CPC turns 30! (ok, now we’re 31+, but 2020 was due for a do-OVER!!!)

It WAS official, yet only partially celebrated. September 2019 marked the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative’s 30th year. The CPC community workshop began in an old rented 2nd story walkup in East Ukrainian Village with a Dickerson Press, some weird furniture salvaged from a hospital demolition, and the very crazy notion that if you accumulate a few litho stones and some toxic chemicals, that people will flock to your crib to make etchings, woodcuts, lithographs and screen prints. And so here we are! 31 and a half years later, we own our space with natural light pouring in from the skylights, our materials are way less toxic, and our community has grown to thousands all over the world who have visited, taken classes, and pulled gorgeous prints from our presses. We attempted to celebrate our 30th milestone with a year-long series of printy events (including open houses, a collaborative print portfolio called 30/2020, an exhibition called “30 artists/30 years”, a $30 sale, a stellar parade of visiting artists, a 30-year celebratory STEAMROLLER arts fest and more), but in the end, we only got to open and exhibit the 30 artists/30 years show, which is still archived online HERE. Our 30/2020 Portfolio Project opens July 10, 2021. Thanks to all who took a class from one of our fabulously talented teachers during the Pandemic, or who bought prints from our new online store, or who made appointments and came by to see all the new prints that have winged their way to the gallery walls and flat files. Thank you Chicago, for supporting us – we’re blessed to be able to roll, ink, wipe, carve, gouge, engrave, etch and pull things off presses and through screens in your midst. YEAH! 

Pandemic UPDATES:

•The CPC has fully reopened. Fri & Sat 12-5 or by appointment.

•The CPC Portfolio Project will be exhibited from July 10 – August 31, 2021.

•The Steamroller Festival will be rescheduled for summer 2022.

Let’s just keep celebrating. We survived a pandemic and social distancing. Let’s embrace being “OVER 30”. We all have new hairdos. Isn’t it GREAT?