Magnolia Editions, also known as Magnolia Tapestry Project and Magnolia Press, was founded in 1981 and is a fine art studio and printshop, located in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. Magnolia Editions publishes fine art projects, including unique and editions works on paper, artist books, and public art.

About

The studio includes facilities for

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

and intaglio printing as well as digital printing onto substrates (such as gessoed panel, glass, leather, plexiglass, aluminum, or raw linen). Several artists have worked at Magnolia to realize major commissions for the San Francisco International Airport and the

Oakland International Airport Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown located in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by the Port of Oakland and has domestic passenger f ...

. Other recent projects have incorporated a mix of traditional and digital techniques, such as a digital

photogravure Photogravure (in French ''héliogravure'') is a process for printing photographs, also sometimes used for reproductive intaglio printmaking. It is a photo-mechanical process whereby a copper plate is grained (adding a pattern to the plate) and ...

method in which a 'resist' is digitally printed on an etching plate, developed by Magnolia Editions director Donald Farnsworth, and projects which merge painting and printmaking by printing acrylic color over hand-painted, three-dimensional textures.

History

Primarily operating a printmaking studio, since the 1990s Magnolia Editions has also gained a reputation for its

tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads ma ...

editions. A set of proprietary color matching techniques developed by Farnsworth based on his years of printmaking experience are used to digitally direct electronic looms at a

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Textile mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, putting an industrial technology in the service of fine artists. Magnolia has published

Jacquard Jacquard may refer to: People * Albert Jacquard (1925-2013), French geneticist and essayist * Joseph Marie Jacquard (1752-1834), French weaver and inventor of the Jacquard loom * Robert Jacquard (born 1958), American politician Other uses * A M Ja ...

tapestry editions by artists such as

Chuck Close Charles Thomas Close (July 5, 1940 – August 19, 2021) was an American painter, visual artist, and photographer who made massive-scale photorealist and abstract portraits of himself and others. Close also created photo portraits using a very l ...

Alex Katz Alex Katz (born July 24, 1927) is an American figurative artist known for his paintings, sculptures, and prints. Early life and career Alex Katz was born July 24, 1927, to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, as the son of an émigré who ha ...

Masami Teraoka Masami Teraoka (born 1936) is an American contemporary artist. His work includes ''Ukiyo-e''-influenced woodcut prints and paintings in watercolor and oil. He is known for work that merges traditional Edo-style aesthetics with icons of American cul ...

, Ed Moses, Leon Golub,

Hung Liu Hung Liu (劉虹) (17 February 1948 – 7 August 2021) was a Chinese Americans, Chinese-born American contemporary artist. She was predominantly a painter, but also worked with mixed-media and site-specific installation and was also one of the f ...

, Enrique Chagoya,

Bruce Conner Bruce Conner (November 18, 1933 – July 7, 2008) was an American artist who worked with assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography. Biography Bruce Conner was born November 18, 1933 in McPherson, Kansas.His well- ...

, and

Nancy Spero Nancy Spero (August 24, 1926 – October 18, 2009) was an American visual artist. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Spero lived for much of her life in New York City. She married and collaborated with artist Leon Golub. As both artist and activist, Nancy ...

, among others. Each tapestry work typically contains 17,800

warp Warp, warped or warping may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books and comics * WaRP Graphics, an alternative comics publisher * ''Warp'' (First Comics), comic book series published by First Comics based on the play ''Warp!'' * Warp (comics), a ...

threads and 8 groups of repeating colors. Magnolia Editions tapestries have been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide including the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

and the White Cube Gallery in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Magnolia Editions has published twelve tapestry editions by

Kiki Smith Kiki Smith (born January 18, 1954) is a West German-born American artist whose work has addressed the themes of sex, birth and regeneration. Her figurative work of the late 1980s and early 1990s confronted subjects such as AIDS and gender, whil ...

since the artist was invited by Donald Farnsworth in the early 2010s to try her hand at the medium. Smith notes that the tapestries provide an opportunity to work at a larger scale ("I never thought I could make a picture so big") and to work with color, which she does not frequently do otherwise.

Fundraising

In August 2011, Magnolia Editions published "Sacred Pine," an open edition print sold as a fundraiser for nonprofits helping to rebuild Japan after the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six mi ...

and trying to eliminate nuclear power plants located on fault lines in California. In September 2012 Magnolia Editions published two tapestry editions and three print editions by Chuck Close depicting President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

. The first tapestry was unveiled at the

Mint Museum The Mint Museum, also referred to as The Mint Museums, is a cultural institution comprising two museums, located in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Mint Museum Randolph and Mint Museum Uptown, together these two locations have hundreds of collection ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

in honor of the Democratic National Convention. These tapestries and prints were sold as a fundraiser to support the Obama Victory Fund. A number of the works were signed by both Close and Obama."Chuck Close, President Obama, and an Art Sale"
newyorker.com. Retrieved on 2013-02-13.

Artists

The following is a partial list of artists whose work has been published by Magnolia Editions: *

Faisal Abdu'Allah Faisal Abdu'Allah (born 1969 in London) is a British artist and barber. His work includes photography, screenprint and installations. Life and work Abdu'Allah was born Paul Duffus in 1969 and grew up in a Pentecostal family. He was educated at Wi ...

* Squeak Carnwath * Enrique Chagoya *

* Lewis deSoto * Guy Diehl * Andy Diaz Hope and Laurel Roth Hope *

Ralph Goings Ralph Goings (May 9, 1928 – September 4, 2016) was an American painter closely associated with the Photorealism movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was best known for his highly detailed paintings of hamburger stands, pick-up trucks ...

* Leon Golub * Gus Heinze *

* Ed Moses * Deborah Oropallo *

Mel Ramos Melvin John Ramos (July 24, 1935 – October 14, 2018) was an American figurative painter, specializing most often in paintings of female nudes, whose work incorporates elements of realist and abstract art. Born in Sacramento, California, to ...

Peter Voulkos Peter Voulkos (born Panagiotis Harry Voulkos; 29 January 1924 – 16 February 2002) was an American artist of Greek descent. He is known for his abstract expressionist ceramic sculptures, which crossed the traditional divide between ceramic ...

William T. Wiley William Thomas Wiley (October 21, 1937April 25, 2021) was an American artist. His work spanned a broad range of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, film, performance, and pinball. At least some of Wiley's work has been referred to as ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Magnolia Editions website

"Artists' complex visions become reality at printer Magnolia Editions,"
Oakland Tribune. August 18, 2006. Culture of Oakland, California Companies based in Oakland, California Art in the San Francisco Bay Area Printmaking groups and organizations