1970s — The Woman’s Art Center flourished in the 1970s under the umbrella of the Metropolitan YWCA, offering exhibition space, studio rentals, drama productions and poetry readings. As a member of the center, Kate Maynard, a master printmaker, set about searching for the means to provide a printmaking studio open to the public on a rental basis. It would be the only facility of its kind in the state of Ohio. With grants from the Ohio Arts Council and the Cincinnati Commission on the Arts to purchase the Charles Brand Intaglio Press, she begged , borrowed and built the other necessary accoutremants to make the shop operational. The “Y” generously offered space and day to day financial support for a number of years until their renovation in 1982. |
 |
Vandercook Proofing Press
|
Mary Mark was in the audience of Kate Maynard’s presentation to the Ohio Arts Council and soon moved to Cincinnati for the purpose of using Tiger Lily Press as a renter. In 1982, when the “Y” began its renovation, Mary purchased the press and moved it to the loft space at 4th and Plum Street where it shared a space with a co-op gallery. There she kept the operation open for rent by area printmakers. Beginning as a workshop participant at Tiger Lily, Chris Cotting became a regular renter and soon an operational partner with Mary Mark in keeping the press rolling.
During this 4th and Plum era, with the help of April Foster, Professor of Printmaking at the Cincinnati Art Academy, Wilmington College offered a Rembrandt Litho Press on permanent loan to Tiger Lily Press for as long as it remained an open press.
Tiger Lily produced two group editions during its time on 4th Street. The CAGE edition involved visual artists from the now extinct Cincinnati Artist Group Effort. Mark Patsfall organized and taught the workshop and Mary Mark editioned the prints. The second edition was a compilation of six artists who self published, packaged and distributed the edition of 20 to various museum collections, including the Cincinnati Art Museum, The University of Michigan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Miami University Art Museum and the Dayton Art Institute. The edition, entitled ”Images’, included work from Joan Effertz, Charles Grund, April Foster, Mary Mark, Philippe Le jeune, and Barbara Young.
1980s — In 1985 Mary Mark moved to Boston and sold the contents of Tiger Lily Press to five area printmakers, Mary Ann Butkovich, Joan Effertz, Joyce Howe, Leslie Shiels and Barbara Young. They, in turn, donated the press to the Art Academy of Cincinnati, who generously agreed to house the facility. They kept the open press status and made printmaking available to the community.
During its time at the Art Academy, Tiger Lily hosted a variety of classes and demonstrations by artists such as local Cincinnatian Thom Shaw and Chicago based artist Tony Fitzpatrick, among others. Joan Effertz, Louanne Elliott, Theresa Gates and Susan Naylor were artists that served as volunteer directors of the press while at the Art Academy.
1990s — In 1998, under Susan Naylor’s leadership, Tiger Lily hosted a Printmaking Marathon in which several area printmakers agreed to print editions to be sold to the general public. The event raised nearly $3000 dollars. The money was donated to the Mid America Print Council conference being held in Cincinnati that year and hosted by The Art Academy of Cincinnati, The University of Cincinnati , Northern Kentucky University and Tiger Lily Press. The conference brought hundreds of printmakers from around the country to the Cincinnati area.
Immediately following the MAPC conference the Art Academy decided they needed the space that housed Tiger Lily for their growing enrollment and they began a search for a new home for the press. The Cincinnati Recreation Commission stepped forward and agreed to take Tiger Lily Press under its wing. Due to limited space Tiger Lily was unable to keep the Rembrandt Litho press, therefore it was donated to Xavier University’s print department. A large letterpress and file drawers that held its type and shared the room with Tiger Lily, remained with the Art Academy.
| By 1999 Tiger Lily had moved to the Butterfield Recreation Center in downtown Cincinnati and would stay there for two years until their permanent space was available at the Dunham Recreation Center on Dunham Way in Western Hills.
Susan Naylor recruited Cara Bardes, Elizabeth Foley and Theresa Gates Kuhr, all artists with Masters in Printmaking, to take over as Co-Directors of the Press after it left the Art Academy.
In 2002 Tiger Lily Press, along with artist Katherine Kadish, the Ohio Arts Council, April Foster and The Art Academy, brought a father/daughter duo of eminent Korean printmakers to Cincinnati for a week of lectures, demonstrations and exhibitions.
|
|
 |
Ha Dong Chul and Ha Won spent time at The Art Academy, The University of Cincinnati and Tiger Lily demonstrating and educating students and area printmakers about the traditional form of printing and recording called Takbon, refined as an art form by Ha Dong Chul, himself. The artists traveled to Dayton and Columbus, Ohio as well, which began relationships between the Ohio printmaking groups.
Since leaving the Art Academy, Tiger Lily has been run independently by a trio of directors. Elaine Mullen and Don DeSander eventually took the places of Cara Bardes and Elizabeth Foley. Don later moved to Boston in 2006 and Rick Finn took his place alongside Elaine Mullen Zumeta and Theresa Gates Kuhr. Its current home is under constant threat of closing due to declining financial support by the city, therefore the Co-Directors and TLP members have been working on fundraising projects to raise money to help secure the life of Tiger Lily.
Tiger Lily Press has retained its original intent to serve as a print shop open to the public. Its mission is to maintain a facility in which printmakers can reach their full potential while enhancing awareness of printmaking to the general public through community outreach and exhibitions.
10.08 (back to top)
|
