Experimental Workshop began in 1972 as the Institute of Experimental Printmaking or IEP, founded by Garner and Ann Tullis in Santa Cruz, California. Its' name became Experimental Workshop in 1976 when it was relocated to San Francisco. In 1982 Garner Tullis left Experimental Printmaking and opened the Garner Tullis Workshop in Emeryville, California. The shop was owned by and continued under the direction of Ann McLaughlin (formerly Tullis).