Tamarind Institute is a lithography workshop created in 1970 as a division of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM, United States. It began as Tamarind Lithography Workshop, a California non-profit corporation founded by June Wayne on Tamarind Avenue in Los Angeles in 1960. Both the current Institute and the original Lithography Workshop are referred to informally as "Tamarind."
Tamarind was founded in the absence of an American print shop dedicated to serving artists, and during a period when American artists tended to reject lithography and collaborative printing in favor of the more "direct...immediate" possibilities of abstract expressionist painting. [1]
Faced with a paucity of opportunities on all fronts and a medium which seemed on the verge of extinction, Wayne sought to create more than just a studio:
June Wayne's critical vision—a perception at the core of the Tamarind proposal—was that there were many facets to the problem, none of which could be solved in isolation from the whole. It would be insufficient to entice artists to make lithographs if they could not find opportunities for true collaboration with highly qualified artisan-printers, and it would be insufficient to establish fine workshops without thought to the economic climate in which they might exist. [1]
Tamarind Institute's website lists the following goals, developed by founding director June Wayne with associate director Clinton Adams and technical director Garo Antreasian in 1960: [2]
Tamarind can be credited with single-handedly reviving the medium of lithography in the US, both insofar as they made the medium "respectable" and viable and also in that their dedicated research led to technical and economic breakthroughs with a visible impact on lithography in particular and printmaking in general; e.g., lightfast inks, durable and consistent printmaking paper, precise registration systems, aluminum plate printing, and lightweight, large diameter rollers are but a few important aspects of printmaking which either originated at or were refined by Tamarind. The workshop also established several now-customary procedures for editioned prints, such as precisely recording and documenting every edition, and affixing both a workshop chop and a printer's chop to each proof or impression in recognition of the printer's important role. [1]
Below is a partial list of some of the many artists who have created editions at Tamarind: [3] [4] [5]
One of the principal goals of the Tamarind Institute is the training of printers. Over the years, the training of these professionals has evolved since its creation in 1960. What began as an eight-week basic training course eventually developed into a two-year program. There are five levels in the program: student printer, candidate printer, assistant printer, senior printer, and master printer. [11] There have been over 100 Master Program certificates awarded by the Tamarind Institute. [12]
The first master printer graduate from Tamarind was Irwin Hollander of Hollander's Workshop in New York City. [13] Judith Solodkin was the first woman to complete the program. [14] Joe Funk was the first Tamarind fellow, serving between 1960 and 1961. [15] [16] From 1972 to 1973, Chen Lok Lee received a fellowship from the Ford Foundation, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, to study at Tamarind. [17] Lee went on to found Mantegna Press II, with Richard Callner, in Philadelphia, PA. [17]
Lithography is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German author and actor Alois Senefelder and was initially used mostly for musical scores and maps. Lithography can be used to print text or images onto paper or other suitable material. A lithograph is something printed by lithography, but this term is only used for fine art prints and some other, mostly older, types of printed matter, not for those made by modern commercial lithography.
Emmi Whitehorse is a Native American painter and printmaker. She was born in Crownpoint, New Mexico and is a member of the Navajo Nation. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico and grew up on the open land northeast of Gallup, New Mexico in a family where only the Navajo Language was spoken.
June Claire Wayne was an American painter, printmaker, tapestry innovator, educator, and activist. She founded Tamarind Lithography Workshop (1960–1970), a then California-based nonprofit print shop dedicated to lithography.
Kenneth E. Tyler, AO is a master printmaker, publisher, arts educator and a prominent figure in the American post-war revival of fine art, limited edition printmaking. Tyler established leading print workshops and publishing houses on both West and East coasts of the United States and made several innovations in printmaking technology. His technical expertise and willingness to experiment on a bold scale drew many famous and influential artists to his workshops, among them Frank Stella, Helen Frankenthaler, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney, Robert Rauschenberg, Anthony Caro and Jasper Johns. Ken Tyler remains active as an educator and promoter of fine art printmaking, and mentor of a younger generation of printers through his various training and collecting institutions in Singapore, Japan, Australia and the US. The largest collection of prints produced at Tyler's successive workshops is currently held by the National Gallery of Australia.
