Printmaking and Letterpress Workshops at Penland
Penland offers 1 to 8-week workshops taught by visiting instructors in our well-equipped studios. Printmaking and letterpress classes include topics like etching, intaglio, woodblock printing, hand-set type, photopolymer plates, screen printing, and more. Workshops are open to serious students of all levels unless specified in course description; beginners welcome.
Register for Workshops
Workshops are open to serious students of all levels unless specified in course description; beginners welcome.
Summer scholarship information; summer scholarship application deadline is February 15.
Please read this note about our session schedules.
PRINT & LETTERPRESS SUMMER SESSION 1
MAY 28–JUNE 2, 2023
Hope Rovelto
Speak Your Mind Through T-shirts and Posters
This workshop will examine the relationship between words and image as we design and screenprint single- or multiple-color posters and T-shirts. We’ll work from the prompt, “What positive message do you want to send to your community?” Starting from drawings or digital files, we’ll use direct methods to expose images on our screens, and students will learn how to screenprint with or without dedicated equipment. All levels. Printmaking studio.
Studio artist, founder of Little Chair Printing (Portland, OR); creator of the bicycle screenprinting shop, which she has used for live printing of T-shirts and poster at protests and community events; created an exhibition with students at Sweet Briar College (VA) during a two-week residency; leader of small and large screenprinting workshops including Open Door and OutMaine, both at Haystack (ME).
PRINT & LETTERPRESS SUMMER SESSION 2
JUNE 4–16, 2023
Jenny Schmid
Intense Color Intaglio Intensive
Multiple-plate intaglio offers unparalleled color intensity, saturating paper with layers of pigmented ink. Using no specific key plate, we’ll explore three-layer printing and registration to create a full range of color. We’ll start with textural processes to create tonal range: aquatint, spit bite, soft ground, crayon resist, scraping, and burnishing. Then we’ll move on to multiple-plate registration, color combinations, and ink mixing. The work of various artists will serve as inspiration, and students will be encouraged to work in the style of their preference, as both figurative and abstract approaches will benefit from these uniquely stunning processes. All levels. Printmaking studio.
Professor at University of Minnesota; grants; Fulbright (Slovakia), McKnight Fellowship, Bush Artists Grant, Minnesota State Arts Board grants; residency: The Frans Masereel Center (Belgium); collections: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Detroit Institute of Arts, Library of Congress; representation: Davidson Galleries (Seattle).
PRINT & LETTERPRESS SUMMER SESSION 2
JUNE 4–16, 2023
Rick Griffith
Extending the Printed Page
What do you do when the paper isn’t big enough, when the text isn’t small enough, or when the press needs to be bigger? Letterpress as a collage mechanism can be a profound exploration of scale and is ideal for creating larger-format works. In this workshop combining letterpress printing with collage and writing, students will learn how to improvise in multiple directions simultaneously and find balance between text, form, and process. Whether they bring a theme or choose to shoot from the hip, students will develop an intuitive practice and the ability to discuss what is happening in real time. We’ll cover techniques of typesetting, printing, collage, and image manipulation. All levels. Letterpress studio.
Letterpress printer, designer, collagist, writer, optimist futurist; founder and partner in the graphic design consultancy MATTER (Denver); designer of the Black Astronaut Research Project (blarp.org); teaching: Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design (Denver), University of Denver, University of Colorado at Denver, Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design (Prague), East Carolina University (NC); collections: Denver Art Museum, Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum (WI), Tweed Museum (MN).
PRINT & LETTERPRESS SUMMER SESSION 3
JUNE 18–30, 2023
Aaron S. Coleman
Lithography: Drawing on the Rocks
This workshop will offer introductory to advanced techniques in stone lithography. We’ll explore dry and liquid materials using drawing and painterly approaches as well as additive and reductive processes, all of which are applicable to representational or abstract imagery. Students can expect to finish one or two pieces. All levels. Printmaking studio.
Associate professor and chair of printmaking at Herron School of Art and Design (Indianapolis); previously associate professor at University of Arizona where he received the Provost Award for Innovations in Teaching and the College of Fine Arts Undergraduate Mentorship Award; Art as Activism Grant from Black Box Press; collections: Janet Turner Print Museum (CA), University of Colorado, Ino-cho Paper Museum (Japan), Yekaterinburg Museum of Art (Russia).
PRINT & LETTERPRESS SUMMER SESSION 3
JUNE 18–30, 2023
Nicholas Silberg
Pressing Pixels
In this workshop students will learn how to make alternative matrices for letterpress printing using laser cutting/engraving and 3D printing. We’ll also use the 3D printer to make experimental letterpress tools and furniture and the laser cutter to make delicate cuts and perforations on finished prints. Students can choose to make a small edition of prints, a book, or a series of monoprints. We’ll cover software and tools for laser cutting and 3D printing as well as hand typesetting, ink mixing, Vandercook and platen press operation, paper choices, and basic bookbinding. All levels. Letterpress studio.
