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Michael
Sims established The Lawrence Lithography Workshop in 1979 in Lawrence, Kansas
as a contract printing and teaching facility for local and regional artists. At
the time, it was one of the very few independent presses in the Midwest providing
a place where artists with little or no printmaking experience could collaborate
with a master printer to produce hand-pulled lithographs. Over time, the
workshop evolved with an increased emphasis on publishing regional and national
artists. Today, most projects are done on an invitational basis with TLLW
acting as the primary publisher or co-publisher, though contract printing
remains a significant part of the business.
Sims
received his M.F.A. in printmaking in 1971 from Ohio University and began
teaching lithography at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. He has also taught at Western Michigan
University, Centro de Eñsenafiza Graficas (Center for the Study of Graphic
Arts) in Caracas, Venezuela and Western New Mexico University. In 1978, he left KU to work as an assistant
at Landfall Press in Chicago. In 1997
Sims closed the shop in Lawrence and moved the facility to Sunland Park, New
Mexico; one more move in 2001 relocated the shop to its current location in
Kansas City, MO. This
facility boasts a large press room with 2 electric flatbed litho presses and an
etching press,as well as an exhibition gallery.
To date,
The Lawrence Lithography Workshop has collaborated with over 100 artists from
across the United States. Among them
are: Ron Adams, Anthony Baab, Nick
Bubash, Paul Brach, Susan Davidoff, Archie Scott Gobber, Julie Green, Robert
Green, Edward Henderson, Peregrine Honig, Tom Huck, Benito Huerta, Gesine
Janzen, Luis Jiménez, Elizabeth “Grandma” Layton, Mike Lyon, Alden Mason, Marcie
Miller Gross, John Newman, Ed Paschke, Zigmunds Priede, Warren Rosser, Miriam
Schapiro, Roger Shimomura, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, Robert Stackhouse, Robert
Sudlow, Akio Takamori, Theodore Waddell, Patti Warashina, William Wiley,
and Andrzej Zielinski.
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