Anchor Graphics is a non-profit fine art printshop and gallery in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

that is part of the Art + Design Department at

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1890, it has 6,493 students (as of fall 2021) pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. It i ...

. It was founded in 1990 by David Jones and Marilyn Propp. It is known for the quality of its prints as well as its educational programming.

Programs

For twenty years, Anchor provided free classes for high school students, and had an outreach program called Press on Wheels (POW) which brought

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proces ...

into schools, galleries, museums, and community centers. Workshops were open to students of all ages and taught handmade prints. During the Toulouse-Lautrec and Rembrandt exhibitions at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

, a press was brought to the museum, and Anchor staff demonstrated the print processes and tools used by both artists. Ann Weins writes in DEMO 3, pages 24–28: "Anchor Graphics maintains an impressive schedule of classes, workshops, residencies, and lectures, all the while publishing exquisite, hand-pulled prints." The Artist-in-Residence Program was created to provide uninterrupted use of the shop by national and international printmakers for research and the development of new work. Scraping the Surface, a free lecture series open to the public, presented talks by artists, curators, museum specialists, conservators, collectors, and others with an interest in prints, and was funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art from 2006 - 2010. Located in Ukrainian Village, and then Chicago's River North, Anchor moved to the South Loop upon becoming a part of the Art + Design Department at

in 2006. According to David Mickenberg, former director of the David Museum and Cultural Center, and of the Block Museum at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

, " nchor's reputationhas to do with. . . the balancing act between education and collaborative printmaking. . . " Anchor provides Artist-in-Residencies, open studio time for the Chicago community, adult classes, and publishing and contract work. Master Printers David Jones and Chris Flynn have published editions by artists such as the late

Ed Paschke Edward Francis Paschke (June 22, 1939 – November 25, 2004) was an American painter. His childhood interest in animation and cartoons, as well as his father's creativity in wood carving and construction, led him toward a career in art. As a stud ...

, the late

Ellen Lanyon Ellen Lanyon (December 21, 1926 – October 7, 2013) was a painter and printmaker from Chicago, Illinois. She received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), her MFA from the University of Iowa School of Art and Art His ...

Jim Nutt James T. Nutt (born November 28, 1938) is an American artist who was a founding member of the Chicago surrealist art movement known as the Chicago Imagists, or the Hairy Who. Though his work is inspired by the same pop culture that inspired ...

Kay Rosen Kay Rosen (born 1943, Corpus Christi, TX) is an American painter. Rosen's paintings are included in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of Americ ...

, Karl Wirsum,

Phyllis Bramson Phyllis Bramson (born 1941) is an American artist, based in Chicago and known for "richly ornamental, excessive and decadent" paintingsWainwright, Lisa. "Phyllis Bramson," ''Women's Caucus for Art Honor Awards 2014'', New York: ''Women's Caucus f ...

, Eleanor Spiess-Ferris

Kerry James Marshall Kerry James Marshall (born October 17, 1955) is an American artist and professor, known for his paintings of Black figures. He previously taught painting at the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 2017, Marshall ...

, Rachel Niffenegger, Saya Woolfolk and others.

Funding

Anchor Graphics is funded from private donations and from the Illinois Arts Council. Previous funders include the MacArthur Foundation Fund for Arts and Culture

References

External links

*https://www.colum.edu/academics/creative-and-media-spaces/book-paper-print-studios *http://blogs.colum.edu/demomagazine/issues/ {{coord, 41, 52, 25.4, N, 87, 37, 31.8, W, region:US-IL_type:edu, display=title Art museums and galleries in Chicago Columbia College Chicago Printmaking groups and organizations