Visit to the EFA
Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop

Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts

Fellow and Sponsor members

Learn firsthand about the processes, tools, and materials of printmaking during this tour of the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, part of the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts. The Workshop is a co-operative lithography, intaglio, relief, screen printing, and digital printmaking workspace, which provides professional-quality facilities to artists and printmakers of every skill level. The tour will conclude with a lithography demonstration. 

A light breakfast reception will be available at the beginning of the event.

About Robert Blackburn

Opened in 2005, the EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop continues the legacy of artist, teacher, and printmaker Robert Blackburn (1920–2003). In 1948, with his mentor Will Barnet, Blackburn opened a community print shop; in 1971, the operation was incorporated as the not-for-profit Printmaking Workshop, which continued until 2001. Recognized for an egalitarian ethos, Blackburn’s facility attracted a diverse group of artists, among them, Emma Amos, Howardena Pindell, and Elizabeth Catlett, whose work I am the Negro woman (1946–47) was reprinted at the Workshop in 1989 and retitled I am the Black Woman. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Blackburn also served as the first Master Printer for Universal Limited Art Editions, where he printed works by Helen Frankenthaler, Jasper Johns, Larry Rivers, and others. Before his death in 2003, Blackburn worked closely with the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts on the plans for the printmaking facility named in his honor. Learn more.

Fellow and Sponsor members are invited to this event. The invitation is for two individuals per membership household. Registration instructions will be provided by email.

To join or upgrade, call (212) 570-3641.