The Santa Barbara Printmakers (SBP) is a group of Artists dedicated to creating and presenting prints made using hand and press printing techniques: etching, engraving, monotype, monoprint, woodcut, collagraph, linocut, lithography, and serigraph/silkscreen.

These diverse Artists use techniques ranging from basic (linocuts) to complex (viscosity etchings, Chine collé) and from traditional (Japanese moku hanga woodblock) to contemporary (photopolymer etchings of digitally manipulated photographs).  Many of the prints are hybrids that combine one or more techniques and multiple plates. Regardless of the techniques used, magical moments occur whenever a piece of paper and an inked plate are pressed together and the paper is lifted from the inked surface to reveal the image–in reverse!

Their artistic explorations include impressionist, expressionist, realistic, abstract, and conceptual approaches – at times mystical, whimsical, meditative, and heartfelt.

In 2018, Josef Woodard wrote, “Santa Barbara’s printmaking scene… is alive, well, and in forward motion.”  In 2026, this lively exhibition is proof of that momentum!

Currently the SBP has 65 members and operates under the guidance of a volunteer coordinating committee.  Members include emerging and established artists throughout the California Central Coast. The organization evolved over several decades from a small group of Artists known as the Monotype Guild (1989) into the larger membership organization it is today..