MANAGING DIRECTOR

Krista is a book artist, printer, and poet. She works primarily with letterpress, bookbinding, papermaking, natural dyes, and text to create artist bookwork and installation work that explores the interconnectedness of place, land, body, lineage, and healing.

She is a professor of book arts, printmaking, and drawing, currently teaching at the Hartford Art School and Eastern Connecticut State University. She holds and MFA in Book Arts from the University of Iowa Center for the Book, a Graduate Certificate in College Teaching, and a BFA in Printmaking from the Hartford School. Along the way she has worked in arts administration at several non-profits, including galleries, a museum, and an arts council.

Krista arrived to printmaking through drawing, in the spring of her first year as an undergrad at Hartford Art School. Her drawing teacher, Jenni Friedman, said “your drawings look like they should be prints,” so she enrolled in her first printmaking course the following semester and never looked back.

EDUCATION COORDINATOR

Brandon is a painter and draughtsman whose current work explores ideas of idols, altars, and spiritual practice through unseen objects, assemblages, and spaces. He holds an MFA in painting from the New York Academy of Art, a BFA in Illustration from the Hartford Art School and an AFA from Manchester Community College. Brandon is an educator who has worked with students of all ages and abilities. He is currently a professor of painting and drawing at the Hartford Art School and Naugatuck Valley Community College. He has previously taught at Quinebaug Community College, Manchester Community College, and various art leagues throughout the state.

STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBER,
Jenni makes prints, books, drawings and all kinds of work on and of paper in her backyard studio (and sometimes on her couch). For most of her career, her work has depicted various forms found in nature. She continues to be inspired by this subject matter and more recently has found she is also drawn to pattern, color, sweets and treats. The mood and rhythm of her work has shifted from a quiet mediation to a playful bounce.

In addition to making her own work, Jenni is always a huge fan of supporting other artists on their journeys. She has worked as a Professor, Printer, Picture Framer, Admissions Director, Education Director and is currently working as an Assistant to Artist Amy Genser.  West Hartford has been her home for the last 15 years and she resides there with her hubby, child and pup.

STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBER

Alexis is an Interdisciplinary Artist whose practice has been based in Hartford since receiving her BFA in Printmaking from the Hartford Art School in 2015. Since then she has engaged in diy art spaces and art institutions in Hartford in many ways, facilitating shows and community events, showing her own work, teaching, working as an art handler, collaborating with other artists, being a founding or active member in new diy spaces. In her work she likes to explore the quirkiness, sweetness and silliness that can be found in the midst of intense despair, maybe as a way to cope. she views her work - both as an Artist and as a community member - as a way to connect and collectively cope with others despite any despair she or anybody else may or may not be dealing with.

STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBER

Though I don't have experience in printmaking and book pressing specifically, I grew up in a creative family with generational roots in Hartford. I was a creative writing major at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts for high school, and returned to Hartford to live and work after graduating from Smith College. I recently received my Master's in Community Development and Planning from Clark University, and aim to bring both an arts and community-conscious lens to the steering committee. Artistically, I've been a singer/songwriter for two bands: Bandshes, and an all-women's brass band called You're Not Listening! However, music has fallen to the wayside for me the past few years. More recently, I've put my creative energy into gardening and floral design. I dabble in macro and telephoto photography, to capture upclose, intimate images of nature. The photos I've shared were both taken in my garden, but the bee was taken with my macro lens and the hummingbird and butterfly shot was with my telephoto lens.

STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBER

For the past two decades, Katie has channeled her creativity into printmaking, embracing a diverse array of printing techniques. While having a full-time career in commercial real estate, and being a mother of two children,  she has unwaveringly upheld her dedication to cultivating her artistic spirit—seizing every available opportunity to do so. In 2013 she established Woodward Paper Co.  and started sharing her love for Letterpress through wedding invitations, personal stationary and fine art prints. In 2015 she acquired her own Golding printing press and began building a letterpress studio at her home in Windsor, CT. Over the years the studio has evolved into a full print workshop where she bounces between letterpress machines, screen printing presses, and carving stations, opening her space to fellow artists and creatives to converge and exchange ideas, techniques, and inspiration.

STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBER

Chris is an interdisciplinary artist whose work investigates the juxtaposition of the seen and unseen ideas of naturalism and romanticism in conjunction with open dialogue through narrative, and a Haiku writer who illustrates the universal themes of time, emotions, space, and the insignificant through words. He has arts degrees from Manchester Community College and the University of Hartford. He has worked as an art handler and is currently an educator at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts. Chris is a Hartford artist and community change maker, focused on building the importance of the arts within the Hartford and larger Connecticut educational system. Chris hosts Hartford’s Monday Night Figure Drawing in partnership with Gentle Bull Studios, bringing an affordable space for young aspiring artists and veterans to continue their educational studies and appreciation of the human figure. 

INTERN

Rachel is a senior at the Hartford Art School, majoring in Illustration and minoring in Printmaking and Art History. Rachel was first introduced to printmaking in her first year of high school and has loved it ever since. Being at the Hartford Art School allowed her to continue to explore and play in printmaking and book arts. Rachel’s work explores themes of nature, animals, femininity, memories, and nostalgia.