Note: Students should bring a computer if they can; contact the studio operations manager if you are enrolled and are unable to bring a computer. studio_operations@penland.org
Professor at Savannah State University (GA); other teaching: Ashantilly Press (GA), Atlanta Printmakers (GA), Barberville Settlement for the Creative Arts (FL); Penland Winter Residency Distinguished Fellowship, On::View Residency at Sulfur Studios (GA); exhibitions: Margaret Martin Gehman Gallery (VA); collections: Savannah College of Art and Design (GA).
PRINT & LETTERPRESS SUMMER SESSION 4
JULY 2–14, 2023
Karen J Revis
Intro to Linocut
This introductory workshop will teach you all you need to know to create beautiful linocuts: from first draft to final print. We’ll explore various ways to compose an image and translate it into a drawing for a linocut. Demonstrations will cover the complete process: how to transfer the drawing onto the linoleum block, how different carving tools are used, what paper to choose, tearing paper, and using a press. A slide presentation of linocuts by favorite artists will provide inspiration. Discussions and experimentation will be encouraged. Students can expect to complete editions of one or two prints. Beginning level. Printmaking studio.
Studio artist; member of Black Women of Print and the Black Artists + Designers Guild; residencies: Haystack (ME), Morgan Paper Conservatory (Cleveland), Pyramid Atlantic (MD), Women’s Studio Workshop (NY), BACAS (Italy), Penland Summer Residency Fellowship, Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop Studio Immersion Project Fellowship (NYC), Henry Street Settlement (NYC); exhibitions: International Print Center (NYC), Project: Artspace (NYC), Sears-Peyton Gallery (NYC); publications: The Art of Encaustic Painting by Joanne Mattera.
PRINT & LETTERPRESS SUMMER SESSION 5
JULY 16–28, 2023
Charles Hancock and John Hancock
Relief and Screen Print Mashup
This workshop will encourage the mix and mashup, no-holds-barred creation of images. We’ll cover the basics of relief and screen printing with a sharp left turn, employing the spirit of experimentation, mistake making, and collaboration. Printing on wood, cloth, metal, and, of course, paper, our methods will run from the most traditional to as wildly experimental as you can stomach as we create things of beauty along with our worst nightmare desires. Making art is fun! All levels. Printmaking studio.
Note: the studio fee for this workshop is estimated at $200-225 per student.
Studio artists and masters of lo-tech printmaking also known as The Amazing Hancock Bros.; collections: Library of Congress (DC), Ft. Wayne Museum of Art (IN), Newark Public Library (NJ), Royal Museum of Art (Belgium), Academy Non Grata (Estonia), Billy Gibbons (Houston).
PRINT & LETTERPRESS SUMMER SESSION 5
JULY 16–28, 2023
Joanne Price
Wood Engraving: Mighty Detailed Prints
Victorian-era wood engraving technique combines the miniature, fine detail of metal engraving and the speed of relief printing. In this intensive workshop, you’ll learn to cut your own images with incredible detail and print them in limited editions. Process, printing, and experimentation will be prioritized with instruction covering specialty engraving materials, creating and transferring images, tool sharpening, engraving, hand printing, two-color printing, and historical and contemporary context. Expect to finish three to six individual images and explore post-printing image manipulation/assemblage, collaboration, and a print exchange. This technique requires close-distance vision; please come prepared. Drawing experience will be helpful but is not required. All levels. Letterpress studio.
Studio artist operating as Starpointe Studio; teaching: University of Kentucky, Highpoint Center for Printmaking (Minneapolis), Campbell Folk School (NC); president emeritus of Wood Engravers’ Network; collections: Guangdong Museum of Art (China), Museu da Casa Xilogravura (Brazil), Walker Art Center (MN), Yale University (CT).
PRINT & LETTERPRESS SUMMER SESSION 6
JULY 30–AUGUST 11, 2023
Adriane Herman
Mixed-Media Monoprint Mayhem
Feast on a buffet of additive and reductive techniques for transferring, repeating, layering, and juxtaposing images, marks, patterns, text, and textures. The path to press-preferring methods, such as painterly monotype, collagraph, pressure printing and chine collé, will be paved by press-free processes, such as trace monotype, that offer marks no other methods yield. We’ll generate repeatable matrices and stencils that can be combined to create one-of-a-kind works on paper, fabric, and other surfaces, plus variable editions and simple book structures. Equally suited for representation, abstraction, landscape, photographic, drawn/painted, or appropriated imagery, monoprint techniques are easily harnessed to yield cohesive series and sequences of truly unique prints. All levels. Printmaking studio.
Studio artist; teaching: Maine College of Art & Design; Kansas City Art Institute; Lunder Institute for American Art Fellowship; residencies: La Ceiba Grafica (Mexico), Kriti Gallery (India), Charlotte Street (Kansas City), Spudnik Press (Chicago); solo exhibitions: Adam Baumgold Gallery (NYC), Western Exhibitions (Chicago), Center for Maine Contemporary Art; collections: Bates College Museum (ME), Colby College Museum (ME), The Whitney Museum of American Art (NYC), Yale University Art Museum (CT).
