Martin Luther as Hercules Germanicus, 1522. Woodcut. Image: 34.5 x 22.6 cm (From Heinrich Brennwald and Johannes Stumpf, Schweizer Chronik, Ms. A 2, before p. 150). Zentralbibliothek, Zü...
2022-03-1533 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints The Protestant Reformation (part one)In s2ep14, Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig look at Martin Luther and the effects of his 95 theses against the Catholic Church. Once the only patron of the arts, the Church faced a reckoning when Martin Luther brought about the Protestant Reformation in 1517. In addition to getting rid of the intercessor (the church and its priests), Protestantism calls for no images to distract. What's an artist to do in these newly Protestant countries (Germany and Flanders for this episode's purposes)? One could turn to landscape, portraiture, still lifes, myths, and fantastical subjects. Or one could turn to biting criticism...
2022-03-0145 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints The Italians (Ghisi and Barocci)In s2e13, Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig talk about reproductive engravings and how they helped spread Italian art and style to Northern European countries. Italian Giorgio Ghisi worked for Antwerp publisher Hieronymous Cock and did much of the heavy lifting. The episode concludes with Federico Barocci and two of the loveliest etching and engravings yet discussed. Episode image: Federico Barocci (Italian, 1528–1612). The Annunciation, c. 1585. Etching and engraving. Sheet (trimmed within platemark): 17 3/8 × 12 5/16 in. (441 × 312 mm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Domenico Campagnola (Italian, 1500–1564), possibly after a drawing by Titian (Italian, c. 1485/90–1575). Battle of the Nude Men, 151...
2022-02-151h 19
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemBONUS EP Baltimore Fine Art Print FairPlatemark host Ann Shafer is thrilled to announce the first Baltimore Fine Art Print Fair is scheduled for April 29-May 1, 2022. Ann and Tru Ludwig talk about the print fair's origins as a production of the Print, Drawing & Photograph Society of the Baltimore Museum of Art. That former fair ran from 1990-2017, and has been shuttered. Ann, along with partners Brian Miller and Julie Funderburk, have created a new, commercial art fair. More than twenty presses, publishers, dealers, and galleries will be in town offering the latest in contemporary prints and editions. The fair takes place at 1100 Wicomico S...
2022-02-0539 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints The Italians (Titian)In episode 12, Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig discuss the titan of Venetian painting, Titian, who happened to also make prints. Plus Ann and Tru take a deep dive into the epic first book of anatomy, Vesalius' On the Fabric of the Human Body, 1543. It turns out Titian had a hand in some of the woodcut illustrations in it. Episode image: page from Andreas Vesalius (Italian, 1514–1564). De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body). Padua: School of Medicine, 1543. (Photo: museoteca.com) https://museoteca.com/r/en/work/5782/andreas_vesalius/de_humani_corporis_fabrica_on_the_fa...
2022-02-011h 16
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints The Italians (Parmigianino)In s2e11, Tru Ludwig and Ann Shafer talk about chiaroscuro woodcuts before moving on to the Mannerist painter and printmaker Parmigianino. Coming off the High Renaissance and the Sack of Rome in 1527, artists were looking for ways to shake it up. Out goes the solid forms and placid emotions and in comes the twisting, off-kilter compositions and extremes in emotions. Parmigianino is the first to really take up etching in a meaningful way (it's been engraving until this point--remember, Dürer tried etching but hated it). Tru makes the case for Parmigianino as a crucial creator. Ann becomes a...
2022-01-181h 27
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Tru's Artist's ManifestoIn this bonus episode, Ann Shafer talks to Tru Ludwig about being an artist and art historian, and how being a professor in both disciplines plays out. It's a fascinating confluence of ideas and passions in one person.
