MGC Juried Show: 2026 National MGC Community Print Studio Exhibition
Ongoing
Small Hall
Exhibitions are a cornerstone of MGC Community Print Studio’s programming, which aims to provide access and visibility to artists working in a broad range of printmaking processes. Building on MGC’s legacy as a vital home for prints since 1986, we are excited that this will be our first open call print exhibition in our new home in Powerhouse Arts (PHA) in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Coinciding with PHA’s second annual Brooklyn Fine Art Print Fair, MGC is pleased to announce our 2026 National Print Exhibition, a juried competition and exhibition devoted to fine art prints, which will be part of a series of events celebrating the 40th anniversary of MGC’s founding.
Last year, the Fair’s inaugural, saw 7,500 visitors. Anticipating even larger crowds of print enthusiasts, collectors, curators, and journalists, the exhibition will provide expanded opportunities for professional community building, sales, as well as open dialog during the Fair’s four days, April 9–12, 2026. The MGC Community Print Studio National Juried Exhibition will become a recurring highlight of future fairs.
Ann Shafer is an independent curator, art historian, and a leading expert on intaglio printmaking by Stanley William Hayter and Atelier 17. Formerly Shafer was associate curator of prints, drawings, and photographs at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where she curated a variety of exhibitions and hosted myriad classes and visitors. She also organized the museum’s Baltimore Contemporary Print Fair in 2012, 2015, and 2017, featuring an international array of twenty presses, publishers, and dealers. In April 2022, she mounted a new, independent print fair in Baltimore, and in 2025, she consulted Powerhouse Arts on its inaugural Brooklyn Fine Art Print Fair. She hosts the podcast Platemark: prints and the printmaking ecosystem and writes a blog about favorite works of art (annshafer.com). Shafer has a BA from The College of Wooster and a MA from Williams College, both in art history. In addition to the BMA, Ann has worked at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Williams College Museum of Art, and the National Gallery of Art.
Diya Vij is the Vice President of Curatorial and Arts Programs at Powerhouse Arts in Brooklyn, NY and is committed to critically investigating the evolving role of art in politics and civic life. Most recently, she served as the Curator at Creative Time where she commissioned and stewarded large-scale public art work, launched the public programming space CTHQ, re-launched the Creative Time Summit, and initiated the R&D Fellowship for socially engaged artists. Over the past decade, she has held programming, curatorial, and communications positions at major New York City Institutions. As the Associate Curator of Public Programs at the High Line, she organized dozens of live events and performances with artists, activists, practitioners, and healers. At the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Vij launched and co-directed the Public Artists in Residence (PAIR) program. Additionally, she helped lead the Agency’s citywide Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiative, and played an active role in public monument efforts, as well as CreateNYC—New York City’s first strategic long-term plan for culture. She was a curatorial fellow and the communications manager at the Queens Museum from 2010–2014. She currently serves on the Boards of A Blade of Grass, the Laundromat Project and the Poetry Project and was co-curator of the Counterpublic Triennial 2023 in St. Louis, MO.
More Programs
Print Ecosystem 101: Navigating Curators, Galleries, and Academia with Clara Lieu and Ann Shafer
Small Hall
Apr 10, 2026 4:00 PM
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5:00 pm
Demystify the print industry with Clara Lieu (Art Prof) and Ann Shafer (Platemark) as they map out a "who’s who" of curators, gallerists, academics, and publishers. Learn how to approach these gatekeepers with confidence through a series of professional insights and tips designed to help artists find their place in the printmaking ecosystem.
Clara Lieu is the founder of Art Prof, an online educational platform for learning visual arts.
Artist grants include ones from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation and the Puffin Foundation. Her work has been exhibited at the International Print Center New York, the Danforth Museum of Art, the Currier Museum of Art, and the Davis Museum and Cultural Center.
She spent 16 years in academia teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design, Wellesley College, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and Lesley University. For 7 years she taught at RISD Project Open Door, an art program for underserved teens in Providence public schools.
She has written for the New York Times, and lectures widely. Her work has been profiled on WBUR, Artsy, Hyperallergic, Inside Higher Ed, WCVB’s Chronicle, and KPCC. She provided expertise on articles for NPR Weekend Edition and The Washington Post.
