Printer Training Program
Tamarind offers the only formal educational program in the world for professional fine art collaborative printers
Tamarind’s two-part Printer Training Program is designed for students who wish to pursue careers as fine art collaborative printers. This intensive, full-time program concentrates first on strengthening and refining the students’ technical skills, then on the application of those skills to collaborative projects. Prior knowledge of lithography is required. A maximum of eight students will be accepted.
Printer Training Program Courses
Students will be required to enroll in the following courses during the fall and spring semesters:
Fall: Refining Technical Skills
- The Professional Printer (4 credits) an intensive technical course that covers the theoretical and applied aspects of the medium. Taught by Tamarind’s education director, Brandon Gunn, the course includes frequent lectures and demonstrations as well as 50 hours or more per week in the workshop.(FA476)
- Professional Print Workshop (2 credits)taught by the Director and other expert staff at Tamarind Institute, this course addresses Tamarind history, policies, management, and the challenges of establishing and sustaining a workshop. The course includes regular readings, class presentations and discussion, and a business proposal to launch a sustainable workshop. (FA475)
Spring: Collaborative Projects
- The Professional Printer (3 credits) provides practical collaborative experience for printer-trainees who work with visiting artists, and students from the Department of Art at The University of New Mexico.
- History of the Graphic Arts II (3 credits) offered through the Department of Art, covers the development of the original print from Goya to the present, utilizing the University Art Museum collection.
PLEASE NOTE: Although students are required to enroll for only six/seven credit hours per semester, this is an intensive program that requires a minimum of 50-60 hours participation per week.
Printer Training Program Costs
Costs for participation in the Printer Training Program will include University of New Mexico tuition for two semesters, plus living expenses. The University extends in-state tuition and non-degree seeking rates to Tamarind students. For the first semester only, Tamarind collects a workshop fee of $2000 for expendable materials (payable directly to Tamarind by July 1). Additional drawing and printing supplies will cost students approximately $500.
International Students
Students who are not United States citizens will be required to obtain a visa. After a student is admitted to Tamarind, The University of New Mexico will initiate the paperwork needed to obtain a visa. All foreign students must prove that they have the equivalent of approximately $18,000, the amount necessary to support one person (the amount is greater if family members accompany the student) for the nine-month period of the Tamarind course. Due to the intense demands of the course, outside employment is not allowed. International students are not eligible for federal student loans, but may apply for limited financial assistance from Tamarind Institute.
Master Printer Apprentice Program
Students who complete the Printer Training Program may apply for the one-year Tamarind apprenticeship in Tamarind’s professional workshop. The Apprentice Printer is paid a stipend and takes part in the activity in the professional workshop, working under the supervision of the Tamarind Master Printer and Workshop Manager. The Apprentice Printer collaborates with and prints editions for visiting artists, participates in shop management, and conducts an extensive research project. At the successful completion of the apprenticeship the individual is certified as a Tamarind Master Printer.
Master of Fine Arts
Brandon Gunn, Tamarind Master Printer
Professor of Practice/Education Director
Brandon J. Gunn joined the Tamarind staff in January 2016 as Director of Education. Gunn is originally from Orem, Utah. After receiving a Masters degree in Printmaking at Illinois State University in 2006, and the Tamarind Master Printer Certificate in 2008, he began teaching full time, in addition to producing his own artwork, printing collaboratively, and constructing leather rollers. Gunn has considerable experience as a collaborative printer and educator, and is extremely knowledgeable in traditional and modern lithography, intaglio, woodcut, and digital printing techniques.
He has taught undergraduate and graduate level courses at Santa Fe Community College, Concordia University in Montreal, Brigham Young University Idaho, and Indiana University in Bloomington. He has also printed at Normal Editions Workshop, Stinger Editions, and for Indiana University’s visiting artist program. Gunn is responsible for the internationally recognized Professional Printer Training Program and the intensive Summer Workshop. He also regularly conducts external workshops and presentations, researches new materials and techniques, and consults with educational institutions, workshops and suppliers in the field.
