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 at every conversation over the weekend.

Join artist Takuji Hamanaka for a hands-on look at traditional Japanese woodcut printing. This demonstration introduces the core elements of mokuhanga—printing with a baren, using kento marks for precise registration, and creating subtle bokashi color gradients. Visitors will see woodblocks, brushes, pigments, and examples of both historic ukiyo-e prints and contemporary artworks. Whether you're new to printmaking or an experienced maker, this is an approachable glimpse into a centuries-old craft that continues to inspire.

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Takuji Hamanaka is an artist and printmaker living in Brooklyn, New York. He apprenticed in traditional woodcut printmaking in Tokyo, Japan and has worked in studios both in Japan and the US, collaborating with many artists for editions. His work has been exhibited internationally, including the International Print Center, NY; Whitman College, Washington; National Academy of Fine Arts, India; and the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is a recipient of the NYFA fellowships, a Pollock-Krasner Grant, The Gottlieb Foundation Individual Support Grant and a Macdowell Colony fellow. He is represented by Kristen Lorello Gallery in NY.

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Artisan Erik Savage and team will demonstrate a printing technique used by The Alpha Workshops in the production of some of their catalogue of award-winning wallpaper patterns. The team will demo intaglio carving using lightweight foam blocks and will print and embellish a signature Alpha wallpaper. Participants will take away a gorgeous hand-painted greeting card exemplifying these techniques.

Dedicated to creating beauty and changing lives, The Alpha Workshops is the nation’s first nonprofit organization to provide decorative arts education and employment to adults with visible or invisible disabilities and/or other vulnerabilities. It was founded in 1995 in the Chelsea area of Manhattan and modeled on the famed Omega Workshops, the Wiener Werkstätte, the Bauhaus, and the American Arts & Crafts movement. The multi-faceted organization encompasses The Alpha Workshops Studios, an award-winning professional design and decorative arts atelier.

‍Erik Savage joined The Alpha Workshops wallpaper artisan staff in 2012 and became the Production Manager in 2015. He designed many papers in the current collection and has taught the techniques of Alpha's signature folded papers and the traditional stamped patterns of our first collections in our Studio School.