Ann Shafer is an independent curator, organizer of the Brooklyn Fine Art Print Fair, and creator and host of Platemark, the popular podcast dedicated to the world of prints and the printmaking ecosystem. A former curator at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Ann has spent her career immersed in the print ecosystem, organizing major exhibitions and building significant collections. She is currently editing a definitive multi-author volume on the history and legacy of Atelier 17, bridging the gap between mid-century modernism and contemporary practice. Through her scholarship and her insightful interviews on Platemark, Ann has become a vital connector for artists, curators, and collectors, offering a rare 360-degree view of how the print world functions from the inside out.
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Please note seating is first-come, first-served. Plan to arrive early to secure your seat(s).
We provide live-captioning services and ASL interpreters at every conversation over the weekend.
Texture, Abstraction, and Collage: Watercolor Monotype Workshop with Print Center New York
MGC Community Print Studio (5th Fl)
Apr 11, 2026 1:00 PM
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2:00 pm
In conjunction with the exhibition Felipe Baeza: Anima at Print Center New York, participants are invited to create prints inspired by Baeza’s layered imagery and material processes. Participants will explore texture, abstraction, and collage using watercolor monotype and chine collé techniques. Led by artist-educators Megan Duffy, Alejandra Arias Sevilla, and Cecilia Cano-Daly, this open-ended workshop emphasizes experimentation and creative discovery to engage with the visual language of Baeza’s work. Felipe Baeza: Anima is on view through May 23 at Print Center New York.
This workshop is free with entry, but is limited to 25 participants and spots are first come, first served. No experience is necessary. Recommended for ages 12 and over. All materials provided.
Megan Duffy is an arts administrator and art educator based in Brooklyn, NY. She currently serves as Project Manager for the NYC Department of Transportation Art Program, managing temporary art installations throughout the five boroughs in partnership with professional artists and community organizations. Previously, Megan was Artist Programs Manager at Print Center New York, overseeing the New Prints juried exhibition series among other initiatives. She has also worked as a museum educator at the Newark Museum of Art. Megan holds a Bachelor of Science in Studio Art from Skidmore College, focusing on printmaking and textiles.
Alejandra Arias Sevilla is a visual artist, collaborator, and printmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. Through research-based and intuitive methodologies, her work investigates the semantics and pragmatics of the color blue, as well as translation and shadows. Arias Sevilla earned her BFA at the Pacific Northwest College of Art. In 2021, she was awarded the Undergrowth Educational Print Fund at Mullowney Printing. After completing the apprenticeship, she joined the team, becoming the Lead Printer (2022-2023). In 2024, Arias Sevilla had two solo exhibitions, Borderings Print Center New York, and Translation as Deformation at the Jordan Schnitzer Gallery at Dieu Donné after completing the Marabeth Cohen-Tyler Print/Paper Fellowship.
Cecilia Cano-Daly is a printmaker based in Queens, NY. She primarily explores material processes, thinking of her creation as a collaboration between herself and the techniques she employs. She embraces the process and experimentation intrinsic to printmaking, often playing with the balance between control and chance. Cecilia completed a studio internship at Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in May 2024, and is set to begin apprenticing at Mullowney Printing through the Undergrowth Educational Print Fund in April 2026.
Put the Message in the Hands of the Peoples and Move On with Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. and Josh MacPhee
Small Hall
Apr 12, 2026 2:00 PM
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3:00 pm
Bringing together Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. and Josh MacPhee, their conversation will center print as a democratic force that is portable, accessible, and unapologetically political. From Kennedy’s bold, type-driven calls for justice to MacPhee’s collaborative social movement archives, the conversation challenges the myth of art’s neutrality and individual authorship. Drawing from Black printing traditions, social movements, and grassroots distribution, Kennedy and MacPhee explore how printed matter circulates beyond elite art systems and spaces. Together, prints are positioned not as an artifact, but as action, a tool to agitate, educate, and move people toward change.
I am negro! - Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.
Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. is a letterpress printer and artist renowned for bold typography and socially engaged messages. After discovering letterpress printing in the late 1980s, he left a career as a systems analyst and earned an MFA in graphic design from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Hyperallergic, and The Economist, and is held by institutions including the Library of Congress, MoMA, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Josh MacPhee is a founding member of the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative (Justseeds.org) and Interference Archive, a public collection of cultural materials produced by social movements (InterferenceArchive.org).
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Please note seating is first-come, first-served. Plan to arrive early to secure your seat(s).
We provide live-captioning services and ASL interpreters at every conversation over the weekend.
