The Printmaking Program embraces a full range of technologies and ideas as part of the contemporary art and culture dialogue. We encourage students to explore the multiple possibilities of print and book arts to develop an individual and sustained pathway as an artist, whether printmaking is the central practice or the support for other processes.

The program encourages interdisciplinary projects and collaborations with students in the Graphic Design, Illustration, Painting/Drawing, Photography, Textiles, and Writing and Literature programs.

Along with a dedication to teaching students to create expressive works, faculty members have a commitment to sustaining a strong community and a supportive working environment. They bring diverse approaches and professional practices to the studio classroom.

PRINTMAKING STUDIOS

The Printmaking Program is taught mainly in five, great studios on the Oakland campus in Martinez and Founders Halls.

• The large, main shop in the Martinez 2 complex, also called the Simon Blattner Print Studio, is used for intaglio (etching, drypoint, photo-etching, etc.), lithography, monotype, and digital printmaking. It has a large French tool-etching press, two additional etching presses, two lithography presses, more than 100 litho stones (small, medium, and large), and an acid room.

• A second studio, which is also a part of the Martinez 2 complex, is for relief printing (woodcut and linocut) and critique. It has a relief press and a sign press.

• A third studio, which is in Founders 104 is a combined screen/photo printmaking and papermaking/book arts studio. It has a large exposing table, a screen wash-out area, and a coating facility, each in separate rooms in the Founders complex. The papermaking equipment includes a Hollander beater, a hydro-pulper, numerous molds for various sheet sizes, and couching screens to practice a combined Eastern/Western technique.

• The fourth studio, which is in Founders 103 is dedicated to book arts including letterpress and contains two Vandercook presses, a large-type sign press, a photopolymer platemaker, several hundred cases of wood and metal type, and bookbinding equipment.

• The fifth studio, also in the Martinez 2 complex, is a dedicated small print shop that is primarily used for editioning with an etching press for seniors and graduate students only.

PRINTMAKING RESOURCES

We also have a great teaching print collection, which is housed in the library and accessible to undergraduate and graduate students and faculty for research.

The Printmaking facilities include is a space for rotating Printmaking student exhibitions, which we call the “clean room” in the Martinez 2 complex, along with a large, outdoor space for community events and barbeques.

Last, the program offers digital film and paper output options for photographic processes and the digital printmaking course in the Digital Output Center on the Oakland campus.