Take part in a collaborative book project that was started at Bernheim Forest’s Bugfest in September 2024! I am inviting the public to write notes to nature on book pages that are in the shape of a butterfly. Some pages are cut from prints that I have done that refer to nature in one way or another.

Once I have collected a couple hundred pages, I will bind the pages using a variation of the coptic stitch technique to create a unique, sculptural book that holds our collective thoughts, fears, hopes, and dreams for nature.

Find this project at in-person events throughout the next year!
To participate remotely, download this printable template: BFBook-Pages

Directions:
– Print out butterfly page template at 100% on 8.5 x 11 inch paper. Cut out pages.
– Write or draw something on both sides of the page. Design/planning consideration: The pages will be folded and three holes in the center of the butterfly will be sewn together, so for most pages, only one side will be visible at once.

You can write or draw something to nature – Here are some ideas:
– What do you want nature to know?
– What questions do you have for nature?
– Write your hopes and dreams for nature.
– What is your favorite bug, plant, weather, place in nature? Why?
– How does nature help you?
– How do you help nature?
– Write down what nature-related thing you are thankful for.

and mail me your pages! Contact me to get the mailing address.

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I am excited and honored to be Wichita State University’s visiting artist October 22nd to 24th, including this solo exhibition complete with a presentation at 4pm in room 210 on Thursday October 24th followed by a reception in the gallery from 5 to 6pm.

I am a collaborator at heart which is probably why this is my first solo exhibition in 20 years – wow, where did the time go?? I am thrilled to share these bodies of work that reflect a reverence for nature, narrative, place and history. The exhibit features 105 objects in series that span topics from animal terrorists to beneficial insects, to land conservation, to rural, agrarian, and city histories entwined with folk tales and literary works.

I would be most grateful for your attendance at the presentation and reception on October 24th!

Many thanks to Marco Hernandez and everyone at WSU who have helped make this happen – I’m so thankful.

Read the insightful review that Kevin Kelly wrote about the exhibit online at THE SHOUT.

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Catch up with me and my work at any (or all) of these 2023 scheduled events!

ART FAIRS

December 8th, 6-9pm (Friday Ticketed Preview) & Dec 9th 10-4pm (Saturday free & open to the public) Crafted Social’s Winter Market: A winter celebration with traditional and contemporary craft, art and spirits at the historic Greyline Station in Lexington.
December 16th (Saturday) 11am to 5pm: Last Call Art Market at West Sixth Brewery – your last chance to buy that perfect, unique gift!

March 11 (Saturday), 10am – 5pm – BOOTH 237: KY Crafted Market at the Alltech Arena in the Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington, KY. Visit Starpointe Studio’s booth and shop the best visual arts and crafts of the Commonwealth.
March 12 (Sunday), 10am – 4pm – BOOTH 237: KY Crafted Market at the Alltech Arena in the Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington, KY. Visit Starpointe Studio’s booth and shop the best visual arts and crafts of the Commonwealth.

May 13 (Saturday) – Noon – 5pm for Halftone Zine Fest at 21c Museum Hotel in Lexington, KY. A welcome return of the event formerly known as the KY Fried Zine Fest – find my table and shop/browse your way through small press publishers, self-published zines, local writers, and artists!

WORKSHOPS

November 19 (Sunday), 11am – 2pm: Demonstration at Kentucky Artisan Center, Berea. I’ll be there printing a fun take away and chatting with folks about my wood engraving process. Stop at this amazing travel center and browse the wonderful Kentucky art on your next road trip!

March 31 – April 2: A weekend wood engraving workshop at Starpointe Studio! Get 15 hours of instruction over 2 and a half days in a lovely rural setting. Instruction covers material basics, creating and transferring images, tool sharpening, engraving, DIY printing, plus pro tips and tricks.

