Print and Picture Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia

Spring organizing in the Print and Picture Collection continues! Today we bring you Risograph prints by Tanya Brassi creator of Innner Loop press.

"Inner loop press is a risograph printing press operated by Tanya Brassie in Philadelphia, PA. It primarily publishes educational zines on topics related to the environment, technology and society, as well as posters and lighter fair!"

Support Protected Bike Lanes!

Learning Poster

Naughty Book

We are rehousing our artist print collection for easier access and updating our spreadsheets with acquisitions from the last few years. These three linoleum prints by Philadelphia artist Alice Austin are a few of our favorites.

Allium over Broad and 15th St.

One Turtle Three Ferns, 2024

Three Herons Flying over Penn Treaty Park

All three are Linoleum print over map, 2024

printPHILLY! is tomorrow 2/28 at Parkway Central Library!

printPHILLY! is Saturday, February 28! Email from Free Library of Philadelphia   printPHILLY! is Saturday February 28! The Philadelphia Print Consortium and the Free Library of Philadelphia are pleased to announce the Fourth Annual printPH

Join us in the Field Teen Center for silk screening - rescheduled for Monday March 2nd and Wednesday March 4th!

The Philadelphia Print Consortium and the Free Library of Philadelphia are pleased to announce the fourth annual printPHILLY! print fair, free and open to the public at Parkway Central Library on Saturday, February 28, 2026 from 10 AM to 4 PM.

This event focuses on printmaking as a vital, contemporary art medium, as well as one of historic significance to the city of Philadelphia. Participants include over 40 individual artists, print shops, collectives, and non-profit spaces.
Special events during printPHILLY! Include:

11 AM: printPHILLY! Lecture — Join Dr. Heather Hughes, the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Kathy and Ted Fernberger Associate Curator of Prints, for a lecture about the PMA’s upcoming exhibition about the prints of Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui. This event takes place in room 131/132, Heim Center, at 11 AM.

12 PM - 3 PM: Letterpress Make & Take —Anytime between 12 and 3, join artist Belle Handler to make your own print on the first floor of Parkway Central Library.

The fair is hosted by the Philadelphia Print Consortium with support from the Free Library of Philadelphia, The Soapbox: Community Print Shop & Zine Library, and American Color Print Society.
Visit printphilly.org for more information, and follow the Philadelphia Print Consortium on Instagram.
Image 1: printPHILLY! Poster
Image 2: Dr. Heather Hughes, the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Museum’s Kathy and Ted Fernberger Associate Curator of Prints
Image 3: El Anatsui, In the Water, Color woodcut published by Brandywine Workshop, 2022
Image 4: Letterpress Make.& Take with Belle Handler
Images 5-8: Images from printPHILLY! 2025

We hope to see you at printPHILLY! at Parkway Central Library, on February 28, 2026, 10 AM - 4 PM

The teen silk screening workshop has been postponed due to the weather! Keep an eye out in the next few days for updates.

Sharing this wood engraving as we head back to work after this snowy weekend.

Charles Reed Gardner
1935
Snow Shovelers

This Saturday!

Join us at the Free Library for a hands-on workshop with artist Miriam Singer. Participants will collage existing maps: cutting, layering, and rearranging them into new terrains; then add their own imagery using markers, pencils and paint.

This program is part of the Kaleidoscope: Mixing Shapes, Colors, and Motion exhibition, which can be viewed in the 2nd Floor West Gallery of Parkway Central from December 2025 through February 2026.

https://libwww.freelibrary.org/calendar/event/160040

On Saturday, January 17, 2026 at 2 PM, join Rebecca Gilbert for an artist talk on her work, A Dance of Death in Two Parts. Rebecca Gilbert is a Philadelphia-based artist whose work exemplifies a dedication to traditional printmaking processes. Representations of longing, mystery, and communication between the realms of the living and the dead are embedded throughout much of her work.

During this program, Gilbert will talk about her current project, A Dance of Death in Two Parts. When complete, this ambitious project will consist of 82 individual wood engravings with letterpress printed text. Forty-one of the intimately scaled prints recreate the renowned Dance of Death series by Hans Holbein the Younger, that was published in 1538. The remaining forty-one prints are of Gilbert’s own design; depicting people, technology, and culture from our own time.

To see more of Rebecca Gilbert’s work, visit rebeccaprint.com or follow her on Instagram .

Registration is required as space is limited. Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-dance-of-death-in-two-parts-tickets-1974264618620

Presented in conjunction with Or Not to Be: Representations of Death in Special Collections, on view through Saturday, February 28, 2026 on in the Rare Book Department at Parkway Central Library in the Dietrich Gallery. There will be time before and after the event to explore the exhibition. Be sure to look for The Grocery Clerk (The Essential Worker from A Dance of Death in Two Parts) by Rebecca Gilbert in the exhibition! An Or Not to Be exhibition curator will be available to discuss and answer questions throughout. More information is available at freelibrary.org/death.
https://libwww.freelibrary.org/blog/post/5531

Image used with permission from Rebecca Gilbert: The Widow V. 2 (2023)

Rare Book Department | 3rd Floor (Manuscript Room)
2:00pm to 3:30pm | Saturday, January 17, 2026

Please note that food, drinks, and pens are not welcome in the Rare Book Department. If you wish to take notes, please bring a pencil or digital device.

This fall, Philadelphia is hosting the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. On November 6 between 2 and 3 PM, visit the Print and Picture Collection (PIX) on the 2nd floor of Parkway Central Library to see material from PIX and the Government Publications Department related to the U.S. military, including posters from World War I and II.

https://libwww.freelibrary.org/calendar/event/158648

Join us Wednesday, October 15, 6 pm to 7:30 pm at Parkway Central Library to celebrate Archives Month at the Free Library’s annual community archives night!

Archives Fair. Sky, Steel, & Screens: Caring for Our Natural, Built, and Digital Environments.


The Free Library of Philadelphia, in partnership with the Delaware Valley Archivists Group, is hosting a free, interactive community fair to showcase how our natural, built, and digital environments are both documented in and catalyzed by archival collections. Drop by the lobby of the Parkway Central Library for an array of pop-up exhibitions, demonstrations, table-top activities, and hands-on workshops from local institutions, collections, and initiatives.

2 free workshops are happening during the fair:

“’Where do I start?’ An Introduction to Preserving Your Media” with People’s Media Record

Linoleum Block Printing with Swarthmore College
For more information about Archives Month Philly and to browse events across the city, visit archivesmonthphilly.com