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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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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Join me for a weekend wood engraving workshop at Asheville BookWorks (Asheville, NC) Friday, Dec. 14 (5pm–7:30pm), Saturday Dec. 15 (10–5) and Sunday Dec. 16 (10–5). Wood engraving is your secret weapon for creating detailed images while retaining the bold relief characteristics of woodcut and linoleum. This process is perfect for adding illustrations to holiday cards, artist’s books or broadsides or to create a stand-alone image. Students will get to know the tools, materials, printing process, and history of wood engraving through hands-on projects and demonstrations. This intensive course will give participants the basic skills to create a unique wood engraved print. And with a print exchange at the end of the workshop, you’ll find the perfect opportunity to start your own art collection! All skill levels are welcome.
Register HERE

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Graver to graver, magnifiers poised; the game is on. During this lively demonstration we had an unprecedented face off between metal and wood engraving with James Ehlers (metal), the only tenured professor in the U.S. to hold the title of “Firearms Engraving Guild of American Master Engraver,” and Joanne Price (wood), President of the Wood Engravers’ Network, an elected member of the Society of Wood Engravers, and owner of Starpointe Studio. John Hancock, visual and performance artist, and professor at University of Mary Hardin-Baylor of Texas, moderated the face off. As we discussed the pros and cons of each technique, the moderator engaged the audience with props and performance to demonstrate close-up views of each process in action. Which technique came out on the top?

We talked about each process’ historic roots, tools, materials, and more – you can see the digital slide show on my tablet, an original print by Thomas Bewick from the late 1800s, information about the Wood Engravers’ Network (WEN) along with some of WEN’s exhibition catalogs (Right), helpful handouts, some tools and different material examples. Contact me if you would like to have pdf versions of the handouts. I even did some hand-printed take-aways as shown in the video below, although, not nearly enough! Special thanks to Becky Blosser for the great photo of me during the sharpening portion of the demo. Thanks also to GRS, McClain’s Printmaking Supplies, Conrad Machine Co., Takach Press, Savoir-Faire, and Renaissance Graphics – vendor donations and support were greatly appreciated!

Photo by Becky Blosser

A ridiculously sized cardboard prop of a burin – did I fool you into thinking it was half real?

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EXHIBITIONS
See the Beneficial Insects on exhibit in Pressing Entomology, Plantory, Lexington KY. March 16 – May 4. Opening reception Friday March 16, 5pm.
Visions at the Capitol, Capitol Annex, Frankfort, KY. Through April 6.
The Society of Wood Engravers 80th Annual Exhibition, Zillah Bell Gallery, North Yorkshire, UK, February 24–March 17. Da Gadderie at Shetland Museum & Archives, Shetland, Scotland, March 31–April 25. Pier Arts Centre, Orkney, Scotland, May 5–June 15. Woodend Barn Art Centre, Banchory, Scotland, June 24–July 21.
Wood Engravers’ Network Third Triennial Exhibition, University of Oregon School of Art & Design, Eugene, Oregon, June through July 7.

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The red, orange and black are sharpie markers that I use to help define areas of the drawing on the block. The white is a powdered chalk I use to help me see areas that I have engraved – otherwise the engraved marks are too small and lack the proper contrast to see what I’m doing well.

More progress engraving textures and defining form – and my thumb for scale.

Here is the block and printed proof – the aim of this work. This block is now safely delivered to Larkspur Press and will be printed soon – after Wendell Berry’s approval!

The second commission is for an appraiser and curator in Nevada – this is to be a holiday print for close friends and family. The client provided photos he had taken of areas in Nevada and told me of his recent study of the artist Hans Meyer-Kassel. Using imagery that held great meaning to the client, I proposed a few loose drawings, settling on the one below. The resulting print, Carson City Wild, will be editioned soon. The client was kind enough to allow me to print an additional edition so that I may sell the print to others that really enjoy its spirit!

The surface of this block was stained with black printers ink and then the drawing was transfer using carbon paper. I then reinforced the drawing with micron pens (black) and add the brightest whites with a white colored pencil. the tan marks in the sky portion of the image are the raw end grain wood that my tools have exposed. The yellow squiggles seen in the lower portion of the image are remnants of the carbon paper used to transfer the image.

I have added chalk dust to the lines to help my eye see the marks and to better see the graphic contrast that will be in the final print.

The block sits on two very firm leather pillows of sand – this helps to bring the block closer to my eyes, thus saving my neck and back as well as allowing me to spin the block while I make marks with my trusty burins.

The last stage of development (before I get ready to print the edition) involves a lot of proofing and engraving and proofing and engraving, etc. I printed the block first, made some adjustments by engraving more here and there, and then printed it again to see how it looked. I did this about 9-10 times before I was pleased with the image.

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Randy Steward inks up his first wood engraving with Laura & Jude Poulette assisting.

This past weekend Starpointe Studio had a full class of folks to learn wood engraving! It was an intense two days, but was very successful – each participant learned about the material, tools, history and process of wood engraving and then created an engraving of their own design. After each person printed their edition, we participated in an age-old printmaking tradition: the print exchange!

The students of wood engraving have patience, and they engraved and proofed and engraved and proofed so many times to refine their images – all this work in 14 hours! I’m so proud of what they accomplished – wood engraving is not easy or intuitive for most.

Maggie Helms inks up her engraving – her edition of 21 prints in progress.

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