July 3 – 8: A week-long Wood Engraving workshop through Frogman’s Print Workshops at their new location in Iowa City. This is my first time going to the legendary Frogman’s to teach a workshop – Jim Horton and Deborah Mae Broad taught wood engraving for years when it was in South Dakota. I’m honored to be following in their footsteps.

July 16 – 28: A 2-week wood engraving intensive, Wood Engraving: Mighty Detailed Prints at Penland School of Crafts in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. A rare treat to explore wood engraving for such a long duration – we’ll talk about 2-color printing and experimental application of wood engraving and cap it off with a print exchange!

October 6 – 9: An in-person wood engraving workshop in the south of France at the Louis Jou Foundation in Les Baux-de-Provence! More details and registration here: https://www.starpointestudio.com/shop/classes/weekend-wood-engraving-workshop-in-france-october-6-9-2023/

EXHIBITIONS
November 10 – December 30: Wood Engravers’ Network 4th Triennial Exhibition, Arts Center of St. Peter, Minnesota.

February 7 – 26: 84th Annual Society of Wood Engravers Exhibition, Bankside Gallery, London, UK.

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Craa-ack! As relief print artists we don’t talk often about the mistakes, accidents, or failures that lead us to a final composition, color choice, or resolution. Or how those accidents sometimes have nothing to do with aesthetics, rather they were hard lessons about materials, physics, chemistry, patience, and/or common sense. So, I’m going to share my most embarrassing wood engraving mishaps with hopes that we can have a great discussion, learn from others’ mistakes, and swap disaster stories! – Joanne Price

Anyone is welcome to join the conversation (you don’t need to be a WEN member) — bring your disaster stories and your questions — this should be a cracker!

If you missed this exciting event, WATCH THE RECORDING: https://youtu.be/PCPx51ni1E4

Find out what disaster struck this reductive self portrait…

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Wood engraving creates fine details with bold woodcut characteristics, perfect for adding illustrations to letterpress cards, artist books, graphic novels, comic books, broadsides, or as stand-alone images. Learn to cut your own original drawings into miniature end-grain hardwood blocks and print them in a limited edition. Instruction will cover materials, creating and transferring images, tool sharpening, engraving and proofing. It is the perfect at-home print process – portable, meditative, no printing press is necessary and now with water soluble oil based inks, clean up is safe and easy at home.

Join me in a way that meets your level of comfort and needs in 2021: year 2 of a global pandemic:

In-Person Wood Engraving Intensive at John C. Campbell Folk School August 1 – 7, 2021

Join me for a week-long wood engraving workshop at the John C. Campbell Folk School August 1 through August 7, 2021.
We will use the Folk School’s printing presses and airy, spacious, and light-filled print classroom among the mountains of North Carolina.
This is a great course for beginners and intermediate skill levels. No previous experience is necessary, but it is helpful to previous drawing experience.

This will be an in-person course with precautions taken for Covid-19. Register by calling 1800-365-5724. OR visit the course listing online to register: https://classes.folkschool.org/class_details.aspx?pk=23617

Wood Engraving: Virtual Live and Recorded Instruction (8-hours total), 4 Wednesdays: June 2 through June 23, 2021.

Learn to cut a design into end-grain hardwood blocks through a combination of pre-recorded video demonstrations and live meetings via Zoom. Each participant will receive a class kit prior to the workshop. Instruction during 4 sessions covers material basics, creating and transferring images, tool sharpening, engraving, DIY printing, plus Pro tips and tricks.

This is a great course for beginners and intermediate skill levels. No previous experience is necessary, but it is helpful to have some previous drawing experience.
Perfect for those who have difficult schedules – all live class meetings will be recorded and available for viewing (streaming only) during the workshop and a couple weeks after until July 11, 2021. So you can watch any classes you missed at anytime!

Held via Zoom Wednesday nights 8pm–10pm ET: June 2, 9, 16 and 23

For specific supplies information and to register < click the underlined text

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Wood engraving creates delicate, fine details with bold woodcut characteristics, perfect as stand-alone images, or as illustrations to letterpress holiday cards, artist’s books, or posters. Learn to cut your own original drawings into end-grain hardwood blocks and print them in a limited edition. Instruction will cover all parts of the process – materials, creating and transferring images, tool sharpening, engraving, and proofing. All levels welcome – some drawing experience helpful, but not required.

This class is designed for beginners and intermediate students of wood engraving — you’ll learn everything you need to know to cut your own original drawings into end-grain hardwood blocks and print them in a limited edition. Frogman’s Print Workshop is an institution — an organization that is known as a crossroads for print cross-pollination and print networking.

You’re not just learning a new print skill at Frogman’s – you’ll have a FULL in-person experience including special activities including a faculty lecture series, open portfolio viewing sessions, gallery crawls, and costumed bowling tournaments. Expect barbecues, pool parties, karaoke, fireworks, and free concerts. The workshop will culminate in a very special final banquet. More information regarding these activities will accompany your confirmation packet. Be prepared for anything!

Sign up today on Frogman’s website: http://frogmans.net/workshop-info/#price

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Yep, I think we have to acknowledge that face masks are part of life and a new “normal” for a while. Fine — I accept and embrace this challenge and so can you! Introducing Starpointe Studio’s original, hand-printed designs and practical, customizable features like adjustable nose wire and ear bands, filter pocket, and multiple sizes (see size chart at bottom of page). No more foggy glasses!

Washable 100% cotton face mask pattern was initially developed with expertise from Sarah Havens of Havens Millinery, and refined to its current form in true collaborative fashion in rural Kentucky, USA.

Starpointe Studio is committed to sustainable and compassionate creation — for every mask sold, we will donate $1 to Heifer International USA.

Buy yours today in my online shop (face masks) OR on my Etsy page — new masks will be added as they are completed.

Sarah Finn wearing the moth mask in royal blue fabric.

Profile of Dan Price wearing the bird wing design in grey fabric. Shows the adjustable ear loops and fitted style.

Various cuts in linoleum, Soft-cut, and Speedy-cut materials to create the printed designs — original designs, hand-drawn, hand-cut, hand-printed in rural Kentucky, USA.

Hand printing the African Death’s Head Moth with a special fabric ink.

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SUPPLY LIST
– 8.5 x 11 inch copy paper (inside pages)
– Cover material (cereal box, other recyclable paper board material, fabric, wrapping paper — even draw your own cover illustration on plain paper)
– thread (embroidery thread, string, yarn, ribbon, etc.) in a length that is a little longer than twice the height of your book
– Scissors or sharp knife (like a box cutter, with a cutting mat)
– Sewing needle, paper awl or a nail — an unbent paper clip can work in a pinch to create thread holes.
– Pencil
– Ruler

PREPARE THE PAGES AND BOOK COVER
For this example, I am using 8.5 x 11 inch copy paper. You can use whatever size paper you want. I think thinner text paper is good for the inside pages.

I start by folding an 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of copy paper in half.

Cut or carefully tear the paper along this fold. Then, fold the paper in half again. If using copy paper, you can make up to 6 folded pages. Fold your paper neatly, matching edges before creasing.
Nest the folded pages together so the tops are all matching (you want them all to be the same size).

With all the pages together, measure or find the center and mark it lightly in pencil in the center fold. Do you see where I am holding a needle at the center mark? See how it is in the center fold of the nested pages? I have made two more marks — one to the right and one to the left that are 1/2″ to 1″ from each paper edge also along the center fold.
Next, pierce all your pages at once with your needle in the places you marked. You want three holes along the center fold.

Select and prepare your cover material. I’m using recyclable paper board. The cover material should be the same size — So for mine, my open pages are 5.5 inches tall, by 8.5 inches wide, so my cover is the exact same size.
If I wanted to use a part of the paper board that didn’t already have a fold, I could *lightly* score/cut the outside “spine” of the cover with a box cutter or knife to help it bend more easily. If you are using thinner material for your cover, like paper, it will be easy to fold without scoring/cutting.

Put your punctured pages inside the cover you have created. With all the edges matching hold the group of pages and cover together without letting them move and using the holes you have in the pages, push a needle, awl or nail through the cover as well. All the holes should line up so that when we sew the book together, the edges of the pages are neatly contained within the cover — no page edges or corners peeking out.

1. With your threaded needle, go through the cover and pages’ center hole from the outside and leave a “tail” of about 3 inches sticking out.

2. Now go through one of the open holes with the thread and needle. Again, leave that 3 inch tail sticking out still.

3. Take the needle and thread from the outside of the cover going inside through the last remaining open hole.

4. Take the needle and thread back through the middle hole (inside to outside) — be careful not to pierce the thread on your way through the hole.

5. Knot your thread — I use a square knot to secure the thread. The remaining thread can be either trimmed to within a 1/4 inch of the book or kept long and decorated — you can put beads or charms on the extra thread or make it into a bow. If it’s extra long, it can be a clever, built-in bookmark.

A finished pamphlet stitch book using a recycled cereal box for a cover: This is a very easy binding technique to apply to zines, short stories, blank journals or sketch books.

Post your creative versions of this simple book structure and follow me on social media — tag “Joanne Price Starpointe Studio” on Facebook and @starpointestudio on IG and Twitter.

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After finishing the engraving, the block was printed on the very same printing press that Melanie VanHouten (JSP Artistic Director) helped me move into my studio on a frigid day in January 2017! The “Thank you” cards received the same royal treatment as the engraving – going through sketches, color and font selections – before a final design was selected. While the card was digitally designed, the printing process is the same as the engraving — printed on my 1925 Chandler & Price clamshell press. For a sculpture park, I wanted to get a really nice embossment of the design in the paper — creating a sculptural relief — from relief printmaking! The card’s paper, Flurry, is made using wind and hydro energy — responsible environmental choices are the default for Starpointe Studio and JSP.

Photograph of the old tobacco barn – ant’s eye view. (Photo credit to Joanne Price, June 7, 2018)

Panoramic photo with newly planted trees and soon to be planted native flowers and grasses for prairie restoration on the south side of the driveway to Josephine Sculpture Park. Photo credit to Joanne Price, June 7, 2018.

One of several sketches first submitted to Artistic Director, Melanie VanHouten, for approval.

After making some changes to the drawing/composition, a final sketch is ready to be transferred to the 3 x 4 inch endgrain Maple wood block for engraving.

The end grain block with drawing transferred and engraving process begun. The surface of the block is toned with black printer’s ink to help my brain remember that what I carve away will be white. Some elements of the drawing are further clarified and/or decided as I engrave.

Further progress on engraving. The white is a chalk I use to help me see the lines better. In wood engraving, the block is cut by hand with tools called burins – one tiny line/mark at a time.

The finished print displayed above the engraved block. Notice that the image is reversed.

And finally the green part of the “Thank you” card being printed on my 1925 antique printing press.

And then, 2019’s end of the year thank you note to donors (who gave over a certain amount) received a handsome bookmark with part of this image — printed directly from the woodblock with some hand-set metal type. Josephine Sculpture Park is a favorite place of mine — supporting art in Kentucky, serving a largely rural area, creating a space where science and art can come together (ie: NASA Museum Alliance Night Sky Tours, Frankfort Audubon Society programming), and JSP’s commitment to nature and art education, and sustainable land stewardship. JSP supports all the things that I love and believe in! If you’ve never visited JSP before — you should visit now — they are open everyday, 365 days a year. Find the sculptures I used in the print! Hint — they are not where I have drawn them.

Illustration with hand-set metal type.

Front and back of the 2019 “thank you” bookmark.

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