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Intro to Letterpress

An introduction to letterpress printing using linoleum cuts and handset type to make a print. Through examples and ideas, we will talk about combining words and images to create an expressive print. Using a Vandercook proof press, we will learn to hand set lead and wood type, carve images with linoleum, and combine them into a letterpress print. We will also cover how to ink the press, lock up the press bed with type, set up linoleum for printing and clean the press. Participants will help each other on press as we print everyone’s project, learning multiple troubleshooting techniques. Using two presses – one for linoleum, one for type – participants will print a small edition of a two-color print.

Accessibility (Service Animals) –
This class takes place in the Heinz Printmaking Studio and may require materials or processes that are hazardous for animals. Please email classes@kala.org prior to enrolling so we can assess if we are able to accomodate you and your service animal safely and efficiently.

  • Tuition: $450
  • Location: Heinz Printmaking Studio
  • Instructor: Mary V. Marsh
  • 4 Classes
  • Saturday, March 23, 2024 — April 13, 2024
  • 10:00AM — 3:00PM
  • $35 Materials Fee - Payable to the instructor on the first day

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About the Instructor:

Mary V. Marsh makes prints, artist’s books and installations exploring changing technologies of communication through a personal lens. Her work in libraries provided a foundation for ideas, materials, and research. She has had solo shows at San Jose Museum of Art, Berkeley Art Center, SFPL Skylight Gallery, and Mercury 20. She makes artist’s books and prints as Quite Contrary Press, including collaborative works with Tony Bellaver, showing at CODEX, The Art of the Book, Seager Gray Gallery, in the collections of SFMOMA Library, The Bancroft Library, and many others. She received an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1992, a 2018 Fellowship Award from Kala Art Institute, and a 2022 Small Plates award at San Francisco Center for the Book. She has taught extension classes at SFAI, printing workshops at Oakland Public Library, and letterpress demonstrations at Kala Art Institute.