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\r\n","body":"Each week CGN interviews a local art dealer to discuss the ins and outs of running a gallery in the city of Chicago. This week we caught up with Deborah Maris Lader, owner and director of Chicago Printmakers Collaborative.
\r\n\r\nAge: 56
\r\n\r\nCurrent Position: Director of Chicago Printmakers Collaborative
\r\n\r\nHometown: Cleveland, Ohio
\r\n\r\nPrevious Occupations: Professor of Printmaking at Indiana University/Fort Wayne, Printmaking teacher at Cornell University, High School Art Teacher, plus lots of the usual waitress gigs before that.
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5 favorites from the past week
\r\n\r\nRestaurant: Kitsune - Iliana Regan is a culinary genius.
\r\n\r\nShop: I regularly spend time at Costco buying ginormous mountains of paper towels and nitrile gloves for the printshop. Not my favorite place but a necessary evil.
\r\n\r\nRead: Just finished “Paris in the Present Tense” by Mark Helprin – very good.
\r\n\r\nNeighborhood: Lincoln Square! I just love this neighborhood. My print workshop and home are here, plus it’s where I raised my kids, where I shop, go to movies, work out, and everything else.
\r\n\r\nMusic: I’m in a folk band called Sons of the Never Wrong. Despite the genre that defines my own music, I love all kinds of stuff – classical, rock, alternative, gospel, blues, jazz, Americana and world. If I put my music on shuffle, I’ll hear Andrew Bird, Talking Heads, Erwin Helfer, Beyonce, Anais Mitchell, the B-52’s, The Decemberists, Luis Fonsi, and Ella Fitzgerald all within the hour.
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CGN: Tell us about your background and the process of starting Chicago Printmakers Collaborative?
\r\n\r\nDL: Making stuff has been my passion since day one. As an undergraduate sculpture major, welding giant pieces of metal, carving wood and grinding stone, I loved the materials but missed the act of drawing. I took a class in printmaking, which involves incising imagery onto etched metal plates, drawing onto lithography stones and carving wood relief blocks, I was immediately hooked. Printmakers tend to be socially comfortable creatures because of the need to share equipment and resources, and they tend to cluster around whoever has a press. Because teaching has also always been an important part of my career, nurturing others to pursue their artistic goals, it was only a matter of time before I opened my own print shop. Creating community around the medium of fine, handmade printmaking has been my focus for over 28 years.
\r\n\r\nI was a professor of printmaking at Indiana University/Fort Wayne before moving to Chicago in 1989 and initially sought a teaching position. At that same moment in time, the stars aligned and an old defunct print shop became available for sale. I jumped on it and sunk all my cash into birthing the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative. I didn’t know anyone in Chicago besides my architect husband (a good sport if ever there was one) and wondered if this crazy thing I was pouring my heart and sweat into would actually happen and if anyone would ever walk through the door of a 2nd story walkup warehouse in Ukrainian Village where the only retail in the neighborhood was a Cut-Rate Liquor and a Wendy’s (along with the occasional late afternoon chorus of gunshots).
\r\n\r\nIt was my version of “build it and they will come”… and in fact they did. The printmakers who first walked through the CPC’s doors have been the lifeblood of the studio ever since.
\r\n\r\nIn the spring of 1999, the CPC moved from its original location to an expansive, rented studio space in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood. In 2015, I bought a decrepit old building where the roof was caving in and the pipes had all burst and I renovated it to comply with my fantasy printshop dreams. And so it was that the shop moved to its new, custom built, permanent location just 4 blocks north of the old. If I ever leave here it’ll be feet first.
\r\n\r\nCPC’s member artists hail from all over the world, but most live in the Chicago area. The workshop is home to 7 Resident Artists, hundreds of students, and scores of professional printmakers who work on the presses 24/7 with keyed access. The CPC gallery features works on paper by over 60 international artists.
