The Sharkive

Hung Liu at work in the studio

Hung Liu at work in the studio, 2015. © and courtesy Shark's Ink. Photo by Bud Shark.

Red Grooms at work in the studio

Red Grooms at work in the studio, 2006. © and courtesy Shark's Ink. Photo by Bud Shark.

OVERVIEW

The Sharkive is an internationally important collection of prints created in the studio of BudÌýand Barbara Shark. The collection represents a significant chapter in post-war American printmaking,Ìýfeaturing works by an impressive roster of contemporary artists.Ìý In early 2018, through a partnership with the SharksÌýand the Kemper Family Foundations, UMB Bank Trustee, the ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä Art Museum acquired The Sharkive ensuring its long-term preservation as aÌýlearning resource for our students.ÌýTransfer of The Sharkive to the ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä Art Museum will begin in summer 2019.

SHARKIVE BACKGROUNDÌý

Shark’s Lithography (now Shark’s Ink) opened in 1976 in Boulder, Colorado, and moved to Lyons,ÌýColorado, in 1998. Since then, master printer Bud Shark has collaborated with many of the nation’s most distinguished artists to produce and publish hundreds of innovative prints. The Sharkive comprises over 2,700 prints and related materials from 40 yearsÌýof collaborative work in lithography,Ìýmonotype and woodcut. It contains the final print from eachÌýof more than 700 limited editions and aÌýrich assortment of preparatory materials—drawings, reference materials, color trial proofs, proofs withÌýpaper alternatives and artist and printer notes, and color separation proofs—that reveal the artistic and the printmaking processes.

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  • Make The Sharkive widely available to students, scholars and the broader community for interdisciplinary, object-based research and learning in the museum’s study rooms and through exhibitions and publications.
  • Preserve and make accessible Shark Ink’s innovative legacy, and as a cornerstone of Colorado’s cultural heritage, for posterity.
  • Position the ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä Art Museum as an important destination for the study of the contemporary visual arts and printmaking from the 16th century to the present.