Walker Blackwell is a collaborative printmaker. This means he does the work of taking an artistic idea from brain to paper alongside an artist or group of artists. Over the years because of this collaborative bent/obsession/affliction he has developed a knack for surmounting many technical hurdles so now he’s known for that. But it all stems from collaboration, exploration, and teaching.
INVENTOR & PRINTMAKER, CONE EDITIONS PRESS
Development lead: PiezoDN Dig Negs, Direct to Plate Photogravure, Piezography Pro Ink, Piezography Ink (reformulation), UltraHD MK Ink, Calibration/Linearization Teaching: Workshops in digital printmaking: gravure, platinum/palladium, piezography Printmaking: for artists world-wide. Orders at VPI: Inventory lifecycle management and production at Vermont Photo Inkjet. Sales/Purchases: Sales and POs at Vermont Photo Inkjet
LAB COORDINATOR, LIGHT WORK
Coordination: Rebuilt Classes and Curriculum, Lab Coordinator (Budgeting, Hiring, Community Relations, Management), Rebuilt Lab Website, Gutted and Renovated the Labs and Production Facilities Invention: Invented the inverted curve concept for Piezography digital negatives (later developed into PiezoDN) Printmaking: for artists world-wide and artists-in-residence
LEAD FOUNDER, LATITUDE CHICAGO: 501c3 Community Digital Lab
Equipment: Donated $60,000->$120,000 in seed equipment to the lab. Lease: Paid the lease on a 3500 sq ft studio for one year during Latitude’s startup phase from profits as a printmaker in the space. Community: Helped foster a community of 100+ lab-members, co-founders, volunteers. Teaching: Drum scanning, inkjet printing, Piezography printing, also taught a post-production class at SAIC. Invention: Overglossed Color Inkjet printing Printmaking: for artists world-wide
FOUNDER, BLACK POINT EDITIONS
Printmaking: digital printmaking for artists world-wide specifically with Piezography. Black Point Editions was pivotal in transitioning many of the top artists in the Chicago region from traditional photographic workflows to mixed digital/analogue or entirely digital all with the finest-quality print being the end-goal. Two pillars of the Chicago art community sprang out of Black Point Editions: Latitude Chicago (a non-profit digital lab) and Document (a production studio and gallery).
