Platemark, a podcast about art and ideas
As a curator, my mission is to convert people into art- and print-lovers. I often refer to myself as a print evangelist, and Platemark is my megaphone. Listen and find out why prints are awesome. ———Ann Shafer
Platemark is an independent podcast about art and ideas with the goal of dispelling the idea of the impenetrable museum on the hill and inaccessible curators working in ivory towers. To that end, Series One features conversations over eight episodes with curators Ann Shafer and Ben Levy about issues facing the art world. Topics include the state of the museum field, curatorial work, critiques and studio visits, market value and conceptual value, redefining the art historical canon, and prints, printmaking, print fairs, and print publishing. They seek to share thoughts on the state of the sector including issues of decolonization and social justice, what it meant to them to be able to teach young artists in the Print studyroom, why prints are the best, and how they did what they did. They hope by drawing back the curtain, the rarefied world of the museum may be opened further to listeners.
Series Two offers a history of Western prints and printmaking. Ann is joined by art historian, artist, and professor Tru Ludwig for conversations about visual culture and its social context through a history of printmaking in the Western world. They begin with the invention of the print press and moveable type and bring it all the way up to the present. Over multiple episodes, they will discuss various landmarks of print history, including works by Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Francisco de Goya, Honoré Daumier, Mary Cassatt, Käthe Kollwitz, Elizabeth Catlett, Edward Hopper, and many more. Links to images of the prints covered are in each episode's show notes.
Series Three features interviews by Shafer and Levy with artists, print publishers and dealers, master printers, curators, gallerists, and scholars.
Platemark is produced by Ann Shafer, an independent curator with 25+ years of experience in major museums in the field of prints, drawings, and photographs (known as PDP). Co-host Ben Levy is a PhD candidate in art history at Case Western University who specializes in prints and photographs. Ann and Ben worked together at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) for six years and have collaborated on many projects, most notably the BMA’s Baltimore Contemporary Print Fair (2012 and 2015). Tru Ludwig and Ann taught the History of Prints at the Maryland Institute College of Art for many years. Tru is also a practicing artist focusing on etchings and woodcuts.
Click here for individual episodes.
Series Two offers a history of Western prints and printmaking. Ann is joined by art historian, artist, and professor Tru Ludwig for conversations about visual culture and its social context through a history of printmaking in the Western world. They begin with the invention of the print press and moveable type and bring it all the way up to the present. Over multiple episodes, they will discuss various landmarks of print history, including works by Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Francisco de Goya, Honoré Daumier, Mary Cassatt, Käthe Kollwitz, Elizabeth Catlett, Edward Hopper, and many more. Links to images of the prints covered are in each episode's show notes.
Series Three features interviews by Shafer and Levy with artists, print publishers and dealers, master printers, curators, gallerists, and scholars.
Platemark is produced by Ann Shafer, an independent curator with 25+ years of experience in major museums in the field of prints, drawings, and photographs (known as PDP). Co-host Ben Levy is a PhD candidate in art history at Case Western University who specializes in prints and photographs. Ann and Ben worked together at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) for six years and have collaborated on many projects, most notably the BMA’s Baltimore Contemporary Print Fair (2012 and 2015). Tru Ludwig and Ann taught the History of Prints at the Maryland Institute College of Art for many years. Tru is also a practicing artist focusing on etchings and woodcuts.
Click here for individual episodes.
Ann Shafer. Photo by Becky Redett.
Ann Shafer is an independent curator, art historian, writer, and a leading expert on intaglio printmaking by Stanley William Hayter and Atelier 17. Formerly Shafer was associate curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where she curated a variety of exhibitions including On the Mark: Contemporary Works on Paper in 2010, the annual Baker Artist Awards in 2011 and 2012, Front Room: An-My Lê in 2013, On Paper: Spin, Crinkle, Pluck and On Paper: Alternate Realities in 2015, as well as Front Room: Broomberg & Chanarin in 2016. She also organized the museum’s Baltimore Contemporary Print Fair in 2012, 2015, and 2017, featuring an international array of twenty presses, publishers, and dealers. Shafer has a BA from The College of Wooster and an MA from Williams College. In addition to the Baltimore Museum of Art, Shafer has worked at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Williams College Museum of Art, and the National Gallery of Art.
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Ben Levy. Photo by Lily Levy.
Benjamin Levy is a print and photo scholar and curator. He is currently a Ph.D. student at Case Western Reserve University focusing on the intersection of printmaking and photography at the turn of the 20th-century. He has held curatorial positions including Assistant Curator for Collections & Academic Programs at the Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, and Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Prints, Drawings & Photographs at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Levy was the Co-Director of the Baltimore Contemporary Print Fair in 2012 and 2015. He currently serves as an officer of the Association of Print Scholars and as a member of the National Advisory Board for the Tamarind Institute of Lithography, University of New Mexico. A graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art, Levy is a trained collaborative printmaker.
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Tru Ludwig. Photo by Ann Shafer.
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Tru Ludwig is an artist and art historian specializing in prints and printmaking. Originally from Des Moines, Iowa, he earned his BA in studio art and art history with a minor in music history from St. Olaf College. He holds an MA in art history from the George Washington University, and an MFA in printmaking and drawing from Towson University. Since 1999, he has taught in the Art Education, Art History, First Year Experience, and Printmaking departments at the Maryland Institute College of Art; and art history at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Ludwig's studio practice is devoted to large-scale woodcuts and multi-plate etchings, which have been shown on four continents and are included in collections across the United States.
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