The Texas Matrix: Alyssa Ebinger and Flatbed Press

Texas is fortunate to have a thriving printmaking community with many noteworthy resources and organizations scattered across the state. If you ask anyone about them, Flatbed Press in Austin is guaranteed to be on the list.

Since its inception in 1989, the collaborative printmaking studio has evolved and expanded, now operating under the larger umbrella of the Flatbed Center for Contemporary Printmaking. In addition to collaborative printing and editioning, they offer artist residencies, workshops, exhibitions, and much more.

Alyssa Ebinger, Flatbed’s Master Printer and Education and Community Program Manager joined the team in 2021 and has played a vital role in that evolution. A Tamarind-trained lithographer with a BS in Art Education and an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Ebinger has not only worked to bring numerous artists’ visions to life, she has grown the organization’s impact through innovative programming.

Recently, she shared with me some of her personal printmaking experiences as well as provided more details about the happenings at Flatbed.

Caleb Bell (CB): As a collaborative printmaking studio, Flatbed regularly works with artists to produce editions. As Master Printer, can you share what that process looks like specifically regarding your role?

Alyssa Ebinger (AE): As a collaborative printer, my role is to work one-on-one with the artist. We have a very intense few days together and a lot to accomplish in that time. Usually, the artists that I work with have never done printmaking before. It’s my job to make them comfortable in a new medium. Being an artist is a very solitary profession, and to go from working in your studio alone to a collaboration using a medium that you are unfamiliar with, can be incredibly intimidating. 

One of the most important parts of my job is to gain the artist’s trust. They need to trust in my printing abilities as well as trust that I will care for the intention and integrity of their work as much as they do. The relationship between an artist and their printer goes back decades. It’s charming to think about. A Master Printer I apprenticed under said it perfectly, ‘a collaboration with an artist is like a hot summer romance.’ 

In ideal situations, I am able to work with an artist for two weeks. Before the artist arrives, we have conversations with each other to have a game plan for their residency. We decide what printmaking process is best suited for the way they work, whether it be lithography, intaglio, monotype, or relief. The matrix and mark-making materials are prepared prior to the artist’s arrival so we can hit the ground running on day one. For the first few days of a collaboration, the artist is hard at work creating the matrix. This may be drawing on a stone, carving a woodblock, or drawing on a prepared copper plate. While the artist works, the printers mix ink, prep paper, process plates/stones, and begin the proofing process. Getting ink onto paper as quickly as possible is so important. As the printer, you can visualize how layers of ink will interact and come together, where your artist might not. So, the faster the artist can see it, the better. It’s a whirlwind of proofing different colors, adding, deleting, reworking, whatever we think the print needs. 

Week two is when we, hopefully, have all the matrices completed, and we really get to have some fun. We get into the final color tweaks, the tightening up of registration, and getting the order of runs just right so that when we pull that last impression, it sings. We do all of this just to get an ATP, or an approval to print. The editioning of a print usually takes place months after the artist has left. The ATP is our roadmap along with very detailed notes about the collaboration and proofing of the print. When the editioning of a print is completed, we either ship the prints to the artist to sign, or they come back to us and sign with the printer present. My favorite part of a collaboration is when an artist is inspired by the process and you see it start to turn up in their practice back in their studio. And when they are already thinking of a new print to do with you before you are even done editioning the first one!

CB: Are the artists you work with invited by Flatbed or do they reach out to you for your services? Or is it a little of both?

AE: It’s a little of both, but usually it is Flatbed reaching out to artists that we are interested in working with.

CB: I know that each edition presents its own set of challenges and rewards. Thinking about the many prints you have collaborated on, can you share a memorable experience pushing the medium and the resulting print?

AE: One of my most memorable experiences as a collaborative printer was working with Laura Berman, a Kansas City-based artist. It was my first solo collaboration outside of Tamarind and in another professional shop. I think that’s why it sticks with me so much. I only had four days with Berman in the studio, so I sent her a few mylars ahead of time to get started on a drawing for her suite of three lithographs. Berman is all about color, so it was really important in this collaboration for us to speak the same color language. In her four days, we decided to focus on one of the three lithographs to use as a guide. We thought that if we could get one almost finished, it would help influence the direction the other two would need to go in, and it did! 

The remainder of our collaboration was virtual. She and I would FaceTime and look at new proofs, new colors I mixed, brainstorm what color the next run should be, etc. One of the more challenging parts of this project was that every single run was a blend roll, and to make it even more difficult, the blends were at different angles so that we could create an optical illusion of three-dimensionality in a two-dimensional work on paper. We ended up with three really beautiful lithographs, made up of 17-19 colors in each.

I remember this collaboration the most because it challenged me in so many different ways. This was the project that really set the tone for what I hoped my collaborative printmaking career would look like.

CB: Speaking of Tamarind, I know you went through their Printer Training Program. I also know that their program is just one component of your extensive education and experience in printmaking which has largely focused on lithography. 

Would you say that lithography is your preferred printmaking method?

AE: Yes, I did the Printer Training Program and the second-year apprenticeship. I was always drawn to lithography, especially in undergrad, and going through that program just amplified my love for the process. It is definitely my favorite of all the printmaking techniques.

CB: In addition to your role as collaborative printer, you are also Flatbed’s Education and Community Program Manager. What types of programs and workshops do you like to bring in for the community?

AE: Flatbed has a history of offering community printmaking classes. Part of my job has been building off of the classics that people love as well as bringing in new experiences. Sometimes we have instructors reach out to us and pitch a class idea, which we love! Most of the time it is us reaching out to people who we admire and think their area of expertise would make a fun class. We have our tried and true intro to printmaking techniques classes, but we’ve also done paper marbling, paper making, and even some experimental/nontraditional printmaking processes. 

On top of our class offerings, Flatbed has a Community Shop that gives access to our facility. Another way we try to stay involved in the community is by participating in November’s Austin Studio Tour and PrintAustin in February. Our mission is to educate our community and elevate the world of fine art printmaking.

CB: I know there hasn’t been an official announcement yet, but can you share anything about the upcoming fall programming? Maybe what you are most excited about?

AE: We just started planning today, so unfortunately we don’t have anything to drop just yet about fall classes. They will be announced soon though.

CB: Good to know. I will keep an eye out.

Thinking further about the way Flatbed creates opportunities as well as fosters Austin’s printmaking community, I want to hear a little bit more about the annual Edition Variables: New Austin Printmakers exhibition which recently closed. I know it is juried and features prints by students.

How did the exhibition come about? And how long has it been going on?

AE: Edition Variables was an idea I had when I first started at Flatbed. I wanted to give students the opportunity to show in a space outside of a school. I did my Master’s in Philadelphia and there was a similar exhibition for recent printmaking graduates which was a really incredible opportunity. I borrowed their idea and Flatbed’s annual juried student show was born. They are the future of printmaking, especially in Austin, so I think it is important to foster and encourage their development as artists. We just wrapped up our third year and I definitely think it was the best one yet! The number of applicants and the quality of student work just keeps growing with each year. I can’t wait to see how it continues.

CB: I definitely see that as an interesting way to keep up with what the next generation of printmakers is up to while providing them with a meaningful opportunity. What advice would you give to young printmakers?

AE: I would tell them to just keep going, don’t stop, find a way to make it work. The art world can be brutal, but if you are doing what you love, then nothing can stop you. The printmaking community is such a welcoming genuine group of brilliant artists that I am so lucky to be a part of, and if they stick with it, they won’t have any trouble finding the right people to help them continue in their careers. Print nerds stick together, always.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.