\r\n\r\nMy role as a curator and dealer has expanded in the past 5 years, especially as our new bright storefront and gallery walls have attracted buyers who are more and more interested in our international reach and are thrilled with the general affordability of prints, many of which can be produced as limited-edition multiples. When folks happen in during our open hours, they may catch an artist pulling an etched image off the press or drawing on a stone, as the gallery shares space with the active workshop. Sometimes visitors actually applaud when an artist “reveals” a finished print before their very eyes – it’s an education and performance all in one, and it demystifies the print medium in the best way (they also see how much hard work is involved).
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CGN: Give us a day in the life!
\r\n\r\nDL: Every day is so different! Some days I may be picking up supplies, reclaiming silk screens, fixing a broken glass litho slab and doing PR via social media. The next day I may be drawing on an etching plate, printing, hanging a gallery show, making labels and creating Instagram videos (we have 26.6K followers as of this week, plus I have 3 Instagram and FB accounts – one for my art, one for CPC, and one for my band). The day after that I may have a band rehearsal, a demo for a tour group at CPC, and an evening gig.
\r\n\r\nThere are some days where we have community events and I delegate tasks for our 5 CPC interns while working alongside them to maintain the studio, answer emails, organize classes, and clean. All while greeting visitors and selling prints. Most every day I try to work out in the morning, then hit the studio or streets for the types of things mentioned above, and then I go home to assure my husband that I still exist. I sometimes like to cook, and always make time early in the day for a matcha green tea latte with almond milk. I’m usually up until around 1:30 AM doing administrative, social media, email and other work from my home computer. Then I read a little before I collapse. It’s important (to me) to be creative in some way everyday, whether it means drawing on a plate or sketchbook, curating an installation, or simply composing what I’m going to wear.
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CGN: How would you sum up your experience running CPC?
\r\n\r\nDL: I’ve learned that being creative comes in many forms, and that artistic output doesn’t always hang nicely on a wall or sit on a pedestal. Creating community, or building a printmaking workshop, taxes similar artistic muscles and can satisfy the itch to make something from nothing. I used to beat myself up if my artistic output suffered while performing CPC administrative tasks, but now I just see it all as the same thing, and it has oddly resulted in my being more productive with the stuff that hangs on walls! Go figure.
\r\n\r\nI love printmaking and its array of stones and plates and tools and presses, but what makes the CPC special are all of the printmakers and interns and students and art collectors and visitors who walk through the CPC door every day. The artists draw, etch, carve, print and haul enormously heavy objects around the studio. The work is physically demanding and exacting, and requires a great amount of technical skill. The work that has come out of the CPC print shop during the past 28 years is astonishing. It’s hugely satisfying to see these artists make their marks in printmaking studios, University print shops and in exhibitions all over the world. It’s also rewarding to sell their work, which supports them financially. The CPC was set up to foster dialogue, collaboration and community among Chicago’s printmakers, as well as to educate and share the beauty of the medium with the broader public. Working alongside these artists has been an honor and an inspiration. The city and community has been tremendously supportive, gallery visitors can see us at work, as the printed image comes off the press.
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CGN: Most exciting sale you ever had?
\r\n\r\nDL: Every sale is exciting. I love these artists and their work and it’s important to me to have a variety of price points and imagery so that there is something in the gallery that ANY person can afford. A first-time buyer’s thrill is as exciting as a seasoned collector’s purchase. I do have this regular collector from Baltimore who comes once a year to snap up a nice haul of gorgeous things, so of course that’s always big fun, especially since he has such exquisite taste!
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CGN: Share some successes as well as challenges this year.
\r\n\r\nDL: After last year brought us the new-guy-in-chief, I made a conscious effort to make 2017 the year of furthering the CPC’s global reach, while championing the role of the arts in transcending the muck of divisive politics. CPC held a series of free, drop-in POP (Print Organize Protest) events where folks could screen print posters and tees, and write letters to our elected officials. In the gallery, CPC showed a gorgeous exhibition of Iranian Printmakers while simultaneously touring a collaborative exhibit of CPC and Iranian printmakers throughout Iran, Italy and Norway. We followed that with the summer ON PAPER International Printmaking Competition.
