We bring people together by using old printing presses to amplify new voices, share knowledge, and spark creativity.
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Long-Distance Letterpress: Introduction to Wood Engraving
Why you should take this class
You’ve tried woodcut and linocut; now learn wood engraving, an entirely more refined form of image-making. Wood engraving creates fine details with bold woodcut characteristics, but in miniature—perfect for adding illustrations to letterpress cards, artist books, graphic novels, broadsides, or as stand-alone images. Wood engraving’s burin tools and end grain hardwood allow for tiny details and nuanced value changes that are just not possible with u-gouges and v-gouges in linocut and woodcut prints.
What you’ll learn
Witness the wood engraving process from sketches to finished proof, all in two hours! Part discussion, part demonstration, this edition of Long-Distance Letterpress will examine how miniature imagery can make a big impact. We’ll cover:
- The wood engraving process, tools, and materials
- Drawing strategies and approaches to relief images
- Transferring your image in reverse to a wood block (without chemicals)
- Holding the tools and engraving ergonomically
- Proofing a block by hand
Participants will receive a print of the demonstration block by mail and an invitation to join the Wood Engravers’ Network.
Prerequisites
Wood engraving is the perfect at-home print process—portable, meditative, and no printing press is necessary. This workshop consists of a live demonstration with interactive Q&A. No advance preparation or supplies are necessary to participate.
Who should take this class?
Letterpress printers, designers, artists and anyone else who wants to learn how to add miniature images, ornaments, or delight to any print project.
Will this class be recorded?
All of PiP’s classes are live, uncensored, and unrecorded — we find it’s a lot more fun and interactive this way. They are closed captioned using Zoom’s Live Transcription feature; to make the most of this tool, update to the most recent version of Zoom.
Visit our FAQ page to learn more about PiP’s class policies.
About the Instructor
Joanne Price has over 25 years of printmaking experience including teaching at University of KY, Augsburg College, University of MN, and Penland School of Crafts. Price is the founder and owner of Starpointe Studio, specializing in printmaking and book arts. She is also the President of the Wood Engravers’ Network, as well as an elected member of the Society of Wood Engravers. In addition to participating in national and international exhibitions, Price was a recent recipient of an Artist Initiative grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and has been an artist-in-residence at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts and the Western NY Book Arts Center. Her work is included in the collections of the Guangdong Museum of Art, China; Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, Two Rivers, WI; Yale University, New Haven, CT; University of Colorado, Boulder, CO; University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY; Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN and many more public and private collections.
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