Letterpress Demonstration with Jessica White

Watch a professional printmaker demonstrate vintage letterpress techniques and create your own handmade paper keepsake.

Visitors are invited to print their own keepsakes with Jessica on her vintage letterpress presses, each printed on sheets of handmade paper. Jessica White grew up in Taiwan and spent her childhood transported by storybooks and fairytales. Following a career in academics as the Professor of Printmaking and Chair of the Art Department at Warren Wilson College, she is now a studio artist in Asheville, NC, where she makes prints, books, and crankies. Her work has been exhibited internationally and can be seen in public collections including Yale University, Stanford University, Lingnan University Hong Kong, and the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the co-founder of Ladies of Letterpress, a member of the Southern Highlands Craft Guild, President of the Wood Engravers Network, and is the founder and lead organizer for the Asheville Zine Fest and Asheville Crankie Fest. Fancy degrees she holds include a BFA in sculpture from East Carolina University, an MA and MFA in Printmaking from the University of Iowa, and a Graduate Certificate in Book Arts from the UIowa Center for the Book. When she’s not getting inky in the studio, you can find her catching a breeze in her sailboat Sweet Pea.