ROB SWAINSTON
Rob is currently Assistant Professor of Art+Design in Printmaking at SUNY Purchase College. Born and raised in rural Pennsylvania, Rob studied art and political science at Hampshire College, and subsequently lived and worked in Central Europe, pursuing postgraduate studies in political science at Budapest’s Central European University. He received his MFA in visual arts from Columbia University in 2006. He attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2007, the Marie Walsh Sharpe Studio Program in 2009-10, the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center (winter 2011-12), the Bronx Museum AIM program (2015), the Robert Blackburn Printshop Fellowship (2012), and is alumnus of the Philadelphia art collective Vox Populi. Rob is a cofounder and master printer of Prints of Darkness, a collaborative printmaking studio in Brooklyn, NY. He has had solo shows with Marginal Utility, Philadelphia (2016,2013); University Galleries Illinois State (2016); Neuwerk Kunsthalle, Konstanz, Germany (2012); Esther Massry Gallery at the College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY (2011); David Krut Projects, NYC (2010); BravinLee Programs, NYC (2010); and Vox Populi, Philadelphia (2008 and 2009). Rob has been in numerous group shows at International Print Center New York (2016,2015,2014,2012,2011), Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY (2013,11); Arlington Arts Center, Arlington (2012); Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA (2012); Mellon, Brooklyn, NY (2011); NADA Hudson (Canada Gallery), Hudson, NY (2011); Mason Gross Galleries, New Brunswick, NJ (2010); Philagraphika at Seraphin Gallery, Philadelphia (2010); Canada Gallery, NYC (2008); The Queens Museum at Bulova, Queens, NY (2008) and the Frederic Snitzer Gallery, Miami, FL (2006). He has been featured in V-magazine, Art in Print, contemporary Printmaking books as well as the Printeresting, and Art21 blogs.
BARBARA MCLANAHAN
Barbara Hunt McLanahan is the executive director of the Children's Museum of Arts! Barbara has more than 20 years of experience in the arts on both sides of the Atlantic. She has served as executive director for the Judd Foundation, Artists Space, and Visual AIDS in New York City, and Camerawork Gallery + Darkroom in London. She has also been an active volunteer throughout her career, sitting on the board of the African and Asian Visual Artists Archive and the Leisure Services Committee of the Royal National Institute for the Blind in the United Kingdom, as well as participating in Godzilla, a group of Asian American artists and curators, and sitting on the board of ABACA (Arts Benefit All Coalition Alternative) at Satellite Academy.
She joined the board of the Jerome Foundation in Minneapolis in 2007 and in 2006, she was named Chevalier of L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Republic of France. She has been a panelist and lecturer at museums, non-profit galleries, conferences and colleges in the US and UK, focusing particularly on career options for emerging artists and the changing opportunities facing artist-run alternative spaces.
SUSAN ROSTOW
Susan Rostow is a New York City-based artist, educator and the inventor of Akua™ printmaking inks and accessories. Her one-of-a-kind mixed media sculptural books and prints have been exhibited throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. Her work is in public and private collections including the The Allan Chasanoff Bookwork Collection at Yale University Art Gallery, the Library of Congress, National Print Archives, and the Portland Museum of Art, Oregon. She was awarded a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and served as an Artist in Residence through the New Jersey State Arts Council, Pennsylvania Arts Council, Montana State Arts Council, Alaska State Arts Council, Jamaica Art Center, New York and the Oregon College of Arts and Crafts.
Susan Rostow has made a major contribution to the practice of safer printmaking with Akua, and by teaching printmaking techniques without the use of hazardous materials. In 2012, Speedball Art Products acquired the Akua brand and Susan joined the Speedball team, creating new products and producing instructional videos. She has taught numerous printmaking workshops all over the world and maintains a studio in Brooklyn where she welcomes students.
