{"id":2814,"date":"2013-12-13T17:24:08","date_gmt":"2013-12-13T22:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/?p=2814"},"modified":"2013-12-14T10:25:53","modified_gmt":"2013-12-14T15:25:53","slug":"robert-blackburn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2013\/12\/robert-blackburn\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Blackburn"},"content":{"rendered":"

During my weekly visit to the Cleveland Museum of Art I was pleasantly surprised to see a newly-hung lithograph titled Blackburn.<\/em> In the lithograph by Ron Adams (an artist heretofore unknown to me) I instantly recognized my former mentor Robert Blackburn.<\/a> Adams portrays Robert doing what he was always doing<\/a>: working a printing press. I never saw him outside of his beloved Printmaking Workshop surrounded by presses, inks, proofs, and half-finished editions.<\/p>\n

\"Blackburn<\/a>
Blackburn by Ron Adams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The big-hearted Robert was like many printmakers I’ve had to good fortune to know: generous with their time and fortune, and passionate about their craft. The complex and magic-filled craft of printmaking attracts and holds a certain type of artist. Robert epitomized this type: consumed with drawing and filled with respect for the demanding–and sometimes dangerous–discipline of printmaking. Above all, he was passionate about printmaking, like I said.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>In the Studio Oct. 14 2012<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Robert, who died in 2003 at the age of 82, founded The Printmaking Workshop in 1948. He was the head, heart, and soul of the Workshop. When I worked there in the ’80’s, it was still in its original location at 55 West 17th St in Manhattan. The workshop was a cooperative but Robert kept an open door for struggling artists like me who couldn’t afford even the modest (for New York!) fees. He gave me a job tending the litho and etching presses in exchange for using the shop. I produced several editions there. Oftentimes I’d arrive early to clean the shop and find Robert sleeping soundly on one of the big press beds.<\/p>\n

Here’s a NY Times<\/a> article about the Workshop from around the time I was there in 1988. The workshop lives on today at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts<\/a>, which is located at 323 West 39th St. between 8th and 9th in Manhattan.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Stephen Pentak at Bonfoey<\/span><\/a><\/div>

 <\/p>\n

[Photo mine but work copyright the artist.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During my weekly visit to the Cleveland Museum of Art I was pleasantly surprised to see a newly-hung lithograph titled Blackburn. In the lithograph by Ron Adams (an artist heretofore unknown to me) I instantly recognized my former mentor Robert Blackburn. Adams portrays Robert doing what he was always doing: working a printing press. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":2821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,139,10,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","category-bio","category-cleveland","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/adams-blackburn.png?fit=400%2C284&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":832,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2013\/01\/carl-gaertner\/","url_meta":{"origin":2814,"position":0},"title":"Carl Gaertner","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"January 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday was a lucky day--I discovered an artist new to me: Carl Gaertner\u00a0(1898-1952). \u00a0Gaertner's reputation is almost entirely local \u00a0to Cleveland, as \u00a0Robert Smith's is confined to\u00a0Dayton. Gaertner was born in Cleveland and lived in and around there until his death. \u00a0He taught for many years at the Cleveland Institute\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Artists"","block_context":{"text":"Artists","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/artists\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gaertner: oil","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/gaertner-winter.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/gaertner-winter.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/gaertner-winter.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":320,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2012\/11\/dayton-art-institute-fail\/","url_meta":{"origin":2814,"position":1},"title":"Dayton Art Institute\u2014Fail","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"November 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Dayton Art Institute is handsomely situated on a hill above the Great Miami River.\u00a0 The museum\u2019s beautiful Italianate main wing provides a remarkable view of the Dayton skyline.\u00a0 Travelers along I-75 passing beneath the museum\u2019s imposing\u00a0facade can't help but be intrigued by the marvelous piece of architecture. 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That effectively ended her art career.\u00a0 I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "anecdotes"","block_context":{"text":"anecdotes","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/anecdotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/daumier-the-critic_1862.jpg?fit=1200%2C987&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/daumier-the-critic_1862.jpg?fit=1200%2C987&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/daumier-the-critic_1862.jpg?fit=1200%2C987&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/daumier-the-critic_1862.jpg?fit=1200%2C987&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/daumier-the-critic_1862.jpg?fit=1200%2C987&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4693,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2015\/02\/ladies-celebrating-diwali\/","url_meta":{"origin":2814,"position":3},"title":"Ladies Celebrating Diwali","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"February 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"What are they doing? 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After visiting the Met last Friday, I thought I might forgo my weekly visits to the Cleveland museum for awhile. Although Cleveland is a fine museum, it's not\u00a0the Met. But here it is, a mere week later and I am hot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art Museums"","block_context":{"text":"Art Museums","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/art-museum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1052,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2013\/02\/gaertner-at-the-cleveland-museum-of-art\/","url_meta":{"origin":2814,"position":5},"title":"Gaertner at the Cleveland Museum of Art","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"February 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm an idiot, but you already knew that. 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