PRINT & LETTERPRESS SUMMER SESSION 6
JULY 30–AUGUST 11, 2023
Ingrid Ankerson
Experimental Typography
With an emphasis on play, experimentation, and embracing the unexpected, we’ll dive into Penland’s collection of wood and metal type to create one-of-a-kind typographic prints and collages. Students will start by learning the basics of letterpress printing and then expand on traditional methods with repetition, masking, overprinting, and cutting and pasting to explore the unique visual potential of typographic forms. We’ll set type in the composing stick, in an angle chase, and using daredevil furniture. All levels. Letterpress studio.
Full-time faculty at Washtenaw Community College (MI); other teaching: University of Maryland Baltimore County (MD); exhibitions: Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum (WI); W. Keith & Janet Kellogg University Art Gallery (CA), Pearl Street Studios (MI); residency: InCahoots (CA).
PRINT & LETTERPRESS SUMMER SESSION 7
AUGUST 13–18, 2023
Eileen Wallace
Ink, Paper, Wood
Using wood type and veneer, this workshop will develop a selection of letters, shapes, and images to create abstract compositions, modular designs, and/or text and image combinations. Wood type will be used for text but also to explore its potential to create patterns and shapes. We’ll cut our own designs in wood veneer, by hand and with the laser cutter, to be used modularly or in conjunction with wood type. The group will establish a set of individual and shared matrices that can be used in infinite combinations for broadsides and small prints. Instruction will include the fundamentals of letterpress printing. All levels. Letterpress studio.
Senior lecturer in printmaking and book arts at University of Georgia; teaching: Penland, Haystack (ME), Monson Arts (ME); exhibitions: Ink on Paper, A Letterpress Showcase (CA), New Impressions (WI); former Penland Resident Artist; curator of Masters: Book Arts (Lark).
LETTERPRESS FALL SHORT SESSION
SEPTEMBER 24 – 29, 2023 (four studio days)
Bridget Elmer
Engaging Ephemera
This workshop will explore the letterpress as a tool for creating engaging paper ephemera. We’ll cover the basics of letterpress, printing from handset type, ornaments, and printer’s cuts. Students will also learn one-sheet and accordion book structures that work well on the letterpress, giving them a lot of options to explore. Each student will produce an edition of letterpress-printed ephemera designed to encourage contemplation and inter/action. All levels. Letterpress studio.
Studio artist, printer; co-founder of Impractical Labor in Service of the Speculative Arts, co-owner of Print St. Pete Community Letterpress (FL), artist member of SPACEcraft (FL); teaching: Ringling College of Art and Design (FL), Colorado College, Florida State University, Ox-Bow (MI); collections: Brooklyn Museum (NY), Tate Britain (London), Yale University (CT), University of California-Los Angeles; published in Adventures in Letterpress (Laurence King) and 500 Handmade Books (Lark Books).
impractical-labor.org | printstpete.org | explorespacecraft.com
@flatbedsplendor @impractical-labor @printstpete
Regular enrollment will begin on May 1.
PRINTMAKING FALL SHORT SESSION
SEPTEMBER 24 – 29, 2023 (four studio days)
Jessica V. Gatlin
Silkscreen Monoprints and Monotypes
Students in this workshop will create a series of quick, spontaneous prints. Using a combination of screenprinting and mixed-media techniques, we’ll build collaborative and individual compositions on the spot, reacting to each previous layer as we go and generating many unique prints. Technical information will include temporary stencils, photo emulsion, found objects, and watercolor/water soluble techniques. We’ll also discuss systems theory and other iterative practices. All levels. Printmaking studio.
Assistant professor at University of Maryland-College Park; other teaching: Ox-Box (MI), Tennessee State University, Penland; residencies: Wassaic Projects (NY), Ox-Bow (MI), A.C.R.E. (WI), Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts (Poland); exhibitions: COOP Gallery (TN), Co-Prosperity Sphere (IL), Seedspace (TN), The Holland Project (NV).
Regular enrollment will begin on May 1.
TEXTILES FALL SHORT SESSION
SEPTEMBER 24 – 29, 2023 (four studio days)
Stephanie Santana
Printmaking on Textiles
In this workshop, we’ll transform fabric through relief printing, monoprinting, and screenprinting. With a focus on self-directed experimentation and play, students will develop their own motifs and textures by carving rubber blocks, manipulating paint on gelatin plates, and creating stenciled artwork for screenprinting. Students will leave with a small portfolio of textile studies for reference or to incorporate into other projects. All levels: beginners encouraged. Third-floor textiles studio.
Studio artist; founding member of Black Women of Print; teaching: Fabric Workshop and Museum (Philadelphia); recent exhibition: “A Contemporary Black Matriarchal Lineage in Printmaking” at Highpoint Center for Printmaking (Minneapolis); collections: Metropolitan Museum (NYC), Getty Research Institute (Los Angeles), Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Smith College Museum of Art (MA).
stephaniesantana.com | @stephanie___santana
Regular enrollment will begin on May 1.
