Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystem
Why do fine art prints (etchings, woodcuts, lithographs, screenprints, etc.) and printmaking draw such fervent practitioners, collectors, and fans? Find out how prints were the first internet disseminating images since the mid-15th century. Find out why it takes a village to make, sell, study, and collect these affordable beauties. Who are all these people in the print ecosystem, anyway? Series one looks at prints and printmaking and how they fit in in the context of museums, the market, critiques, and the print ecosystem. Series two offers a history of prints and printmaking in the West. Series three offers interviews with the people who perform various roles in the print ecosystem. Join us and find out why prints and printmaking occupy the best little corner of the art world. We'll turn you into a fan, too. Platemark offers a bit of art history, artistic creativity, and introduces listeners to artists, printers, dealers, print publishers, gallerists, art historians, curators, and scholars. Host Ann Shafer is a curator specializing in prints and printmaking. Formerly she was a curator at the Baltimore Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art. She's a podcaster, blogger, and organizer of the Baltimore Fine Art Print Fair (baltimoreprintfair.com).
Show episodes
In this episode of Platemark, Ann talks with Sue Oehme, owner of Oehme Graphics in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Sue shares her journey into printmaking, starting with her initial foray into lithography before discovering her love for etching. We talk about the unique process and intricate technique behind her renowned
In this episode of Platemark, Shraddha Ramani and William Villalongo discuss their monumental project Printing Black America: Du Bois’s Data Portraits in the 21st Century, which is being published in fall 2025. This modern update of W.E.B. Du Bois's data visualizations from 1900, which was created in response to the Ge
In this episode of Platemark, Ann talks with artist and educator Nick Ruth to discuss his multifaceted approach to art. Nick, who lives in Rochester and teaches at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, shares insights into his work across various media, including painting, drawing, and printmaking. They talk about his cre
In this episode of Platemark, Dr. Quahana Hendree, owner of Q Hendree Art Consulting in St. Louis, Missouri, shares her unique journey as an art consultant. Despite not being directly involved in the printmaking scene, Dr. Hendree brings a wealth of knowledge about art and its importance in various settings including c
In Platemark's history of prints series, Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig present a second installment of their ONE PRINT series, this time on Peter Milton's The Train from Munich, 1991. In this episode, Ann and Tru take a single work considered to be a high point in the history of prints, and pull it apart to explore its sub
In this episode Ann talks with Margaret Morgan Grasselli and Elizabeth Savage about their new, massive book, Printing Colour 1700–1830: Histories, Techniques, Functions, and Receptions (Oxford: Oxford University Press and the British Academy, 2025). The book, coming in at nearly 450 pages with 350 illustrations, is a l