About this Event
Discussion: The Story of Printmaking A Global History of Art with author Holly EJ Black and Educator & Printmaker, Rob Swainston
The significance of printmaking within the history of art is often underplayed, obscured or misunderstood. (Yale UP, 2026) by Holly EJ Black tells the story of artist prints from across the globe in a manner that is accessible and engaging. It demystifies how prints are made – from woodblock to etching – and explores how, throughout history, printmaking has defied easy categorisation, straddling ‘fine’ art practices and commercially minded production. In fact, it has been employed as much for creative experimentation as it has for disseminating information.
Beginning in ancient East Asia and travelling through Renaissance Europe, revolutionary Mexico, and post-Apartheid South Africa, these ten chapters celebrate the interconnected nature of the printed image and its multiple histories, while illuminating the lesser-known players who have been deliberately or erroneously overlooked. Whether formed by slicing linoleum or plunging plates into acid, then distributed via bound books or pasted posters, the print has not just replicated the world, it has shaped it.
Holly EJ Black is a London-based journalist and Contributing Arts Editor at The World of Interiors. Her writing has appeared in titles including The Art Newspaper, ArtReview, the Financial Times, House & Garden and Wallpaper. She studied at London College of Printing and Chelsea College of Arts, and her first book Artists on Art: How They See, Think & Create was published in 2022.
Rob Swainston | Born and raised in rural Pennsylvania and based in New York, Rob Swainston is an Assistant Professor of Art+Design in Printmaking at Purchase College and Master Printer for collaborative printshop Prints of Darkness. His art sits at the intersection of printmaking, painting, installation, and sculpture. Rob received a BA in Political Science and History from Hampshire College and an MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University. With this dual focus, Rob claims: “All images are historically negotiated assemblages between humans, machines, materials, and social structures. In a society where social knowledge and power have become pure image, the print technologies historically central to this transformation can act as double-agent. Artists working in print media can be chameleons moving between image-makers and image-reproducers.” Rob has been awarded numerous residencies including Skowhegan, Marie Walsh Sharpe, and the Fine Arts Work Center. Solo and group exhibitions include Marginal Utility, David Krut Projects, Bravin Lee Programs, Socrates Sculpture Park, Smack Mellon, Munson Williams Proctor Museum of Art, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, IPCNY, Canada Gallery, Queens Museum, and the Bronx Museum. Rob is presently the Ludwig Foundation Professor for Printmaking at the Weissensee Kunsthochschule Berlin for 2020-21.
Event venue & nearby stays
EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, 323 West 39th Street, New York, United States
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