Name and location of workshop:
Anchor Graphics, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

Name of directors or partners. Are they artists as well as printmakers?
David Jones, Director Founder, artist/printmaker; Joanna Goebel, Assistant Director, artist (video); Chris Flynn, Printer, artist/printmaker, musician.

Name of person responding to this questionnaire:
David Jones.

Date of founding of the workshop:
Founded in 1988, became operational in November 1990.

What is your workshop like?
Anchor Graphics is a community shop for artists of varying degrees of expertise. It's is a friendly place where an artists' vision can be embraced and celebrated. We occupy 3700 square feet of space on the top floor of a five story building located in downtown Chicago. We have a gallery space located adjacent to our printmaking facilities. There is a lot of light and ample wall space. The shop can accommodate groups or individuals. We sponsor classes for adults and young people.

We have a large etching press, two litho presses, and ample table space for working. Visitors who come to visit our gallery space can witness printmakers working on their various projects. Our youth workshops are offered at no cost to our students.

What media do you work in?
Lithography, photography, painting & drawing.

Are you public or private? How are you financed?
We are a public shop. Anchor Graphics is supported through fees for services, fundraising benefits, contractual partnerships, the sale of limited edition prints published by Anchor Graphics in collaboration with established artists, donations from individuals and corporations, the "Friends of Anchor Graphics" membership program, a CityArts II grant from the City of Chicago, Department of Cultural Affairs; The Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; WPWR-TV Channel 50 Foundation; The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; The Dew Foundation; The Polk Bros. Foundation; The Sara Lee Foundation; The Orbit Fund; The Mayer and Morris Kaplan Family Foundation; The Roy & Niuta Titus Foundation; The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation.

How many staff do you have currently?
Three paid staff and several interns and several volunteers.

Do you have other activities besides printmaking, such as classes, exhibits, etc.? We have exhibits which feature work of printmakers almost exclusively. We have classes for youth and adults and tours and workshops.

Are you print publishers, as well? Do you sell prints?
Yes, we publish the works of nationally and internationally-known artists. and we work with emerging artists.

How did your workshop originate?
I started out as a photographer, then moved on to become a painter, then a printmaker. It was during my printmaking phase I fell in love with the lithographic medium. I got a job as a production printer at a shop called Landfall press located in Chicago. For more than three years I practiced a craft that I have grown to understand and love. I was able to work with some wonderful people. During my third year I was presented with an opportunity to run a small shop and work with some artists from Latvia, Lithuania, China and the United States. It was at this shop I discovered what a challenge and what a joy it was to collaborate with artists, and I learned about what it took to run a small shop.

At that point that I realized that being a production printer was not going to satisfy my urge to grow and change. I started developing an idea of a shop, a place were people could come and experience printmaking in an environment that was conducive to exploration and dialogue. I started to write down what I wanted in a shop, and what I didn't. I started sharing my vision with anybody who would listen. It took about a year to find a space, equipment and enough money to start the shop.

We (my wife and I) came up with the name "Anchor Graphics" while talking to a priest. The anchor is the symbol of hope and we wanted our shop to be a place for work, and creativity and also a place of hope, a place where artists could come and feel good about what they were doing, a place were they would be encouraged to explore their images.

The first shop occupied a 1500 square foot space, we had one press, and one table. Our first edition was printed at another shop. With prints from that edition we were able to purchase our litho press and pay one month's rent. It has been a steady upwards journey since then.

If you had to start again, what would you do differently?
Of course I would like to have had more money to begin with and a partner who would have assisted with the day-to-day operations of the organization. In the early days it was my wife Marilyn who put down her brushes (she is a painter) to assist with running the organization. I didn't really have a plan, I don't think I ever thought the organization would be successful. I just knew I wanted to work with people and make prints. If I were to do it again I would have better financing and a business partner with a clear vision of the long-term realities of running an organization.

How has the workshop evolved from the early days? Are you still doing the same things in the same way, or have you changed substantially?
We have purchased additional equipment and moved to a larger space. We are still doing the same things, but also new things. We have built on our successes by adding a lecture series, an artist in residency program and adult classes. Our latest initiative is our Press-on-Wheels program, where we take workshops, lectures and demonstrations on the road.

We try to adhere to our vision which is: "Anchor Graphics is a not-for-profit printshop and gallery that brings together, under professional guidance, a diverse community of youth, emerging and established artists, and the public to advance the fine art of printmaking by integrating education with the creation of prints."

Is your workshop unique or different from the others? In what way?
I would like to think we are unique, but at the same time I know that here are other organizations doing the same thing. One of the ways we are different is that we are not a co-op which requires the financial participation of the artists. This permits us to welcome artists who might be interested in exploring printmaking for a short period of time. By being an open shop we can entertain anyone who is interested in prints and printmaking.

What is your method of working with artists?
We invite artists in to work and then publish their prints. We have also produced prints for and with artists by contract. With publishing we bear all of the cost associated with the project and with contract projects the artists pay us for all of the labor, and costs associated with the project. Other artists, pay a shop fee and work on their own images using the facilities.

Who are some of the artists with whom you've had the most successful (on all levels) collaboration?
We have worked with Ed Paschke, Karl Wirsum, Ellen Lanyon, Hollis Sigler, Marilyn Propp, and Kerry James Marshall. These are just of a few of our artists and they were all a joy to work with, each with his/her own approach, unique imagery and temperament.

