Fairing well: The university publisher and its emerging artists

The university as a producer and publisher of prints is not a new concept when we consider established US-based institutes such as Graphicstudio in Tampa, Florida, (part of the University of Southern Florida) and the Tamarind Institute, which is part of the University of New Mexico. Similar UK-based publishing enterprises have emerged in more recent years including the Royal College of Art and the Royal Academy, each displaying prints from their extensive collections and graduate portfolios. International print fairs such as The London Original Print Fair at the Royal Academy cater for university publishers, although the costs of attending such events on an annual basis can prove to be difficult – especially if the Universities do not reside in the fair’s host city. Within an art market context, one might also consider the fundamental divides between the university and industry based print gallery/publisher. The latter often boasts (or is set up in such a way to develop) an established list of artists and clients – resulting in a tried and tested model with an economic return for sustaining such a business. That said (and to keep this article relatively short – because we promised) we aim to elaborate on the article’s snazzy title – well, actually it’s probably the start of a larger conversation, or at least we hope so