Spotlight: "Sincerely Yours: Personal Perspectives from Tamarind"

Opening: Artists' rediscovery of printmaking in the 1960s seems like ancient history now, but its renaissance was not at all inevitable. In the 1950s and '60s, etching, lithography and other print media were considered musty, antiquarian art forms. Enter the Tamarind Lithography Workshop, an innovative Los Angeles enterprise whose grand ambition was to "save lithography." Driven by exacting standards and crazy energy, Tamarind and a few other pioneering studios did indeed put printmaking back on the agendas of art schools, collectors and museums. Minneapolis' own Highpoint Center for Printmaking is part of that legacy and, starting today, will host a retrospective of Tamarind prints by some famous artists (Jim Dine, Lesley Dill) and others who are pretty much unknown. Tamarind long ago moved to Albuquerque, N.M., and morphed into an institute hooked up with the University of New Mexico, but has retained the inventive energy evident in Fay Ku's "Mermaid in Flight," shown here. (Feb. 11-April 9, free. Highpoint Center for Printmaking, 912 W. Lake St., Mpls. 612-871-1326 or www.highpointprintmaking.org) MARY ABBE