The Print Center Honors: Educational Excellence

A Special Evening Honoring
Sean Buffington & Allan Edmunds
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 | Cocktails 6:00pm; Dinner 7:00pm

This will be the second of five annual events, entitled The Print Center Honors, counting down to The Print Center’s 100th Anniversary in 2015. These celebrations honor our first 100 years and look forward to the future. This year we recognize Educational Excellence by honoring Sean Buffington and Allan Edmunds. The event will be held on Tuesday, October 25. We are pleased to have this opportunity to honor both of their outstanding contributions.

Sean Buffington has been the President and CEO of the University of the Arts since 2007. From its beginnings in 1876 as the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, UArts has played a major role in supporting arts education in Philadelphia. Under Buffington’s tenure UArts has solidified its role as one of the most dynamic academic institutions in the city. Buffington has actively fostered partnerships with other Philadelphia institutions, including The Print Center which has had a close relationship with the UArts’ Printmaking, Photography, Graphic Arts and Book Arts Departments since the 1930s. Many faculty and alumni have been Print Center exhibitors, Board members, lecturers and workshop leaders and dedicated volunteers. Deep connections existed between renowned early faculty members such as Benton Spruance and Jerome Kaplan and such ties continue today. We celebrate the collaborative relationship The Print Center and UArts have enjoyed through almost a century of connection.

Allan Edmunds is the Founder and President of the renowned Brandywine Workshop. Since its inception in 1972, Brandywine has become an international center for printmaking and a resource for art educators. In 2012, the 40th Anniversary of Brandywine will be celebrated with an exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. For more than twenty-eight years Edmunds has taught at Brandywine, as well as at the high school and college level, and has served as a visiting artist nationally and internationally. Through its education programs, the workshop promotes printmaking as a fine art and a medium that encourages collaborative learning. Born out of Edmunds’ early years as an instructor for Prints in Progress, The Print Center’s education program which brought together practicing artists and children through printmaking, Brandywine connects practicing artists, educators and local youth to create an environment for learning and mentoring that embraces cultural diversity and the production of high quality, limited edition prints. The Print Center continues that tradition today through our Artists-in-Schools Program. We are pleased to honor Edmunds’ lifelong commitment to printmaking and education.

The Print Center commissioned photographer John Joyce to create a special image to be presented to the honorees. Catering is provided by Feast Your Eyes Gourmet Catering.