“Bob ‘makes room’ for artists. He makes people feel at home at the Workshop. He calls it ‘Hands Across the Sea.’”

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Curated by Ethel Renia, we are pleased to announce Hands Across The Sea, an exhibition of prints by twenty-six artists from the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop (RBPMW). Presented as a Special Project of the 16th Biennale de Dakar, this will be RBPMW’s first presentation in Senegal, and renews a history of international exchange that has been central to RBPMW’s history. The exhibition is hosted by Mikado Friendly community center, and organized in collaboration with HOOP Galerie.

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The Biennale’s theme, (Anti)Fragility: Arts of Repair and Counter-Shock Strategies, curated by Morad Montazami, offers a key framework for considering the Workshop’s history. Founded in 1947 by artist and master printer Robert Blackburn, the RBPMW is the oldest community printmaking workshop in the United States. For eighty years, it has welcomed artists from all walks of life to make prints, exchange skills, and find community. Blackburn opened its doors at a time when racial segregation restricted American life, and opportunities in the art world remained unequal. He built an intentionally integrated space where artists were not turned away for lack of funds or formal qualifications. The only requirement was to be “sincere, and, if possible, creative.”

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Blackburn’s vision extended beyond access to printmaking. He imagined an artistic community connected across social and geographic borders, in which artists could learn from one another and share resources. Through outreach programs, apprenticeships, fellowships, collaborations, and technical experimentation, the Workshop has supported generations of artists and fostered international exchange. Its history also reveals the difficulty of sustaining such an open model. Blackburn prioritized artists over financial security, often leaving the Workshop vulnerable to crisis. When it closed in 2001, the community that had grown around it helped bring it back to life. Its continued existence rests not only on the endurance of Blackburn’s ideas, but on the people who have carried them forward.

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In this sense, the Workshop offers a particular perspective on anti-fragility. Its history is not simply one of institutional survival, but of relationships that have enabled its work to continue through periods of uncertainty. Hands Across the Sea brings this history into conversation with Dakar, where the Workshop’s international connections are not merely a matter of the past. The exhibition includes historic artists such as Blackburn, Camille Billops, and Vivian Browne; artists who knew Blackburn and worked at the Workshop, including Dindga McCannon, Ademola Olugebefola, Mel Edwards, and Abdoulaye Ndoye; and contemporary artists such as Devin N. Morris and Jazmine Hayes. Together, they trace a chain of artistic exchange across generations and geographies.

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We would like to acknowledge our partners and sponsors: HOOP Galerie, MCS Frame, Speedball, and finally, the continued support of Teiger Foundation.