2022-01-1456 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints The Italians (MarcAntonio Raimondi)In s2e10, co-hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig continue talking about Italian printmaking in the 16th century focusing on MarcAntonio Raimondi, Agostino Veneziano, Giulio Romano, and our first female artist, Diana Scultori. They take a deep dive into MarcAntonio's Judgment of Paris (after a drawing by Raphael), from which Edouard Manet extracted the figural group for Déjuener sur l'herbe. Plus, the 1527 Sack of Rome changes everything. Episode image: Marcantonio Raimondi (Italian, c. 1480–before 1534), after Raphael (Italian, 1483–1520). The Judgment of Paris, c. 1510–20. Engraving. Sheet (trimmed within platemark): 11 7/16 x 17 3/16 in. (291 x 437 mm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
2022-01-041h 30
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints The Italians (Mantegna)In s2e9, co-hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig continue their conversation about early Italian printmaking with a strong focus on the engravings of Andrea Mantegna. They also talk about chiaroscuro woodcuts, always keeping the North within eyesight. Episode image: Andrea Mantegna (Italian, c. 1431–1506). Risen Christ between Saints Andrew and Longinus, c. 1470/75. Engraving. Sheet: 329 x 306 mm. (12 15/16 x 12 1/16 in.). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Master E.S. (German, active c. 1450–1467). St. Matthias, c. 1450–60. Engraving. Sheet (trimmed within platemark): 149 × 89 mm. (5 7/8 × 3 1/2 in.). Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. Master of the E-Series Tarocchi (Italian, active c. 1465...
2021-12-211h 03
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints The Italians (Pollaiuolo)In s2e8, co-hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig talk about the early history of prints and books in Italy, comparing it to Northern Europe. Differences in style and materials are discussed using the example of Masaccio's The Holy Trinity with the Virgin and St. John and donors, 1425–27, the fresco painting in chapel in Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy, and the Ghent Altarpiece, Jan and Hubert van Eyck's Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, 1432, an oil and tempera on wood multi-paneled altarpiece in St. Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium. Circling back to prints, we also talk a lot about Antonio Pollaiuolo's en...
2021-12-071h 06
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Techniques: IntaglioIn s2e7, co-hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig discuss intaglio printmaking techniques, which include engraving, etching, mezzotint, and drypoint. They also talk about aquatint and other methods of getting an image incised into a copper plate. Images related to the episode are at platemarkpodcast.com.
2021-11-2332 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Techniques: ReliefIn s2e6, co-hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig discuss relief printmaking techniques, which include woodcuts and linoleum cuts. They also talk about reduction woodcuts, aka suicide woodcuts.
2021-11-1029 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Materials: Paper and InkIn s2e5, co-hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig talk about paper as a support and the ink that is transferred from a matrix. Without these two materials, prints wouldn't exist.
2021-11-0926 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Albrecht Dürer part twoIn Platemark s2e4, co-hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig finish talking about Albrecht Dürer. He had a remarkable career, and changed the perception and reception of prints in Europe at the beginning of the 16th century. Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528). The Fall of Man or Adam and Eve, 1504. Engraving. 25.1 x 20 cm (9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528). Ecce Homo, from the series Large Woodcut Passion, c. 1498. Woodcut. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528). Ecce Homo, from the series Large Woodcut Passion, c. 1498. Woodcut wi...
2021-10-261h 40
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Ann and Tru's Art OriginsIn this bonus episode, co-hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig talk about how they got into art in the first place. From early childhood encounters through college, the hosts reveal why they love art and believe wholeheartedly in its transformative power.
2021-10-1536 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints Albrecht Dürer part oneIn s2e3, co-hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig finally start talking about an artist. While there are artists of note before Dürer--say Martin Schongauer--he really changes everything. From his monogram claiming authorship to marketing his works, Dürer is the man. So much so that Ann and Tru only get through half of his story. A second episode will continue Dürer's story. Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528). Self-Portrait at Thirteen, 1484. Silverpoint on prepared paper. 27.3 x 19.5 cm. (10 3/4 x 7 5/8 in.). Albertina, Vienna. Jan van Eyck (Netherlandish, 1390–1441). Arnolfini Portrait, 1434. Oil on wood. 32 x 24 in. National Gallery, London.
2021-10-121h 23
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints The BeginningsIn s2e2, co-hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig talk about Europe in the 15th century and the state of printmaking, the printing press, moveable type, and early woodcuts. This episode sets the stage for the rest of the story of the history of Western printmaking.
2021-09-2853 min
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemHistory of Prints IntroductionPlatemark Series Two, History of Prints kicks off with Ann Shafer and co-host Tru Ludwig introducing the series. They talk about teaching the History of Prints (HoP) for the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) using the print collection at the Baltimore Museum of Art over the course of 15 years. They talk about how the class brought them together and about how transformative it was for hundreds of MICA's BFA students.
2021-09-141h 17
Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystemBonus Episode: Introducing The Curator's Choice podcastAnn Shafer has a new podcast called The Curator's Choice in which she talks about one object (or set of set of objects) and why she likes it, how she would pitch it, and other behind-the-thinking stuff.
2021-08-2402 min