National Open Call Exhibition
at Second State Press
October 8th – November 29th
How can art reflect the influence of shared space, collective knowledge, and chance encounters?
Community is not a given, it is cultivated through repetition, proximity, exchange and care. Studios are not neutral containers. They are active systems in which networks can seed, collide and accumulate.
Printmaking inherently resists total control: outcomes shift, impressions vary, and the unexpected emerges. Within shared studio environments, this indeterminacy expands. Print studios operate as horizontal networks rather than hierarchies, where knowledge circulates freely and expertise is continually reshaped through collective engagement.
Second State Press presents a national open call exhibition as part of Collective Futures. At its core, this exhibition understands community not as a fixed identity, but as an outcome, something produced through shared labor, conversation, and proximity.
This exhibition centers printmaking as a site of multiplicity: where material practice, shared space and human interaction converge. In the community print studio, structure and spontaneity coexist. Within this dynamic, print becomes not just a medium, but a network of people, knowledge, and evolving relationships.
About Second State Press
Founded in 2010 and located in the Crane Arts Building, Second State Press is a nonprofit 501(c)3 community printmaking studio whose mission is to foster the development of ideas and innovation in printmaking by providing our neighborhood with a professional, affordable, and supportive workspace.
SSP advances the growth of a sustainable printmaking community by offering professional facilities through membership, affordable communal workspace for emerging and mid-career artists, community arts programming and professional development opportunities.