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PRINTMAKING AT HPWI

HPWI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit studio arts organization serving the metropolitan Washington, DC area since 1984. The goals of the workshop are to make innovative, collaborative prints, and to share the artists’ diverse ideas, perspectives and works with the larger arts community. We accomplish our goals through unique, collaborative programs such as the artist-in-residency program, the student intern program, community outreach and gallery exhibitions.

HPWI’s roots originate from Washington, DC, but its influence reaches far beyond the United States, most notably Russia and the former Soviet Union. Local and international success has allowed the Workshop to attract artists from around the world to collaborate on works that drive printmaking innovation.

Powders, waxes, resists and adhesives are just part of the alchemy that has transformed collaborative screen printing with new possibilities and challenges. Painterly techniques previously associated with lithography, sculptural and relief surfaces found in calligraphy and etching, and the process and mystery of the photographic darkroom all find currency.

Because of the extraordinary adaptability of this nearly non-toxic medium, it stands as both a companion and counterpoint to digital printing in its possibilities and processes — and as a hybrid medium that continually redefines itself and its relationship to all other forms of image-making. This new attitude towards the medium can be expressed through a number of non-linear approaches. The excavated print, the fluid print and the wax relief print are some of the adaptable multi-faceted ways of interpreting ideas and imagery to screen printing at HPWI.

A Note From the Director

I founded HPWI in 1984 with the vision of innovating printmaking through international collaboration. In 1989, the Workshop embarked on a unique journey through a partnership with Russian artists in Moscow at the end of the Soviet Union. What began as a risky endeavor to found the Moscow Studio would ultimately become the center for collaborative screen printing in Russia for nearly a decade, incubating some of the best Russian artists in the last quarter century. While HPWI has long since returned to its home in Alexandria, Virginia, the experiences and lessons learned from the Moscow Studio continue to influence our work.

— Dennis O’Neil