The Ink Shop Printmaking Center

The Ink Shop is pleased to host the 6th joint show of prints by students of two strong printmaking programs at Ithaca College and Cornell University. We are starting this year's exhibit virtually on May 7th as an Instagram Takeover.

Physical exhibit opening on June 4th.

The fine art print possesses conceptual complexity which is deeply embedded in contemporary art practices. These prints explore aspects of this conversation, questioning what prints are and how they function. These works are richly diverse with unique approaches using traditional methods, ranging from beginner to advanced practitioners. Accessing a rich history of distributable and reproducible media, these prints are placed square in our current digital moment and present questions both age-old and prescient.

Each year, The Ink Shop launches a Members' show, giving our membership the opportunity to exhibit their newest work. This is always a popular show that gives the public the opportunity to see the new work coming out of The Ink Shop, Central New York's only community printmaking facility.

Dan Welden has been a pioneer of alternative printmaking since 1970. Nationally and internationally recognized master printmaker, he was the first artist to initiate Solarplate and waterbased monotype workshops, placing him squarely in the vanguard of healthy and safe creative practice.

The series “Aesop’s Fables” is a series of symbolic gestures which employ visual opposites, including the hare and the tortoise and the grasshopper and the ant, as metaphors for the Yin Yang philosophy. Resurrecting 50-year-old found zinc etching plates that had oxidized beyond redemption. Making his own tools, the artist employed drypoint lines, salt etch, ink, paper and a press to subject the dilapidated plates to a maelstrom of mark-making gestures. This "Color Sequel” is a hybrid of his earlier black and white Aesop's Fables series, augmented with acrylic, watercolor and crayon.

Exhibition duration: November 5, 2021 – January 14, 2021
Opening Reception: November 5, 2021, 5-8pm EST

The 21st Mini Print International is a juried exhibition of prints no larger than 4”x4”. A maximum of Four (4) original prints in any traditional or contemporary graphic process, including computer generated prints, are accepted. The Exhibition has been held bi-annually since 1985 and was founded and directed by Bev McLean who sought to challenge artists and provide an affordable form in which international art could be brought together. The Ink Shop began organizing this exciting exhibit starting with 16th Mini Print International. Our recent Mini Print shows have attracted artists from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Poland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Thailand, as well as many artists from the United States.

This year we combine our Print Sale with the 2st Mini Print Exhibit. Our collection of prints is extensive and represents some of the best printmakers around. Both the Ink Shop Print Sale and the Mini Print Exhibit prints are excellent and make great gifts. We are always encouraging people to support the Arts by buying more Art! All Mini Print purchases can also be taken home the evening of the December 3rd reception or anytime afterwards.  

Opening Reception February 11th, 5-8pm
The Ink shop is proud to present Ghost Collective by the 2021-2022 Kahn Family Fellow, Julianne Hunter. The work included in this exhibition draws directly from the basic longing to creating a sense of community and to foster relationships through collecting evidence of missed connections. The print shop is a collaborative space where one is a part of a select group of makers that pass down the knowledge of their skills. In the age of Covid-19, our ways of connecting with each other have been tested in unimaginable ways. Ghost Collective challenges contemporary limitations as opportunities for investigation, reflection and meditation. Common objects, familial relics, and discarded visual remnants are used to create forensic proof within the works, translated through screenprint, papermaking, cyanotype, and monotype.