\r\n\r\nWe then exhibited the gorgeous work of young Thai artists from Chiang Mai, followed by our current International Small Print Show. So – lots of work but some wonderful collaborations amongst artists from all over the globe. The work from Iran had to basically be “smuggled” into this country. It was both scary and thrilling to make all that happen, and when Chicago’s Iranian community came to the CPC to celebrate Nowruz (Persian New Year) with us, it was fantastic, and we met so many cool new people!
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CGN: One piece of advice you would send back to your 20-year-old self?
\r\n\r\nDL: As an artist/musician: Trust that your work will tell you where it wants to go. The process is most important, not the end result.
\r\n\r\nAs a mom: “No" is a love word.
\r\n\r\nAs a community print shop owner: Start small and don’t get too far ahead of yourself. Roll with the setbacks, because they will always be part of it. No sense in stressing too much about the inevitable pitfalls. Reassess and move forward.
\r\n\r\nAs a person: When people look at your 20-yr-old self and think your plan to open a print workshop is batshit crazy, just imagine that in 28 years they’ll be asking you for advice.
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CGN: What do you look for in an artwork? When searching for a piece for yourself, what speaks to you?
\r\n\r\nDL: I want it to be both beautifully crafted and moving in some deep way. Obviously, I love the way prints look, so I gravitate towards the intimacy of an etching or wood engraving or lithograph or drawing, but I can just as easily be moved by the texture and layers of an encaustic painting or sculptural object.
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CGN: Favorite cultural pursuit outside of the art world?
\r\n\r\nDL: Music of course! Writing, singing, playing and arranging songs with Sons of the Never Wrong is pretty darned cool. I very much also enjoy dance, theatre, and film.
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CGN: What should we expect to see next from Chicago Printmakers Collaborative?
\r\n\r\nDL: We are in the early planning stages for our 2nd Steamroller event, which will take place sometime in mid-July. It’s a basically a community-wide printmaking festival in which the feature attraction is a large 12-ton paving truck in our back driveway that rolls over and prints massive 8-foot artist-carved woodcuts onto fabric while amazed bystanders snap loads of photos with their smartphones. We usually have food trucks, relief printing demos and live music throughout the day, so it’s quite the happening!
\r\n\r\nOther than that, CPC will offer its usual schedule of Printmaking classes, open houses, exhibitions, and membership activities, which can all be found on our website. CPC is also publishing a series of 4 and 5-color Tony Fitzpatrick etchings, printed by our master printer Catherine Winings.
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Deborah Maris Lader is owner and director of Chicago Printmakers Collaborative. For more information please visit: Chicago Printmakers Collaborative
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Fall offers a full slate of exhibitions across galleries and museums throughout the Midwest. Behind the scenes, many people in the community are working tirelessly to support artists and bring fresh perspectives to the public. We spoke with five insiders about what excites them now and what they anticipate next.
The following preview is one of five conversations that appear in CGN's Fall 2026 magazine. To receive a copy of the print edition click here.
“I’m thrilled to further expand my artistic and design practice by introducing other mediums into the mix. I’m looking forward to watching the seasons change and devoting a lot of time in the studio as well. Fall/winter is my favorite time to create new works.
I have an upcoming solo show with VSG Contemporary that I am excited about. The work will delve further into the topics of cultural mythology and how these tales and narratives have helped shape my worldview.
Also, it wouldn’t be right if I left out my excitement for this upcoming season of Chicago sports.”
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961823/s3lp0uull2s8mvd8funj.jpg\")
Andi Crist, Extension Cords, Glazed stoneware, chrome, Sizes vary 2021-present. Photo: Mikey Mosher
This interview is part of CGN's Fall 2026 issue. Purchase a copy or subscribe.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961824/mghrpnghxd9j9ko2dsjt.jpg\")
Andi Crist
BY ALISON REILLY
Andi Crist’s warm, engaging demeanor is evident in the first few minutes of our conversation. Generous with her time and forthcoming in her observations, she cares deeply about building relationships through her art making. Crist grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, devoured art classes, wrote songs and played music in high school, and moved to Chicago to study visual art at Columbia College. In 2024, she received her MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is a woodworker, sculptor, ceramicist, and conceptual artist, and she teaches at Illinois Institute of Technology. We discussed her multidisciplinary practice, her experience working as an art handler, preparator, and fabricator, and how she thinks about labor, creativity, and value in the art world.