Daniel Owen Stolpe was an American artist, painter, sculptor, master printmaker, fine artist book publisher, poetry book illustrator, and the founder of Native Images Editions, Santa Cruz, California.
Joseph T. Funk (c.1914–1981) was an American artist, printmaker, and educator. He was a sculptor, lithographer, and muralist. Funk worked as a master printmaker at Tamarind Lithography Workshop, Kanthos Press, and Joseph Press.
The University of New Mexico Art Museum is an art museum at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. The museum's permanent collection includes nearly 30,000 objects, making it the largest collection of fine art in New Mexico.
Margo Humphrey is an American printmaker, illustrator and art teacher. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Stanford after earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the California College of Arts and Crafts in printmaking. She has traveled in Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, and Europe and has taught in Fiji, Nigeria, Uganda, and the University of Maryland. As a printmaker, she is known for her "bold, expressive use of color and freedom of form", creating works that are "engaging, exuberant and alive." Her techniques for layering colors are uncommon in lithography. Her work is considered to be "in the forefront of contemporary printmaking."
Ernest Frank de Soto was an American master printmaker and lithographer, who specialized in American and Mexican prints during his career. He established and directed his own printing workshop, the de Soto Workshop, from 1975 to 1993.
Theodore F. "Theo" Wujcik was an American artist who taught more than 30 years at the University of South Florida.
Barbara Tisserat (1951–2017) was an American artist and lithographer born in Denver, Colorado. She taught lithography at Virginia Commonwealth University's School of the Arts. She was a member of One/Off Printmakers and also taught at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Robinson House lithography workshop with Marilyn Bevilacqua. She was active with the Richmond Printmaking Workshop and served on the Advisory Board of Studio Two-Three in Richmond, Virginia. She was a member of the Summer 2007 graphics faculty at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and was a visiting artist and lecturer in the Lyceum program at Emory and Henry College.
Irwin Hollander (1927–2018) was an American artist and master printmaker, based in New York City. He helped revive lithography as a fine art around the 1960s. He had a printing studio called Hollander’s Workshop.
The NSCAD Lithography Workshop was a program active at NSCAD University from 1969 to 1976 that gave practicing artists the opportunity to visit the school and produce limited edition prints in collaboration with a Master printer. The workshop allowed NSCAD students to witness professional artists develop their ideas and create work through the medium of printmaking. The Lithography Workshop succeeded in elevating the status of the school, both in terms of innovation and technical capacity.
Garo Zareh Antreasian was an American printmaker and educator. He was one of the co-founders of the Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles, California.
Byron Gordon McKeeby (1936-1984) was an American artist, educator and master printmaker known primarily for lithography. McKeeby's interest dovetailed with a burgeoning contemporary community in advancing lithography as an art form. He was active in all form of print exhibition. He built a full scope printmaking department of rank at the University of Tennessee that exists today.
Osmeivy Ortega Pacheco is a Cuban visual artist based in Havana, Cuba. He works primarily in large-scale, monochromatic lithographs featuring the human body and animals.
Master printmakers or master printers are specialized technicians who hand-print editions of works of an artist in printmaking. Master printmakers often own and/or operate their own printmaking studio or print shop. Business activities of a Master printshop may include: publishing and printing services, educational workshops or classes, mentorship of artists, and artist residencies.
Lynton Richards Kistler (1897–1993) was an American master printmaker, small book publisher, and author. He became known as the best stone lithographer in the United States, at the peak of his career in 1950s. He owned and operated the lithography press, Kistler of Los Angeles.
Chen Lok Lee was a Chinese-born American printmaker, painter, and educator based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Bob Evermon is a studio artist and academic. He is a Professor Emeritus at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.
Within a year he was the first master printer trained at Tamarind. As he said in his oral history, "I absolutely fell in love with the idea of working closely with artists all day."
Coordinates: 35°4′49.8″N106°37′9.7″W / 35.080500°N 106.619361°W