When printmaker Susan Martin was given a press to rehome in 2024, she had a vision: to fulfill her long-term goal of starting a printmaking workshop. When she mentioned this to fellow printmaker Pam Van Dyk, Pam immediately thought of a perfect space for it. And just like that, Triangle Printmakers Collective (TPC) was born.
But TPC is more than just a fortunate alignment of equipment and real estate. Susan and Pam built TPC around a simple belief: printmaking should be accessible, collaborative, and joyful. They envisioned a place where printmakers could bring their ideas and find both technical expertise and creative community.
Co-Founder, Susan martin
Artist Statement
My works begin as thoughtfully conceived drawings which are then transferred and drawn directly on copper (a printmaking technique known as drypoint intaglio). After the plate work is completed I ink and print in the traditional intaglio manner. I use a personal lexicon of imagery that play with tension, fragility, and quiet strength.
Why printmaking when I could simply create refined drawings or paintings? I love that a successful print requires the collaboration of both sides of your brain, the creative and technical. A perfect marriage of problem solving!
Establishing a printmaking studio has long been a dream. I look forward to sharing my love of print with artists of all levels in our region.
Artist Bio:
Susan Martin is a printmaker and teaching artist practicing in Raleigh, North Carolina. With over two decades of studio experience, Susan’s own practice specializes in small editions of traditionally made, hand-pulled intaglio prints.
co-founder, Pam VAn Dyk
Artist Statement
What draws me to printmaking is the negotiation between intention and discovery. I begin with an image that inpires me (usually from nature), I translate it into my own visual language, and then I bring that vision to the plate. But sometimes the plate has its own ideas.
My goal is never perfection, which might be an odd thing for an artist to admit, but matrices are not passive surfaces. Whether they be linoleum, wood, or copper, each has its own grain, its own resistance. This practice keeps teaching me the same lesson in different ways: hold my vision loosely, trust the process, and let it surprise me. That tension between control and surrender is what keeps me returning to the studio.
Artist Bio:
Pam Van Dyk is a book editor and printmaker in Raleigh, NC. Flexibility is key to her practice, which was honed in a local studio before co-founding Triangle Printmakers Collective. Her prints are inspired by nature and printed in small, limited editions.