CGN: You grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. How did that environment shape your point of view as an artist?
Andi Crist: That’s such a funny question. Nobody’s ever really asked.
CGN: Oh, really?
AC: Yeah, maybe because I never was super connected with the arts community down in Birmingham. I moved to Chicago in 2007, so it’s been 20 years since I lived in the South. I was definitely one of those art kids—one art credit was required in high school, and I graduated with like seven. I was surrounded by artists who had a big impact on me, because they were working artists. All my art teachers were trained in Alabama and then continued to teach and work in Alabama, which gave me this desire to try to expand my community outside of what I was familiar with.
CGN: Do you identify as a Chicagoan?
AC: My family still lives in Alabama, and I go back every year. I love being in Alabama. Maybe now being in Chicago for almost 20 years, I identify as a southerner living in the city. I carry on the social qualities of a friendly southern person [laughs].
CGN: You have a varied art practice—woodwork, ceramics, mold making. What drew you to those types of fabrication methods and that type of art making?
AC: My dad is a carpenter and a hobbyist woodworker, but his career was psychology, and my mom was a professor and an incredible craftswoman. I absorbed my mom’s model of creativity, which is to try a bunch of different things and not necessarily finish them but to try to learn as much as I can by just going for it. My practice over the years has become an exploration of conceptual elements of what makes art art and not just craft. Do you have to be a master craftsperson or a professional artist in order to make something that resonates with people?
I make a lot of work that references the mode of making and requires a variety of different media. I just finished teaching a ceramics production class where students learned how to produce molds, think about positives and negatives, and get into a level of production rather than just handicraft as a way to multiply their output.
I got into fabrication because I’ve always liked working with other artists. I have a background in theater and gallery work. I’m a voracious learner, and I like being able to share those skills with my community. Then I end up making work about that. It’s a self-feeding cycle.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961825/zzejqwibga5f5wk6einh.jpg\")
Andi Crist, Artist’s Ladder, 2023. Photo: Jeff Perlman
CGN: Thinking about your background as an art handler and preparator—how did you get to the point where you were making work about that experience?
AC: In 2010, right before I graduated from Columbia, I was living in a storefront in West Logan Square with my partner at the time. We started a gallery called Autotelic in the space and had to build it out using the worst tools with very minimal resources. Then we started curating shows there and that meant helping other artists figure out how to install their work in our unusual space. Eventually, I gained the reputation for knowing how to do that type of work. I started getting invited to work in museums and galleries.
The Holocaust Museum was the first museum I worked at, and as difficult as that subject matter is, that experience was really important to me because I was learning more about the larger world of gallery work. As an artist working as a preparator, you’re straddling both sides of that space. You’re really seeing how the sausage is made. You’re hearing all the conversations about artists, curators, the process of exhibition making. There is a lot of information you can gather about the economics of the art world by just being the person that has the know-how to touch and handle artwork. Eventually that started feeding into my art practice because I wanted to make work that was contributing to a conversation around art as a type of job. It fueled a methodology of seeing everything in the world as the result of a long line of processes that required effort and thoughtfulness by many hands.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961826/uv5bysb5fbne30gr5czh.jpg\")
Andi Crist, Fair Warning, 2025.
CGN: The title of your recent exhibition at the Cleve Carney Museum—Live, Laugh, Lo—sorry, not Live, Laugh, Love—Live, Laugh, Labor.
AC: [Laughs] That’s what everybody does.
CGN: I love the title—it’s perfect. You incorporate humor along with thoughtful critiques about labor and value in your work. What role does humor play? How does it help you connect with your audience?
