Blackburn Study Center

The Blackburn Study Center (BSC) is dedicated to advancing the research and scholarship of founder, Robert Blackburn, and The Printmaking Workshop (PMW). Spanning nearly eight decades—and continuing to grow—our mission is to uncover and highlight the many contributions the PMW had on art history of the twentieth century through research and free public programming including exhibitions with partnering organizations.

Prints and related materials are available for loan. For inquiries, please contact rbpmw@efanyc.org.

To schedule individual or group appointments, please email rbpmw@efanyc.org.



Support Bob Blackburn’s legacy.

Support accessible printmaking.

Support print education.



Support the Blackburn Study Center

The preservation of the Study Center and Archives is crucial to the legacy of Robert Blackburn, whose contributions to printmaking and education continue to inspire and impact the arts community. Your support is essential to maintaining this important space for education, legacy-building, and access to printmaking history.

Over the past year, we have made significant strides in preserving and promoting the legacy of Robert Blackburn and advancing our programming:

  • The Only Thing That Lasts: An Oral History of Robert Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop, a video-based oral history to document founder Robert Blackburn (1920-2003) and the history of the community workshop funded by Hauser & Wirth Institute.

  • An Online Digital Platform for the The Only Thing That Lasts: An Oral History of Robert Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop funded by the Dedalus Foundation.

  • Recipients of a Documentary Heritage and Preservation Services for New York (DHPSNY). First Phase: Assessment and Planning of The Printmaking Workshop’s papers.

  • Stephanie Santana and selections from the Archives: Dindga McCannon, Emma Amos, Betye Saar and Mavis Pusey, at the Armory Show, highlighted in The New York Times.

  • Chakaia Booker | Works on Paper, in conjunction with her public art installation in the Garment District, supported by the Garment District Alliance

  • Where We At | Black Women Artists Now!, organized by Dindga McCannon, in partnership with Weeksville Heritage Center (July 20 - November 2, 2024), along with programming In Dialogue | Dindga McCannon & Stephanie Santana, Free Workshops with Linda Hiwot, Dianne Ifill and Joyce Wellman; Dindga McCannon x OlaRonke Akimowo from The Free Black Women’s Library on Collectives and Self-Organizing 

  • NYPL Line & Thread Exhibition, featuring Dindga McCannon and Chakaia Booker through January 12, 2025 Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

  • MoMA’s Vital Signs: Artists and the Body and recent acquisition by Harmony Hammond, through February 22, 2025

These accomplishments are a testament to the importance of preserving the history and accessibility of printmaking education. With your donation, we can continue to build on this momentum, ensuring that these vital programs, exhibitions, and outreach initiatives remain available to artists, students, and the broader community.

Your support is instrumental in sustaining the legacy of Robert Blackburn and advancing the future of printmaking education.

NEW BENEFIT EDITION
by Michael Kelly Williams Harlem Stroll

Edition 1-3: $900
Thereafter: $1,200

All proceeds go to support the
Blackburn Study Center and Archives.


PURCHASE online

For inquiries, please email essye@efanyc.org

Viscosity collagraph, Dimensions: Paper size: 22 x15 image size: 13 x 9.25 inches; Edition Variable: 10. Printed by Michael Kelly Williams, Ethan Tate and Mika Nida, with Kathy Caraccio and John Andrews.


about Michael Kelly Williams

The Only Thing That Lasts: An Oral History of Robert Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop

In 2023, EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop was awarded a Hauser & Wirth Institute grant to complete a video-based oral history entitled The Only Thing That Lasts: An Oral History of Robert Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop, to document founder Robert Blackburn (1920-2003) and the history of the community workshop.

Raised amid the Harlem Renaissance and of Jamaican American descent, Blackburn was a visionary African-American artist, a pioneering master printmaker, and a celebrated educator. As the longest-running community print shop in the United States dating back to 1947, the Workshop holds a diverse record of printmaking in the United States that reflects the communities with which Blackburn participated, including the Harlem Renaissance, Black Arts Movement, and Caribbean, Latino, Asian, Indigenous, feminist, and ecologically-focused activism. 

The Only Thing That Lasts features fourteen narrators sharing personal stories that capture the socio-historical context and collaborative culture of The Printmaking Workshop. Highlights include Ademola Olugebefola introducing his involvement in Weusi Artist Collective, founded in Harlem, 1965; Dindga McCannon discussing the cultural shift in the 1960s and 1970s of natural hair to locks; Eleanor Magid recounting the New York City Teachers’ Strike of 1968; Nitza Tufiño talking about her early development of El Museo del Barrio; Michael Kelly Williams telling a story about Geri Allen’s album The Printmakers inspired by The Printmaking Workshop; Richard Powell describing the studio’s influence on his earliest curatorial work; and Nanette Carter describing Blackburn’s support of Black artists: “Again in the Black world of ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, New York City, this man was behind all of us…Everyone knew him.”

EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop extends its deepest gratitude to Hauser & Wirth Institute for their generous support, and to Camille Crain Drummond for her guidance and expertise throughout the entirety of this project. We also wish to thank HC Huỳnh, Francesca Strada, Larry Jones, and all project narrators for helping preserve Bob’s legacy. For information about accessing the full oral histories please contact rbpmw@efanyc.org or essye@efanyc.org.