about
Jillian Ross Print is a collaborative print studio and print publisher working primarily with South African and Canadian artists, studios, institutions and galleries to develop print projects, exhibitions, art workshops, talks and print publishing.
Jillian Ross Print is owned and managed by Jillian Ross and Brendan Copestake and is based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
With almost 20 years in printmaking, fine art and exhibitions, Jillian Ross Print has a focus on many aspects of printmaking, including ;
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Collaborative printmaking with Canadian and South African artists and print studios to develop print projects.
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Contemporary fine art exhibition design and development with public institutions and private galleries.
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Art education through artist talks and in-person workshops.
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direct-to-plate photopolymer platemaking
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and print publishing.
If you are interested in developing a collaborative print project, hosting a workshop or buying a print, please feel free to contact us. We will be happy to take your call or email.
Brendan Copestake, Jillian Ross, Hannah F. Duke, Marcel Houston-McIntosh of Jillian Ross Print
photo by Derek Robitaille
Jillian Ross
Master Printer
Short bio
Jillian Ross is a collaborative master printer based in Saskatoon, Canada. Ross ran the David Krut Workshop (Johannesburg, South Africa) from 2003-2020, collaborating with over 100 local and international artists. During that time Ross became one of William Kentridge’s primary print collaborators, completing over 200 prints to date. Ross holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Saskatchewan.
Ross and partner, Brendan Copestake, founded Jillian Ross Print (JRP) in 2021. Jillian Ross Print is a collaborative print studio and publisher working primarily with South African and Canadian artists, studios, institutions and galleries to develop print projects, exhibitions, art workshops, and talks.
Collaboration is central to their working practise and many of their large-scale projects include a team of printers for their creation and multiple workshops for their making.
In 2024, JRP installed their working studio into the Connect Gallery at Remai Modern to showcase the editioning of their latest large-scale, inter-continental collaborations with Kentridge based on his theatrical production
The Great Yes, The Great No.
Long Bio
Jillian Ross, a leading South African collaborative master printer, returned to Canada in 2020. Ross has been the Master Printer and Director of the David Krut Workshop (DKW) in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the past 16 years working with celebrated South African and international artists in collaborative printmaking.
Ross' most notable ongoing collaboration exists with William Kentridge. Since 2006 the Ross has collaborated with the artist in creating over 150 editions at DKW. Among others, three major bodies of work are the Triumphs and Laments Woodcuts series of six life-size, multiple-plate woodcuts with collage (2016–2020); the Universal Archive series of 75 linocuts on dictionary pages (2011–2014); and The Nose series of 30 etchings (2006–2010).
Large bodies of work, in addition to her work with William Kentridge, have been created with over 100 artists, such as Mongezi Ncaphayi, Deborah Bell, Stephen Hobbs, Robyn Penn, Wilma Cruise and Mikhael Subotzky. More recent collaborations include multi-media works by emerging artist Pebofatso Mokoena for Internal Probes (exhibited in Johannesburg, 2020), multiple process prints with Serbian-born Maja Maljević for Silence of the Change (Johannesburg and New York, 2019), and Latitudes Limited, five-colour silkscreens with artists Sthenjwa Luthuli, Pebofatso Mokoena, Mbali Tshabalala, Adejoke Tugbiyele, and Clint Strydom, created for the first edition of the Latitudes Art Fair in Johannesburg in 2019.
Ross began her career in 2003 under the mentorship of David Krut who has been in print publishing for over 40 years. Master printers from the US and the UK assisted in the workshop expansion and training and in time Ross herself became a master printer, workshop manager and director of the David Krut Workshop.
Working together, Ross and Krut have established a team of dedicated printers - Kim-Lee Loggenberg, Sbongiseni Khulu, Chad Cordeiro, Roxy Kaczamarek, and Sarah Judge. The DKW team specializes in intaglio printing, relief, and monotype techniques. Collaboration and innovation are the bywords for the workshop. Multi-tasking is the key to testing the limits of art-making mediums with established artists. Ross involves emerging artists, printers, and interns in the process allowing skills transfer and development in the creation of a print.
Ross has a major emphasis on working with established and emerging artists and on supporting education through workshops as part of its ongoing education program. Jillian and Amé Bell, the Gallery Director at David Krut Projects in Parkwood, Johannesburg, collaborated on the conceptualisation of DKW’s ongoing projects in line with the and exhibition programmes in Johannesburg and New York. Together, they maintained relationships with artists and developed local exhibitions, art fairs, and international collaborations.
Ross’ collaborations have been exhibited in South Africa, Europe, the United Kingdom, North America, and Australia and can be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Print Study Centre at the University of Alberta, The Museum of Toledo, The Yale University Art Gallery and Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden.
Many of Ross’ collaborative projects with William Kentridge have been shown internationally at well-respected institutions, such as Kunstmuseum Basel (Switzerland), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia), The Berlin Kulturforum (Germany), Instituto Moreira Salles (Brazil), The Royal Academy, The Hayward Gallery (United Kingdom), and Zeitz MOCAA–Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (South Africa).