AC: One of my biggest criticisms of art with a capital A is how easily it can be overly intellectualized. I think that’s why I end up making a lot of work that references things that already exist or have some kind of real purpose. It’s important to give people a foothold so there’s an obvious place to board that train of thought. As an artist—maybe this is me getting into a sweeping argument about what artists should be—but I personally believe in intellectual accessibility. Humor is a swift way to drop defenses and allow people to come in without feeling like they are not getting the joke or not understanding. I like to make work that can hold both of those things at the same time—it’s funny on the surface level, it’s kind of cheeky, but there’s also another way to look at it that is intellectually clever. There is a joy in the attempt to “get it”. Like the satisfaction of grasping how a crossword puzzle actually works.
It’s also so much a part of my personality. I take myself seriously as an artist, but my ego isn’t at the heart of it. It’s really something that I do because I love to make things, and I love to connect with other people. My parents raised me on puns, creating those language relationships between things and people and space. Understanding a joke is the same way that we understand art, and while neither of my parents would consider themselves artists, they taught me how to think about art.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961828/gnotyfijabr7e15kb6hm.jpg\")
Andi Crist, 69 Bananas
CGN: Your work, Artist’s Ladder, explores hierarchies, workplace cultures, and institutional values. What experiences shaped your reflections on these themes?
AC: The ladder piece distinctly represents the complicated relationship between front of house, back of house, and the hierarchy of labor. Who is the artist in those relationships? How much does another person’s knowledge and expertise contribute to the success of another artist?
There are enormous, industrialized art practices out there, warehouses full of people making things, and those people are also artists. When you make work that involves other people, it’s important to acknowledge their contributions. I’ve had complicated interactions with other artists who are like, ‘Hey, do you want to collaborate with me on this thing?’ but really they just want me to make their idea. I made Artist’s Ladder while I was in grad school at UIC, and it really represented my relationship with a lot of other artists, because I could be an actual support structure for them. Then it turned into this absurd physical thing. It’s extremely overbuilt with inlaid racing stripes made of exotic hardwood, and a butcher’s block-style plaid top. It’s not really like an FU as much as it is asking for acknowledgement of my skills and the essential support structures that exist.
CGN: I want to ask you about another piece, Five O’Clock Somewhere, a wool rug that resembles a children’s play mat. I work at a library, and it reminded me of rugs I see all the time. It’s a peaceful image of an office park with a large fountain surrounded by a parking lot. I’m curious why you chose a rug as the medium to depict that image.
AC: To me the heart of that joke was that it was a landscape. I wanted it to be physically traversable. And that was, I don’t want to say controversial, but it was something that I had to talk about a lot. The critique of that work was the fact that I didn’t want to hang it on the wall and turn it into a tapestry. I really wanted it to be a rug that people could walk on. When I showed that work at Chicago Artists Coalition for the New City Breakout Artists show. There was a lot of pushback about having it on the floor and allowing people to walk on it.
That, to me, was such an important conversation, because, in my mind, the fact that you could walk across it and traverse it was part of how I was thinking about the object. Rugs are utilitarian–they are floor coverings. When you make art that doesn’t do anything, you don’t get to participate in that part of the conversation.
I enjoy sparring around art like that. I am totally tickled by the pushback. The critique of display is exciting, and sorting through the politics of utilitarianism in art spaces is fun to me. And then—it was so crazy—we ended up showing it halfway on the wall and halfway on the ground.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961829/r1zylkwfw9rkw191skdl.jpg\")
Andi Crist, Five O’Clock Somewhere, on display at Live, Laugh, Labor: Thoughts on Usefulness and Other Myths at The Cleve Carney Museum of Art, 2025.
CGN: Oh, wow.
AC: I was like, this is the epitome of compromise! I had to build a structure so that it could hang that way safely.
CGN: I would say just put it on the ground if that’s what you want to do. It’s interesting that there are still very fixed ideas about the way that art should be displayed.
AC: That preparator part of it, that’s what I’m all about. I was having that conversation about what physically supports the work or what conceptually supports it in the way that it’s shown.
CGN: Have you always been a writer? How do your art and writing practices work together?
AC: I can’t say that I’m a writer, it’s probably the same way that it can feel weird to call yourself an artist. But I feel like I’ve always been relatively good at writing. The first time I ever did any kind of professional writing was contributing, a long time ago, to a website called eHow. The editors would send me a title, and then I would have to research how to do that thing. Then I would write out step-by-step instructions for how to do that.
