2014 Winter Residencies in Printmaking and Letterpress for Artists & Writers

Penland School of Crafts has upcoming residency opportunities in printmaking and letterpress for artists and writers. These residencies offer self-directed time to pursue a proposed project in our state-of-the-art studios. Artists with any level of printing experience are eligible to apply; it is important that residents are willing to work independently, finding their own way through full immersion in the printing process. A lead printer in each studio will be available throughout the residency to offer technical and conceptual assistance as needed.

Through this program, Penland hopes to foster new connections and cross-pollination between writers, printmakers, letterpress printers, and all artists drawn to the versatility of print media. We want to provide professional opportunities for individual or collaborating artists and encourage experimentation and inquiry. Past residents have created unique works and editions including (but not limited to) broadsides, prints, small publications, and artist books.

Residents are selected based on the project proposed. We are looking for artists who are capable of working independently and are able to conceptualize a project that fits the time and equipment offered. We will also match our lead printers’ expertise with the technical scope of resident projects. Ten residents, including one writer, will be selected for each session—five residents for the letterpress studio and five for the printmaking studio. There are two sessions in our 2014 residency: Session 1, January 6- 17 and Session 2, January 20- 31.

The cost to each resident is $500. Penland will provide studio and housing; artists cover their travel expenses and supply their own materials and food. Meals are not provided (our dining hall is closed in the winter), but all housing includes access to a shared kitchen.

The lead printer in the printmaking studio for January, 2014 is Diane Fine.

Diane Fine is Professor of Art at Plattsburgh State University of New York where she teaches printmaking and book arts. She received her BFA from Syracuse University and her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Diane exhibits regularly and her work is represented in a number of public and private collections including: The New York Public Library and the Yale University Art Gallery.

Diane's website

The lead printer in the letterpress studio for January, 2014 is Kathy Kuehn.

Kathy Kuehn is a printer, printmaker, and proprietor for the Salient Seedling Press, and also works collaboratively with contemporary artists and a small team of printers on the publication of limited edition etchings and relief prints at Pace Editions in New York City. She received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kuehn has developed programming and taught book arts and printmaking at Whitman College and the Oregon School of Arts and Crafts. Her artist residencies include the Sitka Center for Arts and Crafts; her workshop instruction includes eight summers teaching letterpress printing to poets in the Summer Writing Program at Naropa University's - Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, and a workshop at the Penland School of Crafts during the 1996 Paper and Book Intensive.

Applications must be received by September 15, 2013. Selected artists will be notified by October 15, 2013.

Application form in PDF format.

A complete description of the lettepress studio

A complete description of the printmaking studio

For more information contact Leslie Noell at 828 765-5753 or by email at

leslienoell@penland.org