An Appeal to help Zea Mays Printmaking grow
Posted October 18, 2011 - 9:12pm by Liz Chalfin
As you know, Zea Mays Printmaking is a very special place. We are one of only a handful of printmaking studios in the country whose mission is to explore and promote safer, non-toxic ways of making prints. We started modestly eleven years ago and have grown into one of the premier green studios in the world.
After eleven successful years of continuous growth, we are at a major turning point. Zea Mays Printmaking is moving to a new building, one which my husband Sheldon Carroll and I just purchased and will become the permanent home of the studio. It’s a wonderful old mill building here in Florence, MA (just a mile or so down the road from our current location). The building is two stories, brick with wooden floors and tons of windows. We will be doubling our space and increasing our capacity to fulfill the needs of our growing membership, visiting artists and workshop participants. In our new home, we will have a designated classroom studio enabling us to offer workshops year-round while simultaneously providing studio access to our members and visiting artists.
We need your support! There are many expenses associated with this move and expansion. I am appealing to our friends to help Zea Mays Printmaking take this huge step forward. Your contribution can help us continue our work and reach out to the larger printmaking community.
Some of the things we need financial resources for include:
- Building out areas for a classroom, gallery, library, etching facility, photo print facility, presses
- Creating and equipping a silkscreen printing area and letterpress/offset press area
- Creating an expanded “Annex” (our private studio for visiting artists)
- Moving our huge presses and other equipment
- Creating new signage for the new building
- Acquiring new equipment
You may be someone who has experienced Zea Mays Printmaking firsthand as a workshop participant or a visiting artist. Maybe you have come to one of our exhibitions or Print Fair North or taken a tour of our studio. Perhaps we’ve met at a conference, or I’ve come to talk at your school or organization. Perhaps you visit our website and use the information on the Technical Pages. Or maybe you are one of our fantastic members. Perhaps you know an artist who has worked at Zea Mays and has benefited from the experience. Whatever has brought you through our doors (both real and virtual), you have a relationship with the Zea Mays Printmaking and you know how important our work is in the field.
Our mission is carried out every day in numerous ways, through:
- research into safer and non-toxic processes, which is documented and shared on our website
- workshops taught by experts in the field and offered to artists of all levels
- consultations with studios and colleges throughout the U.S. and Canada
- studio access to our 60 members and hundreds of visiting artists
- an active exhibition program highlighting prints made using safer practices
- published portfolios that have been purchased by regional museums and libraries
- Promotion of our member artists’ work through our flat file project and traveling exhibition program
- Mentoring of young artists through our internship program
- Collaborations with other organizations and schools
- Contract printing projects with renown regional artists
Please consider making a donation to Zea Mays Printmaking, and please share this request with your friends and family who may also want to support our mission. We will be grateful for any amount you can give, no gift is too small (or too large!). Each and every penny raised will go towards preparing and equipping the new building, and each donor will be acknowledged.
We can accept donations by check or credit card. You can make out a check to Zea Mays Printmaking (221 Pine St. #320, Florence, MA 01062), or phone me at the studio with your credit card info: 413.584.1783
With immense gratitude,
Liz Chalfin, director
Zea Mays Printmaking