idea behind the shop…

Tack&Flow (T&F) is a space for artists of all ages to learn, grow, and be inspired. T&F wants to encourage its community to come together and create! Whether it be through the fine art print workshops, collaborative contract printing, the print shop co-op, or in their own studio space. Tack&Flow aims to create a thriving print family and promote the beautiful tradition of printmaking.

Tack&Flow will be a start-up cooperative fine art print shop and artist collective. T&F will offer young local artists a studio space, access to a professionally run print shop overseen by Tamarind trained printer Alyssa Ebinger, an opportunity for collaborative contract printing for individual artists, monthly workshops, and classes. T&F’s print shop will specialize in lithography, but will also offer monotype, intaglio, relief, and letterpress processes.

Tack&Flow will firstly be an artist run cooperative fine art print shop. T&F’s print shop will be member based along with its artist collective. Print Shop members will have full access to the shop, providing them with the equipment, most materials, and environment they need to continue working in the medium they love. The shop will be managed and run by Alyssa Ebinger along with student interns from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) who are majoring in printmaking. Student interns will have the opportunity to work collaboratively with Ebinger, along with invited local artists, to produce fine art prints. They will also have the responsibility of being shop monitors while learning the essentials for maintaining a print shop. The second entity of Tack&Flow will be its art collective. The collective will consist of members that can rent studio space if they choose, another small fee may be paid to have access to the print shop and its equipment. The collective will have a small gallery space where members will have the opportunity to show once a year in the Members Show. The gallery and print shop will participate in First Friday each month to help promote the collective, gallery space, and print shop.

Another facet of Tack&Flow will be its education center for the fine art print. T&F will hold monthly workshops that will be open to the community. T&F will partner with local schools and offer professional instruction to students who are interested in learning more about the wonderful world of printmaking. Tack&Flow’s mission is to share its passion for printmaking and art with its community by establishing an art center that feels like a second home.

Video by Ryan John Allison; courtesy Tamarind Institute, 2020