PAFA Receives $500,000 Naming Gift for Printmaking Shop

Gift from Julie Jensen Bryan and Robert Bryan ensures PAFA's renowned training of students in the art of printmaking will continue to grow

PHILADELPHIA (January 3, 2017) -- The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is delighted to announce a generous $500,000 gift from Julie Jensen Bryan and Robert Bryan to name the PAFA Printmaking Shop.

"PAFA is a fabulous part of Philadelphia's history, but it's exciting to see that we're creating new artists now that speak to this generation. We're not stuck in the past," stated Julie Jensen Bryan. "There are so many exciting things happening with the curriculum that it's important to make people realize that PAFA has a famous history but also plays a very important role for the future."

This transformative commitment by the Bryans, longtime supporters of PAFA and its students, ensures that printmaking will remain one of the school's core artistic disciplines.

Printmaking is a cornerstone of the curriculum that has produced a rich heritage of PAFA printmakers from celebrated illustrator Maxfield Parrish and Bucks County impressionist Daniel Garber to Dan Miller, a beloved teacher and respected faculty member for decades, and 1990 alumna Orit Hofshi, an internationally acclaimed artist based in Israel.
The Bryans' gift bolsters PAFA's ability to provide the highest level of artistic training through its state-of-the-art printmaking shop and innovative programs, continue its legacy of educating generations of artists, and ensure the ongoing relevance and contemporary potential of this vital artistic medium.

PAFA President, CEO and Acting Museum Director David R. Brigham noted, "Printmaking encourages individual creativity and collaborative effort, and fine art production and an entrepreneurial spirit, and results in works of art that can be produced in editions and therefore shared more democratically than many other media. We are thrilled that Julie and Robert's generous gift will encourage printmakers and faculty at PAFA to continue innovating in a wide range of media."

Located on the sixth floor of the Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building, the Julie Jensen Bryan and Robert Bryan Printmaking Shop provides students with the equipment and personalized instruction to gain mastery in an array of printmaking forms, including woodcut and relief, etching, dry point and other intaglio processes, plate and stone lithography, as well as screenprinting, letterpress, book arts, and digital media.

The Bryan Printmaking Shop is also home to exciting events and programs, such as the Annual Student Print Sale and PAFA PRESS, which sponsors collaborative edition printing and other experimental print programs in partnership with professional artists and faculty master printers.

Julie Jensen Bryan has given generously of her time and talents over the course of her decades-long involvement at PAFA, by chairing events and serving on numerous committees and through her tireless work as a longtime member of the Women's Board. Julie was honored last year at PAFA for her contributions to the Women's Board and the Annual Student Exhibition's Preview Party, a yearly fundraising gala event that provides invaluable student scholarships to nurture and support the school's talented emerging artists.

A noted photographer who has exhibited her work internationally, Julie studied with Arnold Newman, Mary Ellen Mark, and Lisette Model. She also serves on The Print Center's Board of Governors and the Board of the Community Clothes Charity.

Robert Bryan studied architecture at Stanford University and at the Technical University of Stuttgart and has practiced architecture in the U.S. and abroad. He has taught and lectured to numerous university and architectural groups and has worked on design review juries in London and Philadelphia. Robert has served on the Board of the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks and on the Board of the Associates of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

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Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is America's first school and museum of fine arts. A recipient of the 2005 National Medal of Arts, PAFA is a recognized leader in fine arts education with a world-class permanent collection of American art.