Ross has given lectures at the Highpoint Centre for Printmaking in Minneapolis (2010): the Southern Graphics Conference: Print MKE in Milwaukee (2013) and Emily Carr (2021). Residencies include the leading artist-in-residence for the BAiR Text program at The Banff Centre in 2016, the artist-in-residence at the Griffin Art Projects in North Vancouver in 2021 and Emily Carr University of Art + Design and The University of Alberta in 2022 along side numerous online talks with Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Aspire Art Auctions to name a few.
Master Printer Jillian Ross (right) with printers Chad Cordeiro (left) and Sbongiseni Khulu (centre);
the core collaborative team for William Kentridge’s Triumphs and Laments Woodcuts series (2016 – 2020) published by David Krut Workshop.
Photograph by Richard Kilpert at the Centre of Arts Education, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, December 2019.
Her collaborative projects are well-documented through publications, such as the recently released of Prints and Their Makers by Master Printer Phil Sanders and art journals such as Art South Africa, De Arte, Art in Print, Printmaking Today, and Art on Paper.
Jillian Ross was born in Canada in 1978 and completed a Bachelor of Fine Art with distinction from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon in 2002. Ross has apprenticed with Master Printer Phil Sanders from PS Marlowe, NYC; Master Printer Jack Shirreff from 107 Workshop, UK; Master Printer Randy Hemminghaus from Judith Brodsky Centre, NYC; Zhané Warren from Warren Editions, SA and has worked beside many other experienced printers throughout her career.
In 2020 Jillian Ross returned to Canada with her husband and two children. Whilst developing new relationships and projects in Canada, Ross will be strengthening her old ones in South Africa by continuing her inclusive collaborative work with the David Krut Workshop (DKW) and other project partners.
Her aim is to bring her skills in printmaking to the arts in Canada to bridge her two home countries by continuing and developing relationships with artists, printmakers and collaborators.
Brendan Copestake
Business Manager
Brendan Copestake is an arts project manager, cultural producer and print publisher whose career spans South Africa and Canada. His practice brings together exhibition development, public art, technical production and collaborative printmaking, with a particular focus on creating the conditions in which artists, institutions and specialist fabricators can realise ambitious projects.
Originally based in Johannesburg, Copestake worked extensively across the South African visual-arts sector, managing exhibitions, public-art commissions and large-scale cultural projects. Through his company Parts & Labour, he was involved in major institutional and international projects including the South African Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, the Nelson Mandela Capture Site, the Apartheid Museum, Freedom Park and the Nelson Mandela Foundation. His Venice Biennale work extended across several editions, with increasingly senior responsibility for the technical production, logistics, construction and installation of the South African Pavilion.
His experience encompasses projects involving artists including Candice Breitz, Mohau Modisakeng, Marco Cianfanelli and Jeremy Rose, as well as numerous artists working within South Africa’s contemporary art and public-art communities. He has developed a particular expertise in translating ambitious artistic ideas into practical, technically resolved exhibitions and installations.
In 2021, Copestake relocated to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where he co-founded Jillian Ross Print with master printer Jillian Ross. The studio has developed an international collaborative practice connecting artists, printers, publishers and institutions across Canada and South Africa. Copestake serves as business manager and project lead, overseeing the logistical, administrative and production aspects of the studio’s projects while increasingly participating directly in print production through direct-to-plate photopolymer plate making.
A major focus of his Canadian practice has been the work of internationally acclaimed artist William Kentridge. Through Jillian Ross Print, Copestake has contributed to exhibitions and print projects presented by institutions including Remai Modern, Griffin Art Projects, Open Studio Toronto and the Canadian Opera Company. His credits include technical and production work on Kentridge print projects, including Studio Life Gravures, The Great Yes, The Great No and Triumphs and Laments. His role in these collaborations reflects the evolution of his career from arts project management toward a more hands-on engagement with printmaking and edition production. Copestake is also working towards publishing Canadian Print Stories, a collection of important stories that make up the history of Canadian printmaking, together with Jenn Law, a printmaker, academic and arts writer.
Copestake has also worked closely with Canadian Indigenous artist Wally Dion, supporting collaborative print projects through Jillian Ross Print, including work presented at Remai Modern. The studio’s Live Editions project at Remai Modern in Saskatoon further established his role in bringing collaborative printmaking into an institutional exhibition context.
Alongside his studio practice, Copestake contributes to Saskatoon’s cultural infrastructure. He has served on the City of Saskatoon’s Public Art Advisory Committee, including as Vice-Chair, and is a board member of The 525, supporting the development of the city’s contemporary visual-arts community. He has also participated in public lectures and conversations at institutions including the University of Tennessee School of Art and Open Studio Toronto.
Across more than two decades, Copestake’s career has been defined by collaboration. Whether working on an international biennale, a major public artwork, a museum exhibition or a hand-pulled print edition, his contribution lies in connecting artistic ambition with the people, technical knowledge and organisational structures required to make the work possible.