Composed of 24 prints from a newly established archive at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, this exhibition celebrates the creativity, talent, and collaborative spirit synonymous with The Lawrence Lithography Workshop (TLLW).

Master printer Michael Sims (born 1944) established TLLW in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1979 before moving it to Sunland Park, New Mexico, in 1997. Since 2001, the shop has operated out of Kansas City, Missouri, drawing artists as diverse as the subject matter and techniques represented in their prints. The artists have come from around the corner and across the country. Some are well-versed in printmaking while others are new to lithography and interested in exploring its possibilities. Many have returned again and again—a testament to the shop’s reputation and Sims’ expert guidance.

Among the hundreds of artists who have collaborated with Sims at TLLW are the following whose prints are on view in this exhibition: Leroy Allen, Anthony Baab, Paul Brach, Robert Julius Brawley, Suzi Davidoff, Joan Foth, Robert Green, Marcie Miller Gross, Dennis Helm, Edward Henderson, Tom Hück, Benito Huerta, Luis Alfonso Jiménez, Michael Krueger, Elizabeth “Grandma” Layton, Zigmunds Priede, Warren Rosser, Miriam Schapiro, Roger Yukata Shimomura, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Robert Stackhouse, Akio Takamori, Patti Warashina, and Andrzej Zieliński.

About The Lawrence Lithography Workshop Archive

In 2024, the Nelson-Atkins amplified a foundational gift made in 2023 by C. Richard Belger and Evelyn Belger and the John and Maxine Belger Foundation with a significant purchase. This resulted in a repository of lithographs by 55 artists made in collaboration with Sims at TLLW between 1980 and 2018.  This archive ensures the legacy of this influential print shop, the artists with whom it worked, and the community it fostered.

Organized by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Header image caption: Michael Sims in The Lawrence Lithography Workshop booth at a print fair in New York, October 2023. Image courtesy of Emily Sims.