Adult Classes

Welcome to our current adult class offerings. As always, Highpoint’s goal is to offer classes that present a wide-range of techniques and teaching styles. Details for each series follows. Remember, join HP as a supporting member and receive a 10% discount on classes.

To Register: Call HP at 612.871.1326 or register by mail or e-mail us at info@highpointprintmaking.org to reserve a space. Payment by cash or check, due upon registration to hold your place in the class. If payment is not received, you may lose your spot to others who have paid. HP reserves the right to cancel any class if necessary. Students may cancel 7 days prior to class start date and will receive a refund minus a $10 administrative fee. Sorry, we cannot give refunds after a class has begun.

Registrations are finalized upon receipt of payment. If payment is not received within one business week your place in the class will not be reserved.

Updated: May 6, 2013

Upcoming Adult Classes:

Introduction To Polymer Photogravure

  • Instructor: Keith Taylor
  • Age: 18+; Both intaglio experience and a basic knowledge of Photoshop is recommended
  • Enrollment: Maximum 8
  • Dates:
    • Thursday, May 16, 6 – 9 pm
      Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19 9 am – 4 pm
  • Cost: $210 (10% discount for HP members); payment due at registration
  • Registration Deadline is Monday, April 29
  • Class is filled and running.

The traditional process of copperplate photogravure is a complex and time-consuming one, but this alternative and contemporary method uses polymer plates that are processed in water and are both environmentally friendly and quicker to work with.

In this introductory workshop, participants will be shown the basics of making film positives digitally using an inkjet printer and how to expose, process and print the plates. Contrast adjustment, plate washout and inking and wiping techniques will be covered.

At the introductory evening, participants should bring a digital file of a photograph (either from a digital camera or from a scan) that has been edited and is ready for printing. Making the image film positives digitally using simple Adobe Photoshop adjustments will be discussed and demonstrated. Saturday will be spent exposing and processing the plates, ready to be printed on Sunday.

Polymer plates, aquatint screens, paper and ink will be provided. Participants should bring edited digital image files to the introductory evening.

About the Instructor:
British-born Keith Taylor is a photographer and printmaker living in Minneapolis. For over thirty years he has printed exhibitions and portfolios for photographers, and now concentrates on the historical processes of platinum, three-color gum dichromate and polymer photogravure. Where possible he uses contemporary techniques to simplify these traditional processes; substituting safer, more environmentally friendly chemicals for the more toxic originals and using digital techniques to make the large negatives and positives these processes require. 

He writes and contributes regularly to photographic magazines and books, and has presented at the Alternative Photographic International Symposium (APIS) in Santa Fe and the f294 symposium in Pittsburgh.

His own photographs have been widely exhibited across the US and the UK and are held in many private and corporate collections. He is a two-time recipient of Individual Artist grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and in 2011 he was awarded a Minnesota Center for Book Arts/Jerome Foundation mentorship.

New Approaches To Large Scale Woodcuts: Five-Day Intensive

  • Instructor: Paul Mullowney
  • Age: 18+; All skill levels welcome
  • Enrollment: Maximum 10, Minimum 6
  • Dates: June 17 – 21, 9:30 am – 4 pm
  • Cost: $825 (Sorry no discounts will be offered for this intensive);
    payment due at registration
  • Registration Deadline is Monday, June 3

The large woodcut print has long challenged and fascinated artists and printmakers, from Albrecht Durer’s 16th-century masterpiece, The Triumphal Arch, to the contemporary relief prints of Sandow Birk, Cannonball Press and Swoon.

This course will cover an array of techniques for creating large-scale woodcut prints, using both traditional and contemporary approaches and materials. Students will learn about the history and technique of woodcut printing, and will experience different carving and printing methods including carving by hand and with power tools, hand-printing and coloring with Japanese papers and oil- and water-based inks, and collage and chine collé. The goal of this course is to further push the boundaries of this exquisite and ancient print medium by investigating multiple layers of process.

About the Instructor:
Paul Mullowney is owner and director of Mullowney Printing, in the San Francisco Mission district, a multi-faceted fine art print studio. Trained as an intaglio master printer at San Francisco’s Crown Point Press in the early nineties, he later moved to Japan and founded Tokgenji Press, named after the 17th century Zen temple housing a print studio in the mountains of Nara. From 2004 to 2009 Mullowney was director of printmaking at Hui No`eau Visual Arts Center, Maui, and founding director of HuiPress, an artist in residence and publishing program. He is currently teaching printmaking at San Francisco Art Institute and has been visiting artist in residence at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon.

Mullowney’s work explores the imagery and materials that have been the mainstay of Japanese culture for centuries. His inspiration comes from influences from the traditions of German Expressionist woodcut artists, ancient Japanese landscape and Buddhist scroll paintings, contemporary tattoo artists like Don Ed Hardy, street artists like Swoon, and the monumental work of Japan’s Shikoh Munakata.

Screenprinting: All Hands On Squeegee!

  • Instructor: Josh Bindewald
  • Age: 18+; All skill levels welcome
  • Enrollment: Maximum 10, Minimum 6
  • Dates:
    • Tuesday evenings: July 16, 23, 30, August 6, 13, 20, 6 – 9 pm
    • Saturday Workshops: July 27 and August 10, 11 am – 2 pm
  • Cost: $335 (10% discount for HP members); payment due at registration
  • Registration Deadline is Monday, June 24

Screenprinting has many commercial applications, but it is also a favorite technique of many artists because it’s generally a user-friendly process. Screenprinted images are created by pushing ink through a stencil (either hand drawn or photographically based) on woven screen mesh. From paper selection to final presentation, this course will provide a hands-on, step-by-step introduction to the screenprinting process.

Class sessions will focus on demonstrations, instructor supported work time, and viewing print examples made by other artists. In addition to the six Tuesday night sessions, there will be two Saturday workshops. The class fee includes inks, equipment, basic tools, mid-sized screens and instructional/technical support. All printing will be done on paper, and not on clothing or fabric. Students purchase paper and, optionally, screens for larger sized projects.

Please note: In-depth instruction on computer programs like Photoshop and Illustrator will not be provided.

About the Instructor:
Josh Bindewald is the Exhibitions and Artists’ Cooperative Manager at Highpoint. He holds an MFA in printmaking from Bradley University (2011) and a BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Stout (2004). Primarily through intaglio and screenprinting, Josh creates prints that document personal memories, anxieties, humankind’s interaction with and subjugation of the natural world as well as the overlap of these ideas.

5 Centers, 5 Weeks, 5 Media Adult Workshops

Work and routine wearing you out? Tired of cooking up art with the same old ingredients? We have a remedy! Sample the offerings of five different centers for art and experience a veritable banquet of creative techniques. 

IFP Minnesota, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Northern Clay Center, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, and the Textile Center join forces for a multimedia exploration of clay, book-making, textiles, film making and printmaking. Each session will take place at a different art center and will include a brief tour of the Center and hands-on medium-specific work with a professional artist. Participants will be encouraged to stretch their creative muscles and take risks with new art forms, and will walk away from the class with four completed projects, renewed creativity, and perhaps even a lifelong passion for a new art form. Participants will receive a schedule and map for each location after registration.

Class meets in the order of the organizations listed above. Please register through Northern Clay Center at 612.339.8007 or www.northernclaycenter.org

5 Centers Summer Art Camp For Educators

The Five Centers for Art (Textile Center, IFP Minnesota, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minnesota Center for Book Arts and Northern Clay Center) announce a special educational opportunity for Minnesota Art Educators. You are invited to attend a progressive arts experience as you travel to each of the five art centers for intriguing medium-specific demonstrations and hands-on art-making. See examples of contemporary fibers and textiles, prints, book arts, and pots and sculpture. Learn new techniques to enhance your classroom instruction. You’ll also get to know other art educators in your community. This is a great opportunity to learn some new tricks of the trade and to earn continuing education clock hours at the same time! Participants will receive a schedule and map for each location after registration.

Class meets in the order of the organizations listed above. Please register through Northern Clay Center at 612.339.8007 or www.northernclaycenter.org