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Intro to Letterpress with Handset Type

Intro to Letterpress with Mary V Marsh

Join us for an immersive introduction to letterpress printing! Students will learn to hand set lead and wood type using a Vandercook proof press, choosing the type and exploring antique cuts and ornaments to print your short phrase or poem.  We will also cover how to ink the press, lock up the press bed with type, set up for printing, clean the press and learn multiple troubleshooting techniques. Using the two presses in the studio, everyone will print a small edition and learn from helping each other on press. No experience necessary – all are welcome!

General Tuition: $310
Pay It Forward: $335
Scholarship Tier I (Limited): $260
Scholarship Tier II (Limited): $285

Accessibility Notice –
This class takes place in the Heinz Printmaking Studio which is located on the third floor and requires participants to climb two flights of stairs. This class 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 accommodate you and your service animal safely and efficiently.

  • Tuition: $310
  • Location: Heinz Printmaking Studio
  • Instructor: Mary V. Marsh
  • 2 Classes
  • Saturday, Sunday, July 19, 2025 — July 20, 2025
  • 10:00AM — 4:00PM
  • $20 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.