Platemark Series Two, History of Prints kicks off with Ann Shafer and co-host Tru Ludwig introducing the series. They talk about teaching the History of Prints (HoP) for the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) using the print collection at the Baltimore Museum of Art over the course of 15 years. They talk about how the class brought them together and about how transformative it was for hundreds of MICA's BFA students.

In the final episode in season one, Ann and Ben talk about the print ecosystem: collaborative printmaking, print publishing, galleries, art fairs, and the fabulous cast of characters that inhabit the print world.

Ann and Ben discuss the ballet that occurs in the printshop when the team is editioning a print. Everything is planned. Jigs are made. Everyone has their role. When it's running smoothly, it's sublime. Also, it's hard work.

Ann Shafer has a new podcast called The Curator's Choice in which she talks about one object (or set of set of objects) and why she likes it, how she would pitch it, and other behind-the-thinking stuff.

In s1e7, Ann and Ben finally turn to prints and printmaking, and evangelize about how wonderful prints are, why they are different and special, why it takes work to get over the hump of understanding technique to get to content. They discuss how technique can inform meaning, how the translation of an image from one surface to another only adds interest and conceptual rigor, and the ins and outs of multiplicity.

Editions are the topic of this bonus episode. Ann and Ben talk about the ins and outs of editions: definitions, numbering, exceptions, the publisher-artist relationship. It's definitely not simple.

In episode 106, Ann and Ben continue their conversation about the Western canon, the state of museums in the 21st century, and discuss breaking down the systems that are the foundation of the modern museum.