An entry · Work · Life
Printmaker
Ink, a screen, a steady pull, and one image becomes a hundred, each pressed by hand.
Why the human is the point
A printmaker builds an image in reverse, then coaxes it onto paper one pull at a time. Screen printing and relief both reward patience: cut the block or burn the screen, mix the ink, register the paper, and pull with exactly the right pressure so the print lands crisp. No two impressions are identical, and a maker learns to read each one, adjusting the squeegee or the inking until the run sings. It is a craft of the whole body and a good eye, the arm doing the work while the mind judges the result. Hold a hand-pulled print up to the light and you can feel where a person leaned in. The printmaker turns a single idea into something you can hold, and share.
Work it
Do the work.
Jobs, apprenticeships, and training that put a person in the room.
On now
- Association
Membership
The Boston Printmakers · Boston, Massachusetts
Printmakers across North America can apply to join this juried professional alliance for exhibitions, scholarships, and residency opportunities.
- Association
Annual Open Exhibition
Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers · London, United Kingdom
Printmakers can submit work to this society's annual open show at Bankside Gallery, a route toward joining Britain's leading printmakers.
- Apprenticeship
Advanced Skills Training Program for future artisans
The Adachi Foundation For the Preservation of Woodcut Printing · Tokyo, Japan · One or two trainees a year, with a summer internship first
Digital printing thinned the trade, so the foundation takes on one or two people a year and teaches them to carve and print ukiyo-e.
Ways in
- Course
Printmaking course or workshop series
Learn screen or relief printing at an art school, print studio, or community press that teaches the full process hands-on.
- Guild
Time in a shared print studio
Join an open-access print workshop, where members share presses and skills and you build fluency over many sessions.
- Entry job
Assist a working print shop
Start as a shop hand pulling editions and reclaiming screens to learn production standards from experienced printers.
Ways in, gathered by hand.
Add yours to the atlasLive it
Live the hour.
Experiences, classes, and places where the presence is the whole point.
On now
Ways in
- Workshop
Intro screen or lino printing workshop
Take a one-day class at a local print studio and go home with prints you pulled yourself.
- Visit
Open-studio print day
Visit a community press on an open day to try a press and meet the makers who run it.
Ways in, gathered by hand.
Add yours to the atlasKept nearby
