Graphicstudio, part of the Institute for Research in Art in the USF College of The Arts, is hosting their annual Open House and Benefit Sale Saturday, May 21 from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. This art sale and showing features limited edition prints and sculpture multiples from up-and-coming artists in the Tampa area. This event is free and open to the public, with all sales benefitting Graphicstudio’s continuing research and educational programming.
Graphicstudio Benefit Sale and Open House
Some of the nation’s most talented and promising artists will showcase their artworks at the Graphicstudio Open House. These artists include:
- Los Carpinteros
- Lesley Dill
- Alex Katz
- Robert Mapplethorpe
- Vik Muniz
- Robert Rauschenberg
- Ed Ruscha
- William Wegman
One-of-a-kind impressions will also be available through select artists including John Chamberlain, Lesley Dill, Nicholas Krushenick, Roy Lichtenstein, and James Rosenquist. These rare pieces will only be showcased during the event with the best price available.
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Besides the prints themselves, master printmakers will provide demonstrations for a variety of printmaking techniques, including relief, etching, photogravure, screen printing and lithography. New artists and collectors are welcome to attend and ask questions and meet their favorite artists from the show during these special events.
In addition to the sale which offers a 10% discount on all artworks, Graphicstudio will host several meet-and-greets with master printmakers for guests to learn more about printmaking processes and techniques during etching demonstrations. Event details are below:
What is Graphicstudio at USF?
Graphicstudio was founded in 1968 as an experiment in art and education at the University of South Florida. It was founded by Dr. Donald J. Saff as part of the renaissance in American printmaking in the 1960s. This renaissance brought artists involved in the Pop art movement together with a growing number of trained printmakers, and with an American public desiring to collect affordable art.
One of the first artists to work at Graphicstudio was Robert Rauschenberg. Rauschenberg, along with a dedicated group of faculty, staff and students, avidly experimented with forms and techniques—photo transfer, cyanotype, sepia prints, printing on cloth and ceramics, sculptures with new materials, a hundred-foot-long photograph—and ultimately completed over sixty editions. The studio’s reputation as a place where faculty and staff eagerly pursue and collaborate with the artist’s inspiration was established, and this innovative environment continues to be a major factor in its continuing success.
At Graphicstudio, research into art-making techniques works with new aesthetic expressions by leading and emerging artists. The constant push by collaborating artists and studio staff to create new possibilities has kept it at the forefront of international fine art publishing.
