Pipeline Projects, in Mayfair, London, is honored to present a collection spanning ten years from the EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop (EFA RBPMW). This venerable institution, founded in 1947, holds the distinction of being the longest-running community print workshop in the United States.
Our past decade has been brimming with a diverse collective of artistic talents, spanning from painters and sculptors to photographers, filmmakers, and performance artists. Among them is the revered Devraj Dakoji, who has dedicated over 30 years to teaching and mastering the art of printmaking. Our Blackburn Legacy Fellows, including the illustrious Dindga McCannon and Otto Neals, have been honing their craft in our printshop since the 1970s. Moreover, we've had the privilege of presenting artists handpicked by museum curators and art professional, specifically those who have yet to collaborate with a Master Printer.
We'd love for you to be a part of our journey and explore the historical printshop that's been a creative haven for artists globally.
As Pipeline Project is primarily an educational arts space, we kindly request you to make an appointment by emailing pipelineprojectsmayfairarts@gmail.com. We appreciate your understanding. The exhibition remains open until June 15th.
History
At the age of 14, Robert Blackburn (1920-2003) a son of Jamaican immigrant parents began attending community art centers, such as Harlem Arts Workshop, the Uptown Art Laboratory, and 306 Studio—later government-funded (FAP-WPA) Harlem Arts Community Center. Years later, this merge of civic and community was reflected in his own model for the printmaking workshop. After studying at Art Students League, in a post-war boom funding for these centers had ended and racial segregation continued. That is when Blackburn decided in late winter, 1947 to open his own workshop, The Printmaking Workshop, on 17th street - centering on his own experience of collaboration, experimentation, and a welcoming environment.
After 50 years, he received five honorary doctoral degrees, countless other honors, from Cooper Union, NYU and Skowhegan; and the MacArthur Genius Grant in 1992. His shop became a magnet for diverse international participants, resulting in a richly varied graphic output unlike any other workshop in the United States. Although Blackburn taught widely, was a highly respected color lithographer, and served as the first master printer for ULAE (Universal Limited Art Editions, where he printed the first 79 editions for artists including Helen Frankenthaler, Grace Hartigan, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Larry Rivers) he remained dedicated to the Printmaking Workshop.
The Print Archives(TPA)There are over 4,000 artists with over 20,000 prints in the archives. Over 60 countries are represented in The Print Archives. Artists include: Ed Clark, Elizabeth Catlett, Emma Amos, Charles White, Krishna Reddy, Faith Ringgold, Melvin Edwards, among others.
In 2002, as he began to suffer from health issues, Blackburn closed The Printmaking Workshop to re-opened in 2005 as Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, a program of the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, to continue affordable access to traditional and experimental print techniques. Today, we continue to be the only community printshop in Manhattan with Stone Lithography.
Last year, EFA RBPMW began filming oral histories centering the ongoing story of the workshop’s impact, made possible by support from Hauser & Wirth Institute. The collection, produced by Camille Crain Drummond, will go to the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory University where it will live among The Camille Billops and James V. Hatch Archives—in the true spirit of the intrepid duo’s early oral histories covering Bob’s cultural legacy.
To stay engaged with development of this project and continue supporting our work, please sign up for the newsletter at rbpmw-efanyc.org/contact.
Pipeline Projects is a non-profit space that focuses on workshops, conferences, exhibitions and screenings by artists particularly women and historically BAME, Deaf and BSL users, and refugees.