I think that’s how I had to make myself think through my conceptual practice—I had to do the research, coagulate that into some kind of document, and then I would have stream-of-consciousness conversations with myself. “Why are we interested in this? Why would we make it this way? What would I want to talk about if someone were to ask me about this?” It’s almost like I was pre-interviewing myself.
I think the writing is just another way for me to process that idea before I put in all of the time and energy to actually accomplish it.
CGN: What are you working on right now? What projects do you have coming up?
AC: The biggest project that I have right now is my house. My family and I suffered a major house fire on New Year’s Day. We’ve been displaced since then and are navigating rebuilding our house. It was a total loss.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961830/kekfqzf9f87fq48juogh.jpg\")
Andi Crist, Single-Use Fireplace, 2025. Photo: Mikey Mosher.
CGN: I’m so sorry to hear that.
AC: Thank you. We’re all okay, but it’s been a really tumultuous year. I moved my studio into a storefront last summer, and so most of my, at least relatively recent, work is safe, and I still have all of my materials, but my home life is starting over. I just had my first full year at this space, and it’s got a little gallery built out in the front called Coming Soon. It’s beautiful with floor-to-ceiling windows on Division and Central Park. I’ve been inviting people into the space to try things out.
After teaching the ceramics class, I came into a bunch of nice slip casting molds, and I’m making some really playful, weird, ceramic stuff. I want to be open and not put too much pressure on myself. Having a big studio by myself is very expensive, so it’s easy to want to make it feel like it’s worth it. But if for now all I can do is make it a resource for other people, then that will be the thing I do. Be less selfish, but more selfish with my time. Saying I can’t do that, or I don’t want to do that. It’s not my nature to say no—I’m such a yes man. I’m learning how to be a yes man for myself.
CGN: That makes sense after going through something so traumatic.
AC: I have an amazing support system. Our friends started a GoFundMe. It was incredible. I’m so humbled and floored by how held I felt by Chicago. I can’t help but throw a little shout out to my Chicago people. I can see how people’s lives get totally ruined by this kind of tragedy. I feel so lucky. Chicago definitely showed its love back.
CGN: For your project Coming Soon, are you bringing in other artists?
AC: My philosophy is that I want to be involved as little as possible. I am thinking about it more as a hosted than curated space. I’m actively soliciting proposals or ideas for workshops, meetings, book clubs—I’m down for making it a resource, whatever that means. I don’t want to over-think it, I want it to be an intuitive and organic thing, which is why I call it Coming Soon—it can be a placeholder for anything. It’s exciting. Taking my hands off the reins is a good exercise for me.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961831/gno5dhliwfnzpuaim78s.jpg\")
Andi Crist, Extension Cords, Glazed stoneware, chrome, Sizes vary 2021-present. Photo: Mikey Mosher
Fall offers a full slate of exhibitions across galleries and museums throughout the Midwest. Behind the scenes, many people in the community are working tirelessly to support artists and bring fresh perspectives to the public. We spoke with five insiders about what excites them now and what they anticipate next.
The following preview is one of five conversations that appear in CGN's Fall 2026 magazine. To receive a copy of the print edition click here.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1789516769/izokunnmrufdyjbjnypk.jpg\")
“Intuit Art Museum’s renovated, expanded spaces give audiences the chance to connect with art through daily art-making, third Thursday Art After Work, group Slow Looks designed to provide a mindful experience with a single work and upcoming conversations with sculptor Bill Brady (Oct. 3) and Dr. Mary Trent (Oct. 15), who curated our current exhibition on the role of scrapbook-making in Henry Darger’s art.
On view is the thought-provoking Monumental: The Sculpture of Dr. Charles Smith, which encourages guests to consider the lack of historical representation of African Americans and Black people in America. Dr. Smith’s memorials champion Black history and stories of everyday life he sees missing in mainstream narratives.
This fall we’re opening an exhibition of paintings by Karla Wong, an artist who immigrated from Oaxaca and who explores themes of life and death, gender identity and self-discovery.”