But printmaking does not just happen within the university’s walls. Located next door to Public Space One’s Northside gallery is the Iowa City Press Co-op, or ICPC, a print studio used by former and current students in the university’s printmaking program.
One of its founders, artist Kristen Necessary, came to the UI in 2008 to get her master’s degree in printmaking. She developed an interest in intaglio while getting her B.A. at Virginia Commonwealth University. As a graduate student attending school right after the 2008 flood, her experience was not without challenges.
“When I agreed to go to graduate school, there was an arts campus, and by the time I got to graduate school, there was no more arts campus,” Necessary said. “My very first day, there were five shipping containers outside the old Menard’s and they’re like, ‘Okay, let’s move all this in and set up a studio.’”
However, Necessary credited her first day as a pivotal moment in her career as it gave her experience with establishing a studio. Necessary, along with Chris Mortenson with help from John Engelbrecht, Kalmia Strong and other PS1 volunteers, established the print studio — formerly known as Zenzic Press — in 2012.
“We were missing the community that we had coming out of school. We wanted a place where artists could still access the equipment we needed to make our work, because, like a lot of other printmakers, when I graduated I had almost zero equipment and was working in my basement,” Necessary recalled. “And with that community, we wanted to be able to share our knowledge, teach some classes, get other people involved, bring awareness to printmaking as an art medium and how fun it can be and accessible.”
Originally, the print studio was located in the basement of the Wesley Student Center. Then in 2019, Public Space One began a restoration project on the house that became its permanent location. Much like Necessary and the other founders envisioned, the studio evolved to include weekly workshops and developed a membership.
Necessary moved to North Carolina in 2013, so she never saw the print studio’s development. Now occupying a house, the lower level is divided into spaces for letterpress, screenprint, etching, and has a room with workstations. Four presses are distributed around the room, some acquired through donation and an organization called Kickstarter, according to Necessary.
She carried the printmaking experience with her when she moved and established her own business called Starfangled Press in 2016. She said running Zenzic Press inspired her to start her own studio.
“I really loved it, and I loved the whole process, and when I moved to North Carolina, I wanted to try to set up something similar, but there wasn’t the same print making community here in the small town I’m in,” Necessary said. “So, it kind of moved from what was originally gonna be classes and a cooperative studio with a little bit of retail space into a lot of retail space and my own private studio.”
