Press & Pull: A Legacy of the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop surveys the origins, collaboration, and technical innovation of the US’s oldest and continuously operating cooperative workshop. Founded in 1947 by artist, educator, and master printer Robert Blackburn (1920–2003), the Workshop arose during an era of racial segregation when artists of color had limited opportunities, and from the dissolution of the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project (1935–43), which had supported community art centers across the country, including Chicago’s South Side Community Art Center. Blackburn filled the void with the Printmaking Workshop, creating a shared space for racial integration and collective creativity.

Press & Pull traces this history through 38 prints made at the Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, archival ephemera, and video drawn from its archive. Woven into the exhibition are an additional 45 prints that identify historical similarities and differences between the Workshop and printmaking practices in Chicago. This comparative approach offers factors that have contributed to Chicago’s printmaking scene, such as the founding of the South Side Community Art Center, the flight of African Americans from the South and Jews from the Soviet Bloc, the Black Arts Movement, and communal skill sharing cultivated in now-shuttered print shops and contemporary printers’ guilds.

Ron Adams, Haig Aivazian, Ralph Arnold, Xenobia Bailey, Romare Bearden, Camille Billops, McArthur Binion, Chakaia Booker, Robert Blackburn, Betty Blayton, Ben Blount, Margaret Burroughs, Elizabeth Catlett, Ed Clark, Carlos Cortéz, Eldzier Cortor, Renee Cox, Chicago Printers Guild, Lizania Cruz, Devraj Dakoji, Nicolás De Jesús, Nia Easley, Raque Ford, Michele Godwin, Maren Hassinger, Eric Von Haynes, Barbara Jones Hogu, Margo Humphrey, Richard Hunt, Michiko Itatani, Rose Iver, Joeri, Baseera Khan, Tsedaye Makonnen, Kerry James Marshall, Dindga McCannon, Glendalys Medina, Edward Millman, Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Otto Neals, Ademola Olugebefola, Richard Powell, Martin Puryear, Mavis Pusey, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Krishna Reddy, Faith Ringgold, Kenny Rivero, Elliott Jamal Robbins, Shellyne Rodriguez, Stephanie Santana, Nicholas Sistler, Raoul Varin, Jarrell Wadsworth, June Wayne, Ian Weaver, Charles White, Michael Kelly Williams, Industrial Workers of the World Wobbly Artist, John Wilson

Support for Press and Pull is generously provided by a grant from Teiger Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, the School of Art, the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts, and the University of Illinois Chicago. UIC Gallery 400 acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.

Press & Pull originated at the James Gallery, CUNY Graduate Center (August 26 – November 14, 2025) and traveled to the MassArt Art Museum (January 22–May 31, 2026). Support for Press & Pull was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Dedalus Foundation, the Hauser & Wirth Institute, and Speedball Art Products.