Printer Training Program Class of 2022-2023
Jinkyoung Lee
Jinkyoung (Jin) Lee is a printmaker and artist born and raised in Seoul, South Korea. She holds a BFA in Studio Art (2019) and an MFA in Printmedia (2021) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She also has a background in Landscape Architecture, studied in South Korea, and participated in several research cases on ecological restoration. Jin is interested in producing new values that might achieve systemic change through printmaking. By modifying print elements such as registration, layer, ink, and matrix, she is engaged in the variability and mobility of prints through “variable print iterations.” With the professional lithography skills she’ll gain at Tamarind Institute, she wants to take a step forward as an artist and a collaborative printmaker.
Arikah Lynne
Arikah Lynne is a printmaker from Windham, Maine. Lynne earned a BFA in Printmaking from Maine College of Art & Design in 2022. Working primarily in stone lithography, Lynne crafts prints that explore the representations of dissociation and ethereality in the everyday. Imagery of vermin, roads, foliage, homes, and bodies of water make up the majority of Lynne’s work. Lynne is currently attending Tamarind Institutes’ 2022-2023 Printer Training Program.
Adam Noah Berman
Adam Noah Berman is an artist and printmaker originally from Florida, where he received his BFA from the University of North Florida. He obtained his MFA in printmaking from East Carolina University, where his series of botanical prints followed his research into ethnobotany. Adam has shown nationally and received an Honorable Mention award from the Windgate Fellowship and Award Program for Emerging Craft Artists Advancing Sustainability earlier this year. After Tamarind, he hopes to use his technical and collaborative skills to share his passion for printmaking by teaching and working with other artists.
Emma Sattler
Emma Sattler is a printmaker originally from Seacoast, New Hampshire. Before Tamarind, she attended Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston and earned her BFA in Printmaking in 2021. There she was introduced to lithography by Tamarind Master Printer Carolyn Muskat and fell in love with the medium. Since graduating, Emma has continued to work in lithography at Muskat Studios under Carolyn’s guidance. She is excited to strengthen her skills in lithography with other students as passionate in the medium as she is and looks forward to pursuing a career in collaborative lithography.
Katelyn St. John
Katelyn St. John is a multimedia artist from Amherst, Massachusetts who works in printmaking, photography, and sculptural installation. She received her Bachelor of Fine arts in Printmaking and Art History from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2015 and her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2019. Katelyn has worked as a research assistant at Zeamays Printmaking in Northampton, Massachusetts, and, later, as a project assistant at Tandem Press in Madison, Wisconsin. She hopes to use her experience at Tamarind to achieve her goal of opening a membership-based studio that offers facilities and workshops in intaglio and lithography.
Katherine Westbrook
Katherine Westbrook is a printmaker originally from Grand Rapids, MI. She earned her BFA and an Excellence Award in Printmaking from Kendall College of Art and Design. Westbrook has worked as a Printmaking Lab Technician as well as an intern at Oehme Graphics in Steamboat Springs, CO. Upon completion of the Printer Training Program, Katherine intends to share the technical knowledge and experience acquired at Tamarind to others through collaborative work and education. She hopes to not only just produce prints, but to also to ignite a deepfelt passion for lithography within the printmaking community and beyond.
Consider supporting our students
The Marjorie L. Devon Tamarind Scholarship Fund was created to honor Tamarind’s director for over thirty years. This fund directly supports students enrolled in Tamarind’s one-year Printer Training Program. Give Here
How to apply for Tamarind's Educational Programs
For students applying for the MFA Program, please note that there is a separate application to the College of Fine Arts, which will be reviewed independently of the Tamarind application. Students must apply for both the Tamarind Printer Training Program and the UNM MFA program. January 15 is the deadline for UNM's College of Fine Arts.
Applications for the 2023 Summer Workshop and 2023-24 Printer Training Program MUST BE RECEIVED BY JANUARY 15, 2023.