Tell us a bit more about the most interesting ones: incidents, anecdotes...
The first real collaboration that I experienced was with Ilmars Blumbergs an artist from Latvia. He had made prints before but never with a printer from the USA, so our first obstacle was language. It soon became clear that we understood lithography in different ways, and we were strangers to one another. At first there was a bit of tension but we soon began to understand each other by gestures and simple sentences.

After our third or fourth print together, I felt comfortable suggesting things like paper, or ink color, always trying to be sensitive to his wishes. Once, when he was having trouble choosing the colors for a print, I suggested that we might try a different color. Ilmars gave me an odd look and then said, "Let's try. The color worked, and he gave me a big hug and exclaimed, "You are my master printer!" It was that experience with Ilmars that led me to open Anchor Graphics.

Do you work with special papers?
We work with Arches, Rives, Somerset and Lana papers, all European 100% cotton papers. We work with some oriental papers for Chine Colle printing, but most of the work we do is lithography.

How do you feel about the current moment in printmaking? Are you optimistic or pessimistic? Why?
I think it is an exciting time, with all of this new technology available I'm interested in seeing how images are going to evolve over the next several years. As with any new technology there will be those who are threatened by the newness, the mechanical nature of it. Wasn't there an outcry when photography was invented? I image there was quite an outcry when the first lithograph was exhibited as art. And so it is with computer images.

Now, that being said, I see very little with this new medium that moves me. I am encouraged that there are individuals who are bending the rules, learning the new language to speak of moments. I see printmaking as a hub in the wheel of expression. printmaking embrace, painting, drawing, photography and the digital media and makes everything its own, embraces it and celebrates the unique qualities of each. I find that very exciting.

What do you think are the major issues the community of printmakers needs to address?
I see the need for printmakers to change how they see themselves. I for one have spent more than my share of time thinking like a second class citizen of the art world. I am beginning to see that printmaking is able to flow through any medium, I think that freaks some artists out. We printmakers don't stay neatly in our box. Another thing I would say is not to be concerned too much with how a thing is done but what it says.

I have exclaimed more than once, "Wow, what a wash!" (lithographic) but I didn't see the image for what it was. I want to be more intentional about the image as opposed to the technique used to create it. I am beginning to think, "To hell with how it was done, does it have anything to say?"

There is also the issue of integrity, I think that there should be descriptions, explanations given with every print sold or exhibited. I think this especially true with digital prints. There are individuals out there would have consumers believe that what they are getting is special and unique when in fact the images are nothing but glorified posters. The documentation is only as honest as the person writing it. Are the computer files defaced or destroyed, the same as plates or stones? Should they be?.

I think the most important issue facing printmakers and artists of today is one of education. We have to be our own advocates, we have to teach the little one's of the importance of art, its impact not just on the culture but on the soul. We must be willing to teach the little ones what a blessing it is to work with their hands. I am not concerned about creating artists, that will be out of our control, but we introduce the joys and freedom of creativity to those around us, that's what is important.

Do you have norms for the editions done in your workshop? What are they? What do you consider the numerical limit for a true limited edition?
Usually our editions number about 30. For a while we were pulling editions of fifty and that just seemed like to many so we cut back. Because our presses are hand operated the prints are smaller in size and in number I'm not interested in competing with the shops with the biggest and fastest presses.

What's the best thing about having a printmaking workshop?
The best thing is that there is this wonderful group of people who gravitate round the press. I get a great deal of satisfaction knowing that printmaking is a universal language which unites us all. I have worked with artists from different countries and we all speak the same language of light, form, imagery, music and poetry.

And the worst?
Dealing with people who don't care about the beauty and subtlety of the medium. Having to work in the same world with people who will say whatever it takes to get a sale, and have no qualms of misleading the public.

Regarding the marketplace, who buys limited-edition fine-art prints?
Hopefully someone who loves the image. I think the range is unlimited, I know individuals who make payments when buying a print because they have to have it, and others pay cash. But they too have to have the print. The people who purchase our prints buy more because of an inward need as opposed to buying for investment purposes.

What do you think might be done to make art buyers more aware of the true limited-edition fine-art print?
Artists should take the time to talk with people about what they do, even give demonstrations to those who might be interested.

What is your opinion of the current upsurge of digital fine-art prints?
Buyer beware! Not so long ago it was serigraph prints(silkscreen). To a large extent is a way for unscrupulous individuals to sell something to an unknowing consumer. Again, it's about educating the public.

Can the traditional hand-pulled print "coexist peacefully" with the digital print? Absolutely!

What are your principal sources of information about the world of printmaking? Books, workshops, other artists, experimenting.

How do you buy your supplies? Local suppliers? Mail order? Internet?
I buy my supplies locally, through the mail and on the Internet. I like to look for materials that are not sold through traditional venues like art-supply stores. I ask myself, "Is there a manufacturer who makes the same thing for some other purpose?"

Whom do you consider the most relevant, best printmakers at work today?
There are too many to mention, of course, but my favorites right now are Michael Kreuger, Hugh Merrill, Jeannine Coupe Ryding, Anita Jung, and Tom Christison.

Where do you think printmaking will go in the next 10 years?
I think that digital image making will continue to put its stamp on art, but at the same time I think there will be swarms of individuals who will want to get their hands on a scribe, or draw on a piece of stone. I think they will want to make contact with their hands and with their hearts. I mean we will always want to putting our hands on stones as a way of saying we exist, that we were here.

Anchor Graphics
119 W. Hubbard St. 5W
Chicago, Illinois, USA, 60610
E-mail print@anchorgraphics.org
Web: http://www.anchorgraphics.org