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Platemark Episodes

July 18, 2023

s3e30 on being a beloved National Gallery curator with Ruth Fine

In Platemark s3e30, host Ann Shafer speaks with Ruth Fine, retired curator from the National Gallery of Art. Ruth was curator of modern prints and drawings there from 1980–2002, followed by an additional period working on special projects in modern...

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July 4, 2023

s3e29 mokuhanga deep dive with artist April Vollmer

In Platemark s3e29, host Ann Shafer speaks with April Vollmer, an artist working in mokuhanga (Japanese color woodblock printing), who also wrote the indispensable guide to that form: Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop (Berkeley: Watson-Guptill...

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June 20, 2023

s3e28 on writing THE print history textbook with Linda Hults, art his…

In s3e28, Platemark host Ann Shafer speaks with Linda Hults, retired professor of art history from the College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio. Linda wrote THE textbook on the history of Western prints, which any student of the topic will undoubtedly …

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June 6, 2023

s3e27 processing inherited trauma of internment camps through art wit…

In Platemark s3e27, host Ann Shafer talks with Emma Nishimura, an artist and professor based in Toronto. Emma works in printmaking, photography, sculpture, and installation. Her work addresses ideas of inherited memory and trauma with a specific focus...

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May 23, 2023

s3e26 on illustrating You Gotta Meet Mr. Pierce! with artist Jennifer…

Platemark s3e26's guest is Jennifer Mack-Watkins, an artist and children's book illustrator based in Savannah, GA. Her work looks at social conformities that limit us and box us in, whether beauty, relationships, body image, power, or gender roles....

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May 9, 2023

s3e25 lithography deep dive with artist Michael Barnes

Platemark s3e25's guest is Michael Barnes, an artist and professor at Northern Illinois University who specializes in lithography. In addition to deep knowledge of how lithography works, Michael is also an historian of the technique and a collector....

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May 2, 2023

s2e28 History of Prints Claude Mellan (part two)

In s2e28, hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig conclude their two-part conversation about Claude Mellan. An encounter with Mellan’s best-known work, The Holy Face of Christ on St. Veronica's Sudarium, is to be a witness to greatness. The engraving...

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April 25, 2023

s3e24 on being THAT professor for so many with curator Steve Goddard

In s3e24, host Ann Shafer speaks with Steve Goddard, curator emerita from the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Steve’s specialty is prints of northern Europe (1450–present), although he has been known to stray into...

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April 18, 2023

s2e27 History of Prints Claude Mellan (part one)

In s2e27, hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig begin a two-part conversation about Claude Mellan, who engraved the most astonishing portrait of Jesus Christ in the history of art. In fact, if it weren’t for his print of the Holy …

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April 11, 2023

s3e23 on running a not-for-profit art center with Kimberly Henrikson,…

In Platemark s3e23, host Ann Shafer speaks with Kimberly Henrikson, Executive Director, Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, CT. CCP offers myriad services from contract printing, to artist’s residencies, classes, workshops, and...

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April 4, 2023

s2e26 History of Prints Jacques Callot (part two)

In s2e26, hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig conclude their conversation about Jacques Callot, where there is always more than meets the eye. He's of interest for many reasons, including his practice of making faster-to-create etchings look like...

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March 28, 2023

s3e22 on running The Gallery at The Met Store with Laura Einstein

In Platemark s3e22, host Ann Shafer talks with Laura Einstein, manager of the Gallery at the Met Store. Tucked away on the mezzanine of the bookstore at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a gallery space where limited edition, fine …

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March 21, 2023

s2e25 History of Prints Jacques Callot (part one)

In s2e25, hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig take an in-depth look at Jacques Callot, who is the first printmaker in Western art to record the atrocities of war. He heads up any list of artists using prints to spread …

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March 14, 2023

s3e21 on starting a print publishing business with Pam Paulson, Pauls…

In Platemark s3e21, host Ann Shafer talks with Pam Paulson, founder of Paulson Fontaine Press, Berkeley, California. After earning her MFA in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1982 (she was a teaching assistant for Robert Colescott),...

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Feb. 28, 2023

s3e20 on the joy of discovery in museum storerooms with curator Kimbe…

In Platemark s3e20, host Ann Shafer talks with Kimberli Gant, curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum. While Kimberli’s specialty isn’t in prints per se, she is one of those unusual non-print curators who likes and...

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Feb. 21, 2023

s2e24 History of Prints Reproductive Prints (part four)

Platemark s2e24 concludes hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig’s conversation on reproductive prints. The stars of this episode are Hendrick Goltzius and Peter Paul Rubens. It’s about the business of prints, artists getting their designs out there, and...

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Feb. 14, 2023

s3e19 printing leads to collecting with Maryanne Ellison Simmons

In s3e19, host Ann Shafer talks with Maryanne Ellison Simmons, printer and owner of Wildwood Press in St. Louis, MO. She and her husband, baseball hall-of-famer Ted Simmons, also collect contemporary art. A large portion of the collection is now …

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Jan. 31, 2023

s3e18 on representing artist estates with dealer Susan Teller

In s3e18, host Ann Shafer talks with dealer Susan Teller, whose eponymous gallery operates out of the Mana Fine Arts facility in Jersey City, NJ. Susan specializes in American paintings and works on paper of the mid-twentieth century. She also …

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Jan. 24, 2023

s2e23 History of Prints Reproductive Prints (part three)

Platemark s2e23 continues hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig’s conversation on reproductive prints. Once again, for clarity, a reproductive print is one in which an artist creates a design (a drawing, painting, sculpture) and another artist creates a...

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Jan. 17, 2023

s3e17 on the early days of print fairs with dealer Jeannot Barr

In s3e17, Platemark host Ann Shafer talks with print dealer Jeannot Barr, who organized the first (and many subsequent) New York Print Fair in 1984. They touch on pricing, buying at auction, fair organization, and a host of other business-of-art...

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Jan. 3, 2023

S3e16 on taking in a Shark's Ink's archive with curator Hope Saska

Curator, University of Colorado at Boulder Art Museum

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Dec. 20, 2022

s3e15 on printing for Jim Dine with printer Julia D'Amario

In s3e15, Platemark host Ann Shafer talks with printer Julia D’Amario, who has been the printer at the Jordan Schnitzer Printmaking Residency at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in Otis, OR, since 2002. Formerly she printed for Pace …

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Dec. 6, 2022

s3e14 James Ehlers, artist and professor

In Platemark s3e14, host Ann Shafer speaks with James Ehlers, professor and chair of the studio art department at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas. It turns out, Emporia State offers the only BFA in engraving arts in the United …

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Nov. 29, 2022

s2e22 History of Prints Reproductive Prints (part two)

More on reproductive prints, the backbone of the history of prints

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