PHILADELPHIA, PA (June 17, 2026) – Brandywine Workshop and Archives (BWA) (730 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146) and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) (118-128 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102) will present concurrent exhibitions this summer showcasing work created through PrintLab, a multi-year artist residency initiative that invited artists to experiment with printmaking through collaboration, new technologies, and material exploration.

Opening June 18 and continuing through October 26, 2026, PrintLab: Material Futures at BWA’s Printed Image Gallery and Proof Testing: The PrintLab Artist Residency at Brandywine Workshop and Archives at PAFA’s Anne Bryan Gallery in the Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building, bring together artists whose works challenge conventional understandings of what printmaking can be through scale, process, technology, and interdisciplinary experimentation.

Developed as an extension of BWA’s historic visiting artist residency program, PrintLab brought together eight artists over a two-year period, pairing them with master printers and collaborators across Philadelphia’s printmaking community. The initiative encouraged artists to test new materials, technologies, and processes while expanding the possibilities of print. Supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, the project culminates in two exhibitions that highlight both artistic experimentation and collaborative production.

“PrintLab was designed to create space for artists to take risks,” said Rebecca Morrison, Executive Director of Brandywine Workshop and Archives. “By bringing artists together with master printers and encouraging experimentation across disciplines, the residency challenged assumptions about what printmaking can be and created opportunities for new ways of thinking about collaboration, materiality, and artistic process.”

At BWA’s Printed Image Gallery, PrintLab: Material Futures, organized by BWA Curator Alicia DeLarge and independent curator Zindzi Harley, presents works by eight artists exploring expanded approaches to printmaking through experimentation, collaboration, and material exploration. Visitors will encounter woodcuts, photolithographs, projected animation, and hybrid works that combine analog and digital processes. Featured artists include Jamaican-born photographer and mixed-media artist Albert Chong; internationally acclaimed Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui; New Jersey-based sculptor and conceptual artist Willie Cole; Texas-based printmaker and mixed-media artist Delita Martin; South Korean-born printmaker and animator Kakyoung Lee; Guadeloupean-born painter Jocelyn Akwaba Matignon; Haitian-born painter and printmaker Didier William; and New Jersey-based collage artist Lavett Ballard.  

Together, the artists bring a wide range of perspectives and practices to PrintLab, exploring themes of migration, spirituality, memory, ancestry, identity, and cultural exchange through works that push printmaking beyond traditional boundaries. Throughout the exhibition, artists expand printmaking beyond the flat page: Chong transfers photographic imagery onto copper to examine ancestry and personal history; Lee transforms 300 woodcuts into a digital animation; William experiments with layered carved forms and color; and Cole and El Anatsui translate their established sculptural and assemblage-based approaches into large-scale prints. The exhibition foregrounds not only finished artwork, but also the collaborative relationships between artists and master printers.

At PAFA, Proof Testing: The PrintLab Artist Residency at Brandywine Workshop and Archives offers a companion exhibition featuring works by the residency artists while examining the evolution of artistic ideas through experimentation and collaboration. Organized by Michelle Donnelly, Evelyn and Will Kaplan Curator of Twentieth Century Art and the John Rhoden Collection, the exhibition explores how artists adapted their studio practices through printmaking, testing new materials, technologies, and methods of production. Visitors will encounter completed works alongside printing blocks that reveal their processes of making, offering additional insight into how artists expanded their practices through the residency experience.

“PAFA is proud to partner with Brandywine Workshop and Archives on this important exhibition, highlighting the spirit of innovation,” said Kristen Shepherd, President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. “This exhibit offers a rare opportunity to see artists expand ideas through experimentation, collaboration, and exploration of new materials and technologies. By showing the creative process behind these remarkable works, this exhibition uncovers printmaking as a dynamic, evolving medium while celebrating the artists and partnerships that make that evolution possible.”  

“The Brodsky Center at PAFA has long collaborated with BWA as well as with many of the artists participating in PrintLab, and we are thrilled for the opportunity to continue to share innovative techniques in printmaking with our audiences,” said Judith Thomas, Deputy Director at PAFA. “We are also excited to share additional artworks by Willie Cole and Didier William on view in our ongoing exhibitions, A Nation of Artists and Bodies and Souls, and to highlight the multifaceted creativity of artists’ practices."  

While PrintLab: Material Futures emphasizes experimentation in materials, process, and collaboration, Proof Testing provides insight into the artistic investigations behind the finished works. Together, the exhibitions offer complementary perspectives on how contemporary artists are expanding the possibilities of printmaking through experimentation, collaboration, and material exploration.

Visitors to BWA will also encounter “We” The People, a concurrent exhibition opening June 18 that explores migration, diaspora, cultural exchange, and the communities that shaped Philadelphia through works from BWA’s collection. Additional details about that exhibition will be announced separately.

A 50-page catalog accompanying PrintLab: Material Futures will be available at Brandywine Workshop and Archives. To celebrate the exhibition opening, Brandywine Workshop and Archives will offer 10% off select prints available through Brandywine.Art on June 18 only.

At PAFA, visitors can also experience A Nation of Artists (through September 5, 2027), FRED WILSON: THE MASTER PLAN or In Between the Big Bang and Modern Art Is the Restroom (through April 4, 2027), and Bodies and Souls (through July 12, 2026). While A Nation of Artists and Bodies and Souls feature works by select artists included in Proof Testing, FRED WILSON presents a suite of twenty-two photogravures commissioned in 2004 by the Brodsky Center at PAFA.

Admission to PrintLab: Material Futures is free, and Brandywine Workshop and Archives welcomes visitors by appointment. To schedule a visit, call (267) 908-2775 or email prints@brandywineworkshop.org. Forty-eight hours’ notice is required for individual visitors and small groups; please provide one week’s notice for groups of four or more. To learn more about the artists featured in the exhibition, visit Artura.org, BWA’s educational digital database for public viewing. Brandywine Workshop and Archives will also host a free public reception for the exhibition in July. Follow BWA on social media for reception updates and additional details as they become available.

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is open Thursday-Monday from 10 AM to 5 PM, with extended hours until 8 PM on Fridays. Visit https://www.pafa.org/museum/exhibitions to learn more about Proof Testing: The PrintLab Artist Residency at Brandywine Workshop and Archives. 

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About Brandywine Workshop and Archives

Brandywine Workshop and Archives (BWA) is a Philadelphia-based nonprofit established in 1972 to advance the art of fine art printmaking and support the artists who practice it. BWA provides residencies for artists from around the world to produce original limited-edition works, offered for sale at Brandywine.Art, maintains a permanent collection of over 1,100 prints, and collaborates with educators through its digital platform Artura.org. Works created at BWA are represented in 22 major institutional collections across the United States, and the organization continues to expand its reach globally. For more information, visit https://brandywineworkshop.org/. 

About Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
 
Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is the first school and museum of fine arts in the United States. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, PAFA offers a world-class collection of American art, groundbreaking exhibitions, and exceptional educational programs. Through its museum and school, PAFA is committed to telling America's diverse story through art and expanding who is included in the canon of art history. Esteemed alumni include Mary Cassatt, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, William Glackens, Barkley L. Hendricks, Violet Oakley, Louis Kahn, David Lynch, and Henry Ossawa Tanner.

Media Contacts:

En Route

• Wendi Sheridan
• wendi@enroutemarketing.com
• (215) 630-5287

PAFA

• Lisa Willis
• lwillis@pafa.org
• (215) 391-4127