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. 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 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 San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middle E ...

and the Oakland International Airport. Other recent projects have incorporated a mix of traditional and digital techniques, such as a digital photogravure method in which a 'resist' is digitally printed on an etching plate, developed by Magnolia Editions director

Donald Farnsworth Donald Sheridan Farnsworth (born July 18, 1952 in Palo Alto, California) is an American artist and inventor. He is currently the director of Magnolia Editions in Oakland, California. Artworks and collaborations at Magnolia Editions In 1981, Farn ...

, and projects which merge painting and printmaking by printing acrylic color over hand-painted, three-dimensional textures.

History

Primarily operating a

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating 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 processed techniq ...

studio, since the 1990s Magnolia Editions has also gained a reputation for its tapestry editions. A set of proprietary color matching techniques developed by Farnsworth based on his years of

experience are used to digitally direct electronic

loom A loom is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but th ...

s at a mill in Belgium, putting an industrial technology in the service of fine artists. Magnolia has published Jacquard tapestry editions by artists such as Chuck Close, Alex Katz, Masami Teraoka, Ed Moses,

Leon Golub Leon Golub (January 23, 1922 – August 8, 2004) was an American painter. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he also studied, receiving his Bachelor of Arts, BA at the University of Chicago in 1942, and his Bachelor of Fine Arts, BFA and Ma ...

, Hung Liu,

Enrique Chagoya Enrique Chagoya (born 1953) is a Mexican-born American painter, printmaker, and educator. The subject of his artwork is the changing nature of culture. Chagoya teaches at Stanford University, in the department of Art and Art History. He lives i ...

, Bruce Conner, and Nancy Spero, 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 and the

White Cube White Cube is a contemporary art gallery founded by Jay Jopling in London in 1993. The gallery has two branches in London: White Cube Mason's Yard in central London and White Cube Bermondsey in South East London; White Cube Hong Kong, in Centra ...

Gallery in London. Magnolia Editions has published twelve tapestry editions by Kiki Smith 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 minutes ...

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. The first tapestry was unveiled at the Mint Museum in North Carolina in honor of the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

. 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 *

Squeak Carnwath Squeak Carnwath (born 1947 in Abington, Pennsylvania) is a contemporary American painter and arts educator. She is a Professor Emerita of Art at University of California, Berkeley. Background Carnwath has explained "Squeak" as "a childhood name ...

* Chuck Close * Bruce Conner *

Lewis deSoto Lewis deSoto (born 1954 in San Bernardino, California) is an American artist of Cahuilla Native American ancestry. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive Director Lawrence Rinder writes: "deSoto has explored a wide variety of media in his ...

Guy Diehl Guy Louis Diehl (born 1949, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American artist best known for still life paintings and prints, many of which incorporate direct references to historically significant artists and artworks. Background and education ...

* Andy Diaz Hope and Laurel Roth Hope * Ralph Goings *

Gus Heinze Gus Heinze (born May 1, 1926 in Bremen, Germany) is an American photorealist painter. Early work From 1947-1950, Heinze studied under Robert Weaver, Howard Trafton, and Robert Ward Johnson at the School of Visual Arts and the Art Students Leag ...

* Alex Katz * Hung Liu * Ed Moses *

Deborah Oropallo Deborah Oropallo (born 1954) is an American artist who is best known for her digital montages. Oropallo produces artworks that conflates symbolic meanings, history and gender. Oropallo lives and works in Berkeley, California. Background Oropall ...

* Mel Ramos * Kiki Smith * Nancy Spero * Masami Teraoka * Peter Voulkos *

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