Working closely with the University of Kentucky’s Special Collections Library, the King Library Press and the School of Arts and Visual Studies – a really beautiful thing happened: Collaboration and Printmaking.
On Friday, November 4th I attended the opening for the three featured exhibits at the Margaret I. King Library: The Wood Engravers Network Triennial Exhibition, “In Relief: An Exhibit of Wood Engraving and Relief Printing,” and “Back Alley Press at the Lucille Little Fine Arts Library”.
The openings were lovely, but the exhibits were only the start. After the opening I was the guest speaker for THE FALL KING LIBRARY PRESS LECTURE, “Out of Wood,” about wood engraving and the history of relief printmaking.
The following morning, I led a group of people in a Collaborative linocut workshop at the King Library Press. We brainstormed ideas for Kentucky themed imagery and chose a title “Kentucky Flows On” from one of Thomas D. Clark’s writings that was on a broadside at the King Library Press – it seemed fitting.
Our group of 11 worked diligently on their linoleum blocks – for some it was their first time and for others, the first time in a long time. In the end we each went home with a hand-pulled print and a feeling of accomplishment for our 6 hours of carving and proofing.
To top off a fantastic weekend, I dropped off the Little free Print Exchange at the University of Kentucky’s School of Arts and Visual Studies on the second floor, just outside the Print Media room. Lexington, there is plenty of time to “take a print, leave a print” – open exchange through December 16!
