Flying Horse Editions at the University of Central Florida is hosting their Third Annual Open House and Benefit Sale this week.
Flying Horse Editions is a collaborative visual arts studio at UCF that creates real-world opportunities for student printmakers in their artistic endeavors. In conversation with Orlando Weekly, Theo Lotz, director at FHE, describes the importance of the yearly event and how it has grown since its origin three years ago.
“It’s evolved from being a small impromptu event to now — we’re doing demos and giving studio tours,” Lotz explains. “We’re offering bigger discounts than we ever have this year, up to 35 percent off of some works.”
Lotz notes that the program is predominantly self-funded, meaning the benefit sale allows the organization to raise money for the programs they plan for the upcoming year. By discounting limited edition prints and other artworks, the studio hopes to encourage accessibility while garnering support.
“Often people feel like they have to have a reason to stop in,” says Lotz. “This will give the general public the opportunity to come by.”
Flying Horse was established in 1996 as a research center for visual artists at UCF. The organization regularly collaborates with internationally renowned visual artists, extending full-time, semester-long internships to students who hope to get hands-on experience. The studio established the Visiting Artist & Master Printer program in 2014, creating a program that sustains interaction and connections between professionals and students in the printmaking field. FHE is now recognized as one of the country’s best facilities for traditional printmaking.
“They [students] get to work side-by-side with the artists that we’re working with,” Lotz says. “It gives them a good look at what the professional art world looks like. I think that it’s really good at teaching people how to be practitioners. It’s hard to teach what that professional world looks like, and I think that what we do gives students a bit of a glance into that.”
Lotz says the organization works with artists to exhibit a variety of work that keeps the studio’s vision fresh. The studio recently collaborated with an artist who specializes in figurative and narrative paintings, Matthew Bollinger, and a prominent printmaker, Craig Taylor; and they were visited by
a legendary pioneer in installation art, Judy
Pfaff.
FHE regularly hosts printmaking events, speakers and artists at their location at the Downtown UCF campus. For those unfamiliar with printmaking, Lotz gives some insight into the process and what to expect at the sale.
“Often if they’re in the studio, they’re working on the drawings and they can see the results of their decision-making immediately,” explains Lotz. “They’re making a mark — that mark is there instantly and when they work with us they’re working collaboratively through the technicians and the team.”
With Flying Horse’s upcoming 30th anniversary, Lotz says we can look forward to more collaborations and exhibitions. The studio will also welcome contemporary artist Nicola Lopez for a visit in October. Lopez has been exhibited nationally and internationally, with pieces featured at MoMA, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, LACMA and Museo Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City.
“Understanding the process [of printmaking] is interesting and exciting,” says Lotz. “I think just knowing that there’s something like that in our community is often really surprising for people.”
The once-a-year event Saturday will feature sales on artwork from FHE’s prodigious inventory of acclaimed contemporary artists such as Will Cotton, Eddie Martinez, Tara Donovan and Kelly Reemtsen, as well as a tour and demonstrations in the printmaking studio.
Flying Horse Editions
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This article appears in Jul 23-29, 2025.