The Tamarind Institute: 50 Years of Excellence in Fine Art Lithography
Originally published in KiptonART, 2010-09-19.
By D Mitri Agnès-Capone
Since its inception in 1960, The Tamarind Institute has served the global creative industries as the foremost authority in fine lithography and collaborative printing. Known then as Tamarind Lithography Workshop (TLW), a California-based non-profit, it was founded by artist June Wayne to revive the medium of lithography during a time when artists were inclined to more expedient processes of Abstract Expressionist painting. She likened the plight of lithography to that of the whooping crane, stating: “In all the world there were only thirty-six cranes left, and in the United States there were no master printers able to work with the creative spectrum of our artists? This remarkable medium of expression [might] die in its youth without having been asked to reveal its untapped powers for new aesthetic expression.”
After a decade huge success in Los Angeles, Wayne resigned as director at the end of the third Ford Foundation grant and moved the Workshop to Albuquerque, New Mexico. It became The Tamarind Institute, a division of the College of Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico under former-Associate Director Clinton Adams. There, with aid from the Rockefeller Foundation, Tamarind grew to become more deeply involved in international activities, collaborating with museums and exhibition spaces in nine countries. Marjorie Devon was appointed director in 1985.
Many renowned artists have created editions at Tamarind, including Jose Cuevas, Walton Ford, Kinji Akagawa and Hans Burkhardt. Tamarind can be credited with single-handedly reviving the medium of lithography, both insofar as they made the medium "respectable" and viable and also in that their dedicated research led to technical and economic breakthroughs with a visible impact on lithography in particular and printmaking in general. Today, under Devon?s capable hand, it continues to produce print editions and to develop educational and research initiatives, including a number of international outreach programs.
Tamarind Instutite is a member of the International Fine Print Dealers Association. For more, please visit tamarind.unm.edu.
View the original KiptonART article via the Wayback Machine
Archival note: Text preserved from the surviving original article. References, promotional material, and prices reflect its 2010 publication.
Photo: Tamarind Institute. Image source.
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