Printmaking and the WPA

Hear from artist, master printer, and educator Thomas Wojak on the importance and development of printmaking during the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which operated from 1935 to 1943. After an introduction by the exhibition’s curators, Wojak will highlight select prints on view in A Living for Us All: Artists and the WPA, discussing how the program’s financial support enabled artists to experiment and innovate in the medium of printmaking. Following the gallery discussion, Wojak will have printmaking materials and prints on view and for handling in the adjacent Koret Education Center, shedding light on the era’s processes and techniques.

Speaker

Artist, master printer, and professor emeritus at California College of the Arts, Thomas Wojak founded the screen printing studio The W.O.R.K.S in San Francisco in 1972. The studio specializes in limited edition work for local, national, and international artists, and works extensively with the Bay Area design and technology communities, including recent projects with Apple and Google. Over the years, Wojak’s prints have been honored by the San Francisco Art Directors Guild and the New York Art Directors Association. Projects include editions for the estate of Jerry Garcia; prints and mixed media pieces for artists such as Carrie Mae Weems, Larry Sultan, and Juana Alicia; and graphic elements for Francis Ford Coppola’s winery and movie museum in the Napa Valley, Alcatraz Island, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, and SFMOMA. In 2002, Wojak relocated to historic downtown Vallejo, CA, where he has been recognized by the California State Assembly and Senate for his help revitalizing downtown Vallejo.