This group exhibition features 82 prints by ten artists who have created works on paper with Master Printer Bud Shark of Shark’s Ink in Lyons, Colorado. The collection on view represents a survey of his studio since its inception in the mid-seventies. Shark has produced lithographs, monoprints, and woodcuts by renowned artists, largely from the US. The exhibition’s curator, Cydney Payton, has chosen to present artists who have worked with Shark for many years, engaging in a collaborative process that has resulted in works that are technically and visually innovative. The approach employed at Shark’s studio is unique to the creative process, as the artist and the printer work side-by-side to manifest beautiful works.

The represented artists are John Buck (MT/HI), Enrique Chagoya (CA), Bernard Cohen (UK), Red Grooms (NY), Don Ed Hardy (CA/HI), Jane Hammond (NY), Robert Kushner (NY), Hung Liu (CA/China), Hollis Sigler (deceased, formerly IL), and Betty Woodman (NY/Italy). The earliest prints in the exhibition are from 1976. They were created with Shark and Bernard Cohen who met at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, where Cohen was a visiting artist during the 1969/70 academic year. Noteworthy among all the works are the unique three-dimensional prints Shark made with Red Grooms. They are visually stunning, requiring complex problem solving by the artist, Shark, and his longtime studio assistant, Roseanne Colachis, who assembles the works into their final sculptural form.

The studio is enlivened by its location in Colorado and by the working environment created by Shark and his wife, Barbara. Their wonderful partnership contributes to the atmosphere and the historic nature of print studios, noted for blending the personal and the professional. The invited artists stay at the Shark’s home while working in the studio. Barbara Shark, who is also an artist, prepares memorable meals. The studio booms with music contributed by Bud and many artist friends. A book of Budisms, quips and witticisms, and a book filled with notes left by visiting artists add to the legend of Shark’s Ink.

Bud Shark was born in Devils Lake, North Dakota in 1946. He received a BS from University of Wisconsin, Madison (1968) and an MA from University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (1970). In 1976, he opened Shark’s Lithography Ltd in Boulder, Colorado, and relocated the studio as Shark’s Ink to Lyons, Colorado in 1998. He has been a member of the International Fine Print Dealers Association since 1991.

Above: Don Ed Hardy. Tattoo Seas Shark (detail), 1995, 30 x 22 in (76.2 x 55.88 cm), color lithograph. Courtesy Shark’s Ink.