Kansas City's Hidden Printmaking Revival
Kansas City's West Bottoms district is being spotlighted for a massive printmaking space that's reviving centuries-old traditions in a hidden location. Meanwhile, Ukiah's Corner Gallery features "Casing the Joint," assemblage art from reclaimed materials by Redwood Valley artists, and an artist is going viral for "strat-layering design + AI post photography + collage" capturing Black culture and graffiti scenes.
The new Greenhouse Print Space is housed in the basement of the historic Hobbs Building, a five-story structure built in 1905 during the industrial boom of the West Bottoms. This new community art space takes over a 5,000-square-foot studio formerly occupied for nearly two decades by the Kansas City Center for the Ink & Paper Arts, continuing a legacy of printmaking in that very location. The studio's collection includes a vintage Vandercook letterpress, a brand of proof press first developed in 1909 that became a favorite among artists and fine press printers when letterpress was eclipsed by offset printing commercially. This equipment, along with etching and lithography presses, allows artists to engage with techniques central to the American printmaking revival of the 20th century. This revival builds on a rich local history. The Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) was a formative place for master printer Jack Lemon, who founded the influential Landfall Press. Lemon was pivotal in establishing one of the first professional lithography workshops at an American university right at KCAI in the 1960s, bringing renowned artists to the city to create prints. The new space is led by Thayer Bray, an artist who spent a decade as an edition printer at the Lawrence Lithography Workshop. That workshop was founded by Michael Sims, who himself worked at Landfall Press and is another key figure in defining the region's printmaking scene. Bray aims to foster the collaborative community he experienced at the University of Kansas, offering studio rentals, access passes, and classes in processes like copper etching and block printing. The space hosts a semi-regular "Print Club," where the public can experiment with antique equipment, including 1800s-era movable type, to create new art from old technology. This artistic renewal is happening as the West Bottoms undergoes a massive transformation. The historically industrial area, once the heart of Kansas City's livestock and meatpacking industries, is the target of a $527-million redevelopment plan to create a mixed-use neighborhood with apartments, offices, and retail, all while preserving its historic architecture.
