Initiated in 1980, our Visiting Artist programme invites renowned visual artists, often with little experience of printmaking, to create original fine art prints, with the assistance of our master printer.  The programme has made, and continues to make an important contribution to the development of printmaking in Ireland, bringing many of Ireland\’s most well known artists to printmaking. The Irish Museum of Modern Art celebrated 30 years of our Visiting Artist Programme in 2010, with a survey exhibition of work made through the scheme.

Under this scheme, towering figures of 20th century Irish art, including the late, great, Tony O\’Malley, Louis le Brocquy, Micheal Farrell and William Crozier worked with us to create a body of fine art prints.   Contemporary participants in the programme include Alice Maher, Gwen O\’Dowd, Mary Lohan, Anne Madden, Hughie O\’Donoghue, Seán McSweeney, Nick Miller, Diana Copperwhite, Charles Tyrrell, Martin Gale, John Noel Smith, Maria Simonds Gooding, Richard Gorman, Geraldine O\’Neill, Mick O\’Dea among many others, as well as many artists from outside Ireland, including Dame Elizabeth Blackadder, Ethan Murrow and Christopher Le Brun.

The work created through the programme, reveals itself as an important historical archive, telling the story of the often crucial relationship between masterprinter and visiting artist. From the inception of the programme, a small number of masterprinters at Graphic Studio Dublin have been guiding and mentoring artists through the printmaking process. These skills combine to create editions that are unique to Graphic Studio Dublin.  The results of this creative process – editions of fine art prints, can be viewed